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“Yeah sure.” Jeff walked beside her. “It’s wild how quickly this place clears out at the end of the games. Considering how many kids are always running around her doing stuff, you’d think they’d linger more on the fields.”
She scanned the now empty diamond. “I’m sure the little guys take longer to clear out.”
“Sometimes.”
Kia could feel him watching her, waiting for her to talk. This was so much harder than she’d anticipated. She dropped onto the vacant bleacher and Jeff sat beside her. He turned toward her. “So, you gonna tell me why you’re here?”
“Um yeah.” She clasped her hands together in her lap. Took a deep breath and blurted, “Max is your son.”
Chapter Four
“What?”Jeffjumpedup.How the fuck could he be Max’s dad? Yeah, it was a while ago, but he distinctly remembered using protection. He wasn’t an idiot. He never played without a glove. He was always safe. No matter what. A kid was impossible.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just sprung it on you like that.” Kia stood up beside him on the bleachers and placed her hand on his arm. “Can you sit down please so we can talk?”
The last thing he wanted to do was sit. He scanned the fields, his body urging him to run, to escape. He took a shaky breath and exhaled. Running wasn’t an option. He needed to hear Kia out. He took another deep breath, then sat on the bleacher. Putting some space between them, he slid a few more inches away from her. His body vibrated as his heart pounded in his chest. He couldn’t have a kid.
“I know this is a lot. And I’m sorry,” Kia said.
“A lot? You think? Jesus, Saskia, what the fuck?”
She winced. “I’m sorry. I meant to ease into telling you. I just panicked and the words flew out.”
He angrily dragged his fingers through his hair as he tried to wrestle with everything that was running through his mind. “Maybe you should have eased into telling me when you were pregnant. Maybe that would have been a helpful time to tell me.”
“I tried to, but I didn’t know how to find you.”
“We fucked at my house, Saskia. You knew exactly where to find me.” This was bullshit. It’s not like he was hidden from public view. She could have found him at any time over the past five years. Jesus. Six years if she’d told him when she was actually pregnant.
“I went to your house. You’d moved and no one knew where you were.”
Was she kidding with this shit? “Plenty of people knew where to find me. I wasn’t exactly in fucking witness protection. I went to play baseball. I told you that.”
She winced. “I thought you were just making it up about playing in the minor leagues. You worked for a moving company, Jeff. That doesn’t scream professional ballplayer.”
“I didn’t lie to you.”
“Obviously I know that now.” She fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “When I found out I was pregnant, I went to your old place, but you no longer lived there.” She looked up at him. Her face pleaded with him to understand. “We didn’t exactly exchange last names or phone numbers or anything. It was a one-night stand.” She sighed. “I tried to find you. Your neighbors just said you’d moved somewhere. I even called your old boss. All they’d tell me was you quit. That’s it. What was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. Something.” He closed his eyes and covered his mouth with his palms like a prayer. What else did he expect her to do? Honestly, it sounded like she’d tried to tell him she was pregnant.
He had a kid. His heart rate picked up the pace again, pounding violently in his chest. He pushed his index fingers into the bridge of his nose as he tried to slow his brain down so he could think.
Kia sat silently beside him.
After several minutes, he opened his eyes and turned to her. “Max is my son?”
She nodded. “He is.”
“You’re sure he’s mine?”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “He’s yours.” She squared her shoulders. “But we can do a paternity test if you don’t believe me.”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. This is just a lot.” He ran his palm across his mouth. “I’m playing catch-up here. You gotta give me a minute.”
“Of course.” She picked at a piece of loose string on her sleeve. “Maybe we should just table this for today and give you some time to process everything. Give you a chance to figure out what kind of role you want to have in Max’s life, and we can meet in a couple of days or something.”
“What do you mean, what kind of role I want to have? I’m his dad. That’s the role I want to have.” His stomach rolled. He felt a little sick. How the fuck was this his life?
