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Maybe that was how I missed out on all the baby fever. Mark and Violet would’ve been bit bad. They’d always wanted grandkids. Jesus, how had I missed it? Aside from my thing with Maggie… Mark was my best friend. This was a huge milestone in his life. To have paid so little attention—it seemed that whether I meant it or not, I was a real asshole to the people that I was supposed to care about the most.
What made it all worse was that I was pretty sure… well, it might be arrogant of me, but I’d seen the kid. I’d seen what she looked like. That, plus how old she seemed to be… I could be wrong, but I suspected I was the baby’s father.
Violet poked her head in. “Table’s all set, boys, come and get it! And Cal, you need to properly meet Fern!”
Fern. That was the girl’s name. It was a soft, sweet name, just unusual enough to make her stand out but nothing too crazy that would get her laughed at. It was the sort of name that made you think the person was a poet. The perfect name.
Dammit, two seconds of knowing the kid existed and I was getting all soft. This did not bode well. I wasn’t even sure that she was my kid. I hoped she was, I thought she was, but I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t be, until I spoke to Maggie.
Dinner was… awkward. Well, Mark and Violet probably didn’t see it that way. They did most of the talking—and so did Fern, full of energy and ready to inflict all of her best stories on this strange new man. I listened appropriately, but it was hard to choke any food down when I could see my own eyes staring back at me. My eyes had always been a bit unusual, and now it was extremely disconcerting to see a color that I’d only ever seen in the mirror, now staring back at me from across a dining room table.
Fern was also happy to tell me that she was four years old. As if I needed any more confirmation. Her age matched almost exactly. So unless Maggie had gone out and been with someone right after me… I couldn’t have blamed her if she had, but I doubted it. Maggie didn’t seem the type to have a fling, even if it was as a rebound to get over someone else.
I had no idea how to feel about this—I had never considered having a kid. Had never considered having a family like that. Now I had one, whether I liked it or not. What was I supposed to do about that?
While Mark and Violet were getting the pie, I took my chance, leaning into Maggie. Maybe it was forward of me, but I couldn’t beat around the bush. I had to know.
“Maggie.”
She looked at me, and fuck, she was lovely. How had I ever made the mistake of giving her up?
“Who is Fern’s father?”
Maggie stared at me, her expression staying the same, but her face went a bit pale.
“I can tell from her eyes,” I went on. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”
Maggie looked away from me, towards the kitchen where her parents were.
“We need to talk—”
“I need to give Fern a bath after dinner, and put her to bed,” Maggie said. Her voice was a whisper but there was nothing soft about it. Nothing soft about her towards me. It hurt, and made me realize just how soft towards me she had been, once.
“We need to talk,” I insisted. “Tonight.”
“Fine.” Maggie looked at me again. “If you’re set on it. I’ll go to your place after I get Fern settled.”
I leaned back in my chair as Mark and Violet returned, but I didn’t relax. I was going to get answers, one way or another, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like them.
6
Maggie
I knocked on Cal’s door. My stomach was in so many knots I was pretty sure that I was in serious danger of throwing up all of my Thanksgiving dinner. I shouldn’t have eaten so much, but I hadn’t wanted to say anything either, hadn’t wanted to contribute to the conversation with Cal there, so I’d just eaten instead to give myself an excuse in case my parents wondered why I was so quiet.
For all of my careful planning, this day had finally come. I had always known that it would come, someday. Cal and my parents lived too close to one another, and they were best friends. It was bound to happen. But I’d tried to put it off for as long as I could, and I’d hoped… I’d hoped that I could put it off long enough that when the day finally came, I wouldn’t have any feelings for Cal anymore. I would be able to look at him and feel nothing.
