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But I had my reasons for pushing him away, which were still valid. So, I would go through this alone. I had been alone my whole life. I knew how to do it on my own.
A part of me was jealous that Zoe had grown up with siblings. Two of them. She had had the siblings we were supposed to have had, even though they weren’t her siblings by blood. I had grown up alone. I didn’t know how I felt about everything. I would need to think about it a bit more, but I knew I didn’t feel amazing about everything.
Zoe and I talked more. We talked about her dreams and goals and hobbies. We talked about what schools we had attended. We laughed about how things had been so similar for us, even though we had never known about each other. It was because we were twins, of course. Or rather, because we had been part of a trio.
When we spoke about the third sister that hadn’t made it, we both fell quiet for a moment. What would it have been like if we had had her here, too? How would it have been different? We would never know, but I didn’t want either of us to forget that there had been a third sister. Even if we had only known about her for a very short time.
“We should do this again,” Zoe said when it was time to leave. “I really enjoyed spending time with you.”
“I enjoyed it, too,” I agreed. We exchanged contact details and agreed that we would arrange something in the near future. It was still awkward between us. Despite the facts we had found out about each other, we were strangers. It would take a lot of time with Zoe before she would feel like a friend, a sister.
We finally left after hugging awkwardly. I thanked Morgan for setting up the meeting, and the PI smiled.
“It’s wonderful when things work out this way,” she said. “I very often have cases that don’t end well, and it’s so sad.”
We parted ways, and I headed home. I had so much on my mind. Zoe had been a great person to meet, but the whole thing was disconcerting. Meeting someone that I was so closely related to, finding out how our lives had been different and how we were exactly the same, it was all so much to swallow.
But I was glad I had done it. I liked that I knew Zoe now. I didn’t know if we would keep contact or if we would become friends at all. We hadn’t grown up together. We lived different lives. We could have been on either side of the world, for all we had known about each other until now.
Now that we knew about each other, though, we could test the waters and explore the idea of a relationship.
When I arrived home, I listened to the messages on my machine. Brent’s voice filled my apartment.
Call me when you get this. I’m not going to let you push me away. We’re in this together, and we’re obligated to talk about it, at least. Meet up with me. Anytime, anywhere.
That was it. Nothing romantic, nothing emotionally charged that would make me feel like I had made a mistake pushing him away. And he still thought he could tell me what to do.
I deleted the message, shaking my head. He was my boss, and we’d started this affair with a bunch of rules, but that was over now. It had ended the moment I found out I was pregnant. It wasn’t a game anymore.
I texted Brent instead of phoning him back. I wasn’t going to let him try to persuade me.
I’ll see you at work tomorrow. We can talk there.
After getting the delivery notification, I opened my laptop. I had to start looking for a new job. I had to think about my future. I had considered adoption until now, but after meeting Zoe, I was painfully aware of what it could mean to give up my baby. And I realized I didn’t want to do that. Searching for a job meant I had to find something that would give me the kind of benefits I needed when I had a child. I needed to find something worth my while.
I had another life to consider above my own now.
Chapter 26
Brent
I waited for her in her office. I wasn’t going to let her slip by me again. I had asked her to phone me with a time we could meet, and she had texted me—not called—saying she would see me at work. She was being cocky. A part of me hated it. I was used to being in charge. A part of me loved it. She was so fucking sexy, and being defiant only pushed up her sex appeal.
But this wasn’t about how hot she was and how badly I wanted to fuck her. We had to talk about the baby and about where we were going to go from here. She couldn’t keep avoiding me, no matter how much she wanted to.
