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Cheyenne opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again a few times before she finally said, “It’s not like I had some sort of attachment to either of my parents, so finding out that one of them, a man that I don’t even remember, may not actually be my parent, isn’t that upsetting. But it feels strange and unsettling. It’s like it doesn’t change anything and it changes everything at the same time.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve had my suspicions for a while now. The man my mother was writing to came to see my grandparents several times and was even at my high school and college graduations.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I recognized him at my father’s funeral.”
“Did you ask your grandparents about him?”
“No.” Cheyenne shook her head.
I wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t. From what I remembered, they were intimidating people…and that was coming from the daughter of Miles Santini, who was regularly described in trade articles as ruthless, cunning, heartless, and cutthroat. And those were the ones that were complimentary.
“Are you going to ask…this man?” I realized that I had no idea who the man might be.
Cheyenne bit her bottom lip. “There’s just been a lot of changes lately and I’m not really sure how to feel about any of them. Plus, I’m not sure I want to know the truth.”
Our drinks and sandwiches came out and we started to eat.
“Actually,” Cheyenne said decisively as she put her sandwich down. “I do want to know the truth. I’m just not sure if I want him to know that I know. I feel like I’ve been in the dark about so much for so long and I’m tired of it. If I confront him then I’m showing my hand. Does that make sense?”
“Why don’t you have a DNA sample of one of your brothers compared to yours? At least then you’ll know if you have a different father or not.”
Her face brightened. “That’s a great idea.”
“I can get the results fast-tracked. Santini Industries holds majority shares in Callum Labs. They specialize in genetics.”
“Oh my gosh, that would be amazing! Thank you!”
“Don’t worry about it.” It was the least I could do for the friendship she’d extended to me in school. “I’ll have the test kits overnighted and then once we get the samples from you and your brothers, I should be able to have some answers within forty-eight hours.”
“Awesome! At least I think it is. I’m pretty sure my brothers will agree to give a DNA sample.”
I felt my cheeks flush when she mentioned DNA and her brother in the same sentence, since I probably had some of his DNA on my person.
“Good, I feel good about this.” Cheyenne beamed. “For better or worse, it’s always best to know the truth.”
I nodded even as guilt crept up in me. I’d never been a person who kept secrets. In fairness, I’d never had a secret before, or people to keep it from. Now that I did, I guessed I was that sort of person.
I felt bad about not being totally honest with Jimmy about my health situation, and for not telling Cheyenne that I’d already known Jimmy before “meeting” him at the bar, and that I’d seen him last night.
Oh, and that he’d asked to see me again tonight.
“Oh, look.” She pointed out the window and I turned to see two stunning women, one with dark hair and the other light hair. “There’s Reagan and her friend Nadia! Come on, I want to introduce you.”
As uncomfortable as I was meeting new people, I was relieved for the interruption. I just needed more time to figure out if I was going to tell Jimmy about my condition, and how to tell Cheyenne about Jimmy.
“Hey, there young ladies!” The man from the Ferris wheel greeted Cheyenne and me as we passed. “You just can’t stay away from those Comforts, can ya?” he asked me with a wink.
Cheyenne looked over her shoulder at me.
“Anytime you and Jimmy want to come back and ride, it’s on the house.” He grinned widely.
Cheyenne’s brows rose. It looked like my time was up. It was confession time.
Well…at least one confession.
