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My mouth dried out, and I flung my hand out to grip Eric’s arm.
She lowered her voice, but it was still loud enough to hear over the twenty feet separating us. “He’s yours. That’s your son.”
With Thor-strength, I smacked my chest to restart it beating.
Chapter Two
Eric’s hand flew to my back and caught me before I fell. Just this morning, I had discovered I was pregnant, and my plan had been to tell Mitch tonight over our special anniversary dinner, but how could I tell him now?
Mitch stood frozen in place. He hadn’t yet blinked or swallowed.
After nudging Eric, I too, was unable to move.
How could that boy be Mitch’s? Aside from the same kind of hair, they looked nothing alike. The boy had the same shape of face as his mother’s, if anything, the boy was a male image of her. Not of my boyfriend. And they were American, where Mitch was as Canadian as could be.
It wasn’t possible.
It couldn’t be.
Had to be a mistake.
“Why don’t you come over and say hi to Jackson, Mitchy?”
He blinked rapidly but slowly moved his gaze from the woman who stood a few inches shorter than him, over to the boy – his son. Allegedly. The Adam’s Apple bobbed, and he cleared his throat. “Uh, hey there, little guy.”
However, his gaze didn’t remain on the boy. For a heartbeat it flickered to me, and behind those dark blue eyes, I saw fear. Unbridled fear.
Eric walked over to the three of them. “Why don’t you sit over in the waiting area there and take a minute to breathe.”
He pointed to the long couch and a couple of boxy chairs management put out for the guests, however, they were rarely used. Jackson’s sitting on them was giving them more love than they’d received in a long while.
I stepped back and leaned heavily on the top of my desk, unable to fully comprehend what was going on. Mitch, my Mitch, had a kid? With someone else? But I was going to be the one to tell him tonight. And now this other lady has arrived, unannounced, and totally dropped the bomb on my boyfriend. On us, really. Judging by the terror in Mitch’s eyes and the worry all over his face, having a child wasn’t in his future plans and my heart broke knowing that.
Eric walked back over to my desk. “Didn’t see that coming.”
Mitch sat on the arm of one of the chairs, while Jasmine fell into one of the seats and Jackson opened his backpack and took out some toy cars, zooming them all over the floor.
“I know I’m just dropping this whole situation on you, but I needed you to sign off on a few documents.” Jasmine tried sounding sympathetic, but it wasn’t working to soften Mitch at all.
He remained ramrod straight, still pale, and no discernable expression on his face. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was true shock.
“Eric?” My own voice quivered as I spoke.
He was back at the desk, his pen scratching across the papers. He glanced up quickly. “Yeah?”
“Is he going to be okay?” I whispered from the side of my mouth as I couldn’t bare to tear my focus away from my man.
His focus flew over to Mitch. “I think it’ll take a bit for the news to sink in, but yeah.”
“He doesn’t look good.”
“His whole world just flipped upside down.” The pen tapped against the desk. “Imagine what that would do to you?”
It had. This morning, at 6:46 am. I was late, so yesterday I took a leisurely drive to the next town over to buy a pregnancy test. I knew everyone at the local drugstore, and if they sawwhat I was purchasing, gossip would spread faster than wildfire. Small towns talk. A lot. And they don’t forget, something my new friend Lily had learned the hard way.
“How’s Lily doing?” Lily, Eric’s girlfriend, was due any day with her first child. The child wasn’t Eric’s, but he said he was going to treat it like it was. No doubt, he was going to be a great dad.
“She’s good. Tired. Slept a lot yesterday.”
