AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dinner is a loud affair because Zayn keeps asking Mila questions and some answers she gives clearly, some are nonsensical, and others are just bizarre.
She is four.
What does he expect?
However, he seems content with the conversation, amused and yet so very patient. Once Mila is put to bed, he lingers in the kitchen.
“What?” I say abruptly, feeling him stare at me from where he lounges on the chair as I put the dishes away. “You’re staring at me.”
“Yes, I suppose I am,” Zayn says leisurely.
My hand clenches on the plate that I am ho
lding. “Stop then. It’s creepy.”
“You’ve raised her well,” he finally says.
I look over my shoulder at him, eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Stop sounding so shocked.”
He shrugs. “I wasn’t expecting her to be this normal. Or for you to be so domesticated.”
I feel a flare of anger, and I turn around to face him. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He is unaffected by my tone. “You weren’t exactly a very maternal person, Eve. You’ve changed a lot. You’re calmer, more together.”
I bare my teeth at him. “I can still break a bottle over your head for old time’s sake.”
The corner of his lips tugs up unexpectedly. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing or a good thing. It is just an observation.”
I turn around to put the glasses on the drying rack, muttering, “Well, keep them to yourself. I’m not interested in hearing them.”
I am a different person.
Getting pregnant and then kicked out by my family hadn’t exactly been easy for me. It was a rough road, and it straightened me out some. I had to make major alterations in my life plan. My pregnancy wasn’t a walk in the park, either.
And then when Mila came along, I suddenly realized that I was responsible for another human life. Books about parenthood were the only thing I was reading in the first two years, not wanting to screw up.
“Was it hard?”
The question is quiet, and I turn around to see Zayn studying the pictures on the fridge, the ones that Mila drew and I put up. His long fingers trace the drawings, fascination burning brightly in his eyes.
“Was what hard?” I know what he is asking, but I want him to be more specific.
He gives me a look. “The pregnancy. Raising Mila by yourself.”
I lean back against the sink, my hands holding on to the edge for purchase. “I wasn’t alone. I had Ron.”
Zayn stiffens.
“Mila’s pretty close to Ron, huh?”
My lips curve. “Of course. He helped me raise her. He’s the one constant male figure she has in her life. He’s seeing Mark these days, and it's pretty serious, so she’s got to know him as well.”
I see the darkening in Zayn’s eyes, and I purse my lips. “She knows he’s not her father, Zayn. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. She sees him more as an uncle.”
He takes a step towards me. “And you?”
I blink. “Me what?”
