Page 23 of More Than Friends

Charlotte’s here, and it isn’t fair of me to ask this of her, but I need her help.

“Hi,” Charlotte says, her tone unsure. She steps into the house and closes the door behind her before taking a step toward me.

“Hi,” I respond, giving her a small smile. I’ve been calling her for an hour now, needing to tell her about what’s happened, but now that she’s here, I don’t even know how to tell her how much my life has changed since she left this morning.

I take a moment just to look at her before she notices the formula canister in my hand or the baby on the floor on the other side of the island from where she stands. She’s still dressed in her Pembroke Hills uniform, and she’s pulled her hair out of herface using a clip. Her cheeks are a little pink from the sun, and her blue eyes watch me carefully as she walks toward me.

“I hadn’t heard from you today and…” Her words trail off as she rounds the corner of the island and her eyes land on Ava.

“Um…” It’s quiet for a moment as she just stares at Ava. “Jude, why is there a baby in your kitchen?”

THIRTEEN

CHARLOTTE

I don’t knowwhere to look. A million different questions run through my mind as my eyes dart between Jude and the baby lying on the ground, who looks almost identical to him.

Jude whistles before tucking his hands into his pockets. He pulls his gaze away from me to stare adoringly at the baby for a moment before meeting my stare once again. “So,” he begins, taking a deep breath. “I don’t really know how else to say this. It’s been a crazy morning, and I still haven’t really even processed what’s happening, but it turns out that I have a daughter.”

I blink.

And then I blink again.

“I have a daughter.”

The comment runs through my mind on a loop as I try to make sense of what he’s just said. I don’t think I heard him correctly. There’s no way I heard him correctly. And yet, I know I did because the baby on the ground, kicking her feet and cooing, looks exactly like him.

“A…a daughter?” I manage to get out.

I focus on Jude, trying to push all the questions running through my mind away and instead wait for him to explain before I try to fill in the blanks myself.

He nods as his shoulders rise and fall with a deep breath. “This morning, I woke up to someone knocking on the door. When I realized you weren’t…” He stops and clears his throat for a moment before running a hand over his mouth. He doesn’t finish at first, but I realize I know exactly what he was going to say.

When he woke up and found out I wasn’t here anymore. I blush, wondering what he remembers from last night.

“When I realized you weren’t here, I thought the person at the door was you,” he continues. “And then I was shocked to find out it wasn’t you. It was…” He pauses, and I wait for him to continue, hanging on every word of his story so I can try to make sense of the fact that he apparently has a child.

His eyes scan my face carefully. His features are tight, his lips pulled together in a straight line as if he’s unsure if he should tell me the next words or not. “It was someone I had a one-night stand with over a year ago. It was right before I met you, actually. She informed me today that the baby is mine and that she didn’t want the baby—Ava—at all.”

I can’t hide the gasp that leaves my lips. I bring my fingers to my mouth, wondering if my gasp was as loud as I think it was. Jude’s daughter lets out a little squeal, drawing my attention to her.

Sadness washes over me as his words sink in. She has a mom who doesn’t want her. As someone who has the best mom in the world and who’s always dreamed about eventually becoming a mother, it’s hard to process that Ava’s mother doesn’t want to be involved in her life. I swallow, trying to make sense of his words. Surely I misunderstood him. “I don’t understand,” I confess. “What do you mean she didn’t want Ava at all?”

“I mean, she told me she didn’t want to go through with the pregnancy at first but had Ava anyway, hoping that it would change her mind. But she realized that she didn’t want to be a mother and thought it’d be better if I took her.”

“She’s hermom. How did she just decide now that she doesn’t want her daughter?” I shake my head, looking over at the squealing baby on the ground. She continues to keep herself entertained by kicking her feet.

“Except she did decide that,” Jude offers, taking a step closer to me. It’s only now that I notice he’s holding what looks like a can of formula in his hand. “She said she’d sign over all parental rights to me.”

“Holy shit,” I mutter, not knowing what else to say. This is too much to process at once. I can’t even imagine what Jude is feeling right now.

Jude chuckles before pointing a finger at me. “Don’t cuss around my daughter.” He wears a lopsided smile, his words more teasing than they are serious.

My mouth falls open. “Your daughter. God, Jude, you have adaughter.”

Jude nods, his eyes moving to Ava’s moments before mine do. “I know I’ll have to do a paternity test, and there will be a million hoops to jump through to really make sure no one can take her from me once it’s confirmed, but is it weird that I already know she’s mine?”

“She looks just like you.” I walk over to Ava and crouch down in front of her. She smiles the moment she sees me, showing off the same deep dimples that her father has.