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"Is she mine?"
I'd told myself when Claire was born that Lucas would never know the truth. He didn't deserve to. Not with how he'd disappeared on me. The lie arrived on my lips but faded before it came out of my mouth.
What was the point in pretending anymore? Claire was her own person, with decisions and thoughts of her own. She understood very clearly that I was both her mom and her dad.
I'd done this on my own without him. That he was the one who'd chosen to miss out on this amazing little human. I'd thought Lucas leaving was the worst thing that had ever happened to me...but as it turned out, it that didn't matter when I had Claire. Her brightness overcame the darkness.
Part of me wanted Lucas to understand what he'd lost by walking out on us. He deserved to know what he'd done.
"Yes."
His face rippled as if my word was a slap striking him across the face. Lucas stumbled backward. "T-that's why...that's why you broke up with me. Because...because you were pregnant? What the fuck, Olive?"
Lucas lunged for the door and ripped it open, storming out of my room with only one shoe on. I blinked, processing his words. What did he just say?
From the living room, Adam cleared his throat. "Lucas..."
"Did you know?" The strain in Lucas's voice was visible.
Adam didn't respond, and as I grabbed Lucas's other shoe, I emerged into the living room just as the front door slammed shut.
The color in my brother's face had drained. I didn't understand the expression of shock on his face, but I didn't have time to ask. I bolted for the front door and caught Lucas approaching the elevator at the end of the hall.
He turned when he saw me and lifted his hands up defensively. "Olive, I can't talk to you right now."
I didn't really care whether or not he needed to talk to me. But there was something I needed to understand, something I needed to get off my chest.
"Do you want your shoe?"
He glanced down at my hand and tentatively stepped forward, taking his shoe from me. Leaning against the wall, he slipped the shoe on and gave me a wary side-eyed glance.
"Why did you say that?"
His brows furrowed. "Why did I say what?"
"You said I broke up with you because I was pregnant. That never happened. You broke up with me because I was pregnant."
Lucas cocked his head, his lips pursing. "Olive..." His voice was shaky. "I didn't know you were pregnant."
My fists clenched, the veins in my neck pulsing. "You left me a note. You said you weren't ready to be a dad. You said you couldn't be with me anymore and that I shouldn't contact you."
His jaw dropped. "What are you talking about?" He pointed his finger at me. "You wrote me a note. You said that this wasn't working between us, that you weren't coming to visit me that summer. That you didn't love. Adam gave me the note on the last day of college."
"Adam?"
Adam. Holy fuck. My heart clenched, my bottom lip trembling. "The elevator's broken."
On that note, I spun on my heel and stormed toward my apartment.
Was this seriously happening? The door closed behind me, and I fell against it, my sudden anger replaced with utter disbelief. This couldn't be happening.
There was a clatter of glassware in the kitchen. I took two steps into my narrow foyer and peered left into the cramped kitchen. Adam was rummaging through the top cabinet and sighed as he found my bottle of Whiskey.
I didn't move as he grabbed one of Claire's plastic cups—the only clean ones I had—and poured himself a shot. He gulped it back and didn't hesitate as he poured one more. Except that this one, he didn't drink.
He froze, one hand on the bottle, one on the sippy cup, his eyes unfocused as he stared straight ahead at the cabinet in front of him.
I stepped into the kitchen, not looking at him as I grabbed the shot from his hand and drank it in one swig. Dropping the cup in the sink, I leaned my back against the cabinets and stared across the counter top into my carpeted living room littered with Claire's toys.
