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I swallow. “Only what Noah told me. It was bad. Your dad was violent. Your mom wasn’t around, and when she finally reconnected with you both, she got ill and passed.”
“Yep, that’s about the size of it. I always did my best to protect Noah from that evil bastard. I’d take the beatings so Noah didn’t have to. I’d purposefully make Dad angry if he started going at Noah so he’d focus on me instead.”
“Oh, Miles. That’s awful.”
“The awful part is what it does to a kid’s mind. It makes him believe he might end up like his old man if he wants kids when he grows up. He might end up just as evil.”
“No. Way.” I shake my head. “You’d never hit a child.”
“No,” he says, nodding. “I’d die or kill before I did that. I can’t imagine the sickness it takes, hitting yourowngoddamn kid. Hitting any kid is evil, but your own? The child who came from you?”
“It’s so deranged,” I whisper, “but you’re not him.”
“That was my reason for a long time, but as I got older and became successful, I got some distance between me and my childhood. Then it was simply a matter of never finding the right woman.”
“And if you did?” I whisper. He smiles, the same one aimed at the family when they crossed the street.
“Then I’d have a whole bunch of them. A happy house, with siblings looking out for each other, but it won’t be like with Noah and me. They’ll protect each other from normal things. Arguments at school, failed tests, things like that. Not violence. Never that.”
“Well,Iknow you’d make an amazing father.”
“Thanks, Layla. Really. That means a lot.”
As we drive, I smooth my hands over my belly, a habit I can’t break. It’s like I’m waiting for our baby to start kicking.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Miles
“Whoa, we’re really goingmiles, aren’t we?”
I laugh, looking across at her. We’ve left the city, driving in the opposite direction to the suburbs where Layla lives. The road is empty. The forest borders us on one side and large fields on the other.
“How long have you been waiting to say that?”
She grins. “I was waiting for the best moment.”
“As far as puns go, that was up there.”
We smile together, and I think about her friend’s advice about forgetting our problems and simply enjoying this. We haven’t talked more about kids, but I can’t stop thinking about it, going over her words and her passion for a family. We both want the same thing, a house full of happy, smiling children. That would mean getting married. The world would have to know who she belongs to. Can we do that?
Legally, I know it’s possible, but Noah, Elena, and… No, screw this. The date is all that matters.
“Are you ready to drop your bombshell yet?” I ask.
“It’s not much of a bombshell. I think you’re smart enough to work it out.”
“Do you want me to guess?”
“It’s not rocket science.”
“You told me I must’ve had chances over the years to be with a woman, date, and go further.”
“Yeah?”
“The same applies to you. You’re beautiful. You can’t tell me nobody has ever been interested.”
“A few, sure, but I never wanted them. This is my first real date, hence the giddiness. Do you see what I’m driving at here?”
