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“Those boys are some—oh! Oh! Oh my goodness. Is it—Are you—Ian!” she yells, calling for my father as Zoey and I stifle laughter.
My mother walks over to us as my father swaggers into the hallway. Taking Zoey’s hands, my mother says, “Are you really together?”
Zoey smiles brightly. “It’s about time, don’t you think?”
“It damn sure is,” my father says, giving me a pat on the shoulder.
“When did this happen?” Mom asks.
“A couple of weeks ago,” Zoey says. “We wanted to wait to tell everyone else until after we told the boys.”
“I’m so happy. Happy my baby finally found someone deserving of his love.” Mom gently pats my cheek as Zoey looks up at me, eyes dancing, telling me,I told you so.
I squeeze Zoey’s hand and push down the fear, the nagging voice inside me telling me what I know I can’t give her, the part of me that keeps wondering if I’ll still be enough once she knows that.
Chapter 9
Luke
Irubfingersovermy eyes, then quickly stand up, flexing my neck and stretching. My body is tight from staring at this stupid computer screen too long. I’m seriously debating asking George, a jack-of-all-trades businessman, to handle some of this stuff for me. I’ll happily pay him whatever he wants. We can afford it now. And I’m tired of this crap. Cece and Caroline handle all the social media aspects of the business, at least, which is good because I hate social media in every way.
I sit back down in my chair and take a few deep breaths. I need to be centered before my next appointment. The person getting a tattoo is some kind of secret. It’s not totally surprising, I’ve been asked to sign NDAs before. Could be some sort of celebrity passing through, could be some billionaire who likes his privacy, or it could be someone paranoid. Hard to say. Either way, I’ve been told they already have the design they want, and it’s small, so it’ll be done today in one session.
After about ten minutes of deep breathing, I’m feeling calmer. There’s a knock on my office door. Assuming it’s Caroline—because Cece would be in here already—I say, “Come in.”
The door swings open, but it’s not Caroline.
So much for the meditative breathing.
“What are you doing here?” I growl.
My ex-wife shuts the door behind her and smiles at me. It’s a wretched sort of smile. The kind she always used in our marriage when she wanted me to do something for her. She never asked. It always came with some sort of threat. Often times, that was divorce. Frankly, I wish I would’ve let her carry that one out much sooner.
“I came to say hello. Check in. It’s been a while.”
“Isn’t that the point of a divorce?”
“Always so prickly. Are you mad at me or still hung up on me?” she mocks.
“Neither. I just don’t particularly like you, and I don’t want to talk to you.”
She inhales sharply, ready to drop whatever bomb she came with. I know she’s not here for any good reason. Cece must still be out getting lunch because she never would’ve let her in the building. I make a note to put up her picture at the front of the office to make sure no one else ever lets her in here again.
“Well, I came to tell you the happy news.”
“Happy news?” I grumble, trying to busy myself with the business stuff that I hated fifteen minutes ago. Now it sounds like a trip to Disney World compared to this.Disney. Huh.Maybe Zoey and I should take the boys to Disney. I bet they’d love it.
“Yes. You aren’t on social media, so you don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?” I force my eyes back to her and that’s when I see her rubbing a prominent bump on her stomach.
She’s pregnant.
I can’t deny it’s a punch in the gut. I knowI’mnot the reason for the end of our marriage. Nor was us being unable to conceive a child together. We were never the right match. Clearly, she was always going to blame me for everything. But her coming here and throwing it in my face? It hits right where it’s supposed to.
I do my best to be the man my mother raised me to be. Forcing a calm look, I say, “Congratulations. I didn’t realize you were with someone else.”
“Oh, I’m not. I’m doing this all on my own with a little help from the local sperm bank. Seems like that’s all it took.”
