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“What about Billy?” Clara asked.
I shrugged. “What evidence does he have?”
“The birth certificate, for one thing.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I have a way to get that back without a problem.”
Clara reached across the table and took my hand in hers. “Derek. Are yousureyou want to do this?”
I smiled. “More certain than I’ve ever been about anything, Clara.” I felt my smile waver. “As long as you would want to keep dating someone who has an infant.”
Now it was Clara’s turn to have tears in her eyes. “Of course I would! And I want to help you take care of him!”
“Good,” I said, “because I’m going to need the help.”
I wanted to lean across the table and kiss her, but her mom was watching us from the counter. And out of all the drama happening today, I’m sure Clara didnotwant to have to explain to her mother about how she was being shared by me, Jordan, and Taylor.
Instead of hugging, we all leaned across the booth and shared an awkward three-person hug. The women were crying, and the onions in the kitchen were bothering my eyes again.
“So, you’ve been helping take care of the baby?” Melanie asked Clara.
She nodded. “For the last two weeks.”
“It’s a funny story, but Anthony is kind of the reason we started dating,” I explained. “He brought us together.”
“That’s amazing!” Melanie let out an exhausted laugh. “I was kind of wondering who you were, and what your affiliation with the fire station was.”
I frowned. “Wait a minute. You didn’t know who Clara was?”
Melanie blinked. “No. Should I?”
“Well, you insisted we meet here at Tony’s Pizza, so I assumed that was because of Clara’s involvement with the baby.”
Melanie looked at her, then at me. “What does this pizza place have to do with you?”
Clara and I shared a worried glance. Something wasn’t right here.
“Whydidyou insist on meeting here?” Clara asked carefully.
“It’s a silly story,” Melanie said awkwardly.
“Tell us anyway,” I insisted. “We promise not to judge you.”
“Well…” Melanie blushed. “It started when I found out I was pregnant. This was before I told my parents, so I made Jake—that’s my ex-boyfriend, the biological father of Anthony—I made him drive me to a pregnancy center far away from Fresno, to make sure nobody would recognize us.”
“Oh, you went to the one two blocks north of here?” Clara asked.
Melanie nodded. “That’s where we took the first sonogram or ultrasound or whatever. The procedure where you see the baby on the blurry screen. We were both kind of freaked out afterward, so we came here to get pizza and talk about it. Jake wanted me totake careof the baby, if you know what I mean, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. We had a big fight over it. It kind of caused a commotion in this place. Jake said he had to get his wallet out of the car so he could pay for the pizza, but then… He drove off and left me here.”
“He left you?” Clara asked. “What an asshole!”
Melanie smiled. “Hewasan asshole. I’m glad he made it obvious then, because it was easy to break up with him after that. So I was here, alone and scared. That’s when the owner of this place came up to me. At least, Ithinkhe was the owner of this place. His name was Tony, like the restaurant, so I assumed.”
Next to her, Clara suddenly froze. But Melanie kept going like she didn’t notice.
“He was a frail little man. I think he was Italian, but he spoke really good English. I thought he was going to demand that I pay, but he wasso nice. He sat down and asked if I was okay. My hormones were already going crazy, because I broke down and told him everything. Every single detail, like he was my own personal therapist. I must have rambled for at least ten minutes, but he didn’t leave or interrupt me. He justlistened.”
Clara’s mouth was hanging open, now.
