“Wow.”So Gen had told Bella about him but hadn’t managed to tell him about her.Unbelievable.He nodded, trying to not take his resentment out on Gen’s daughter.His daughter?
He thrust out a hand.“Hi.I’m…”pretty sure I’myour father.He swallowed those words.“Kyle.”
Bella eyed his hand doubtfully, then briefly touched her palm to his.
His daughter.Hisdaughter.Why had Gen never said anything?Anger flared.His gaze shifted to Gen, his eyes narrowing.And maybe she recognized his anger because she seemed to shrink.
“Please.We can talk about this inside.”Gen glanced around, as if wanting to avoid being the subject of the neighbors’ speculation.
Well, too bad.After Minnie had left earlier, he’d had quite an interesting chat to Marco, the sports fan across the street, and discovered all kinds of things.
Like the fact the trio of Rivas females kept to themselves.That they’d lived here for five years.That both women worked hard, for long hours.Which meant that occasionally, during school vacation, the kid was left by herself during the day.
Anger had flared.“Who leaves a kid for hours alone?”Wasn’t that illegal?
“I keep an eye on her,” Marco volunteered.“We all do.Bella is pretty smart.Never any trouble.”
He’d had to bite his tongue, sure his shock was going to make him say something unwise.
He’d left Marco wondering aloud about just which hockey player he might look like, and returned to his car, waiting, as every second his doubts tangled with his fears.Fears that now were fully realized.
He followed Bella and Gen inside, and just as it looked from outside, so it continued its aged seventies feel inside.It was clean, tidy, but worn holes in the carpet and a taped-over window crack suggested that there wasn’t much spare money.
Was this what Gen had meant when she talked about her mother sacrificing so much for her?Suddenly it all made so much more sense.
Gen waved him to the living area, and he lowered himself into an ancient sofa that was about a million times the opposite of his apartment’s leather couch.He was pretty sure a spring had poked him in the butt.He shifted, eliciting a squeak, his gaze falling to those flowers he’d delivered earlier.
It felt like a lifetime ago.A delivery made with hope-filled promise to a woman he obviously didn’t really know.
His gaze lifted to where Bella continued to stare at him seriously.She really was the perfect mix of both of them.Gen’s features, his eyes.Gen’s slightly olive-toned skin, his hair.
His gaze veered to Gen.“She’s—?”He lifted his brows.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Mom?What’s going on?Why is he here?”
“Um, Bella, honey, would you mind going to your room?I need to talk to your—to Kyle for a moment first.”
“Is he the one you and Grandma were arguing about this morning?”
Gen bit her lip, jerked her head.
He folded his arms, sank back against the hard vinyl.Well, at least Gen thought he was worth arguing about.He didn’t think Minnie Rivas would ever be on his side.
Bella bit her lip, in an action so like Gen’s he had to bite his own tongue to stop himself from pointing it out.This was crazy.He didn’t have the capacity to filter so much of what probably shouldn’t be said.
He waited until Bella left the room then raised his eyebrows at Gen again.
She stared back at him, her expression miserable.The opposite of last night when she’d wanted more.
“She’s definitely mine?”
She dipped her chin.“I’m so sorry.I know I should’ve said something.I tried to last night—”
“You didn’t try very hard, Gen,” he snapped.“Let’s see, you had ten years to tell me.Ten”—he bit back a swear word—“freakin’ years.”
She shook her head.“I’m sorry.”
