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“But he said there is one very important thing he needed before he went,” her mother continued. She was holding something behind her back, and when she pulled her hand out, she was holding a popsicle.
“Yay!” Owen exclaimed, clearly delighted.
“Mom, do you mind hanging out with Owen for a second?” Mallory asked.
“Sure,” she said. “Here you go, buddy.”
Mallory crossed to the door and opened it, and I followed her out, taking one last glance behind me at the little boy now happily licking the Bomb Pop and kicking his feet. The ice pack fell off his head, and his grandmother grabbed it, kissing his bruise before putting it back.
“I swear I was going to tell you,” Mallory said as soon as the door was shut.
I nodded and pointed behind her where there was a little private waiting room. She turned and saw it and then looked back at me before heading that way. As soon as we were in it, I shut the door behind us.
“I was going to tell you,” Mallory repeated, and I could see she was holding back tears.
“But you didn’t,” I said.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. Her eyes glistened, and I knew she was on the verge of crying openly.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” I asked. “We were still talking then.”
She dropped her shoulders and looked up, as if trying to find answers in the ceiling. Then she threw herself down onto the couch, grabbing a pillow to clutch to her chest. I moved to the chair beside it and sat down, leaning forward over my knees.
“We were both so busy,” she said. “Especially you. You were in the middle of a pennant race. People were talking about awards for you. I didn’t want to interfere with that. Especially with us not knowing where we stood with each other. It got harder and harder to get ahold of you, and the time between our phone calls and texts started getting further and further apart.” She shrugged and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her shirt, using the palm of her hand to pull it up.
“What?” I asked, knowing there was something else.
“I thought you probably had a bunch of other girlfriends.”
That took me aback. Actually, it pissed me off. I was offended at the very idea I would be that kind of guy, much less that kind of guy and dishonest about it.
“That’s not who I am,” I said. “I would never do something like that. I thought you of all people would have known that. I would have been there for you. For Owen. I would have been there every single step of the way.”
“Well, I didn’t know that then,” she said, looking down at her hands.
“I thought we really had something,” I said. Anger and confusion and hurt were bubbling up in my chest and colliding with the life changing thought that kept rolling around in my mind.
I was afather. I hada child.
“I did too,” she said.
“I… I need some time to think,” I said.
Before she could object, I was out of the door and heading back to the elevator. I paused, very briefly, to look into the room where Owen was. His grandmother’s back was turned as she sat on the bed in front of him. He was listening to her tell him something and didn’t see me.
I moved on, heading to the elevator and down to the main floor. By the time I realized where I was, I had driven back to Ryan’s house in a daze and was walking in the front door. Ryan took one look at me and then turned to Allison and said something quietly to her. She nodded and walked off, gathering up Leo and disappearing into one of the rooms.
“You all right, man?” Ryan asked.
“Mallory,” I said. “Mallory Taylor.”
“The redhead? The one that went to New York to act and teaches at the high school now?”
“That’s her,” I said.
“What about her?”
“I met her in New York while I was playing. We spent a week together.” He nodded. “I just found out she had my kid.”
