He took a sip of coffee to wet his dry throat. This next part bothered him most, and it was something he’d had no part in.
“Apparently, and I don’t know all the details, Renee started using cocaine. She’d left Maddox, that’s the boy you saw today, alone in her apartment. I had no idea she hadn’t moved in with Jake after leaving me. It’s what she told me she was doing. Anyway, after leaving the baby alone for a day, a neighbor called the police. They called Jake, and he called a lawyer. He has full custody, and Renee is only allowed supervised visits. It was on one of those visits three weeks ago that she took Maddox and disappeared.”
“Three weeks? And they only just showed up here? Where have they been all this time?”
He shrugged. “No idea. Best guess from some of the things she was yelling when the police took her in, she was here in town. Watching me.”
“Oh, that’s comforting.”
“I know. She drugged him, Maz. Maddox. He’s upstairs asleep. The paramedic said he’ll sleep a few more hours yet, and I’m really hoping his father gets here before he wakes up.”
“He’s upstairs?” Her gaze rose to the ceiling. “Is he okay up there on his own?”
“I’ve got him in the middle of my bed with pillows all around him. Jake said that would work.”
“Should we go up there and wait? In case he wakes up?”
“I don’t know. I’m out of my element here, Maz. I have to admit, he scares the shit out of me, and we’re going to have our own little guy in eight months.”
Mazey laughed. “I’m pretty sure ours won’t come out a toddler.”
“True. Still.”
“Come on. We’ll take our dinner upstairs.” She hopped off her stool and picked up her bowl and mug. “You can tell me about Jake while we’re up there.”
“Jake?”
“Yeah, I want to hear all about the guy you’ve been friends with your whole life.”
Could he talk about Jake? He’d written Jake off the second Renee had said the baby was his. He’d believed her, and obviously, it was true. But now that he looked back, should he have given his childhood friend a chance to explain?
He freely admitted he didn’t—hadn’t—loved Renee, if Jake had then who was he to get in the way of that? How much had his friend gone through in the last few years without Rylan beside him like they’d been their whole lives?
Rylan wasn’t sure what would happen when Jake got here, but one thing he did know was that he needed to listen to what his old friend had to say.
37
Mazey’s gaze bounced between the two men in front of her. “Wow.”
Jake chuckled. “Yeah, we’ve gotten that reaction all our lives.”
“You’re not related? At all?” Standing side by side, they looked like twins. No wonder she’d believed Rylan could be Maddox’s father. His real father held such a close resemblance to Rylan, it was scary. If she didn’t know Rylan so well, she’d get them confused.
“Not related.” Rylan slung his arm around her shoulders. “Maz, this is Jake. Jacob Conners, Mazey Novak.”
“Wait. You even have the same last name, but you’re not related?”
“Crazy, right?” Rylan shook his head. “Definitely not related, but the shared last name meant we were next to each other all the time in school.”
“You could pass for twins.”
“We might have done that once or twice,” Rylan said with a smile.
“Nice to meet you. Sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Jake said, his smile dimming.
“Same.” She held out her hand. “Could we offer you some dinner?”
Jake shook her hand, saying, “Yeah, please, I haven’t slept or eaten right in weeks.”
