AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She glances away, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“I guess I didn’t try to see it from your perspective.” I take a deep breath. “I’ve had four years to get used to the facts. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of making things right again. I thought you’d realize we belong together as soon as we meet again.”
Grace remains quiet. I’m normally good at reading people, but she’s completely opaque. Must be all that practice dodging people’s questions, hiding her real identity.
Jack coughs in his sleep, and Grace tends to him right away, checking that he’s okay.
I’ve imagined this before so many times, Grace and me and a baby, spending an afternoon together—only in my mind, the baby is mine.
Jealousy squeezes my chest as the thought of Grace with another man invades my mind. Whoever he is, he must’ve been a moron for letting someone like her go.
“Grace, I’m sorry.” I grasp her hand and smile when she lets me. “I was angry yesterday. But you’re right; it wasn’t your fault the war started, and it’s not your responsibility to end it.”
Her gaze softens.
“I guess I was also jealous that you had a baby,” I admit. “Obviously, you saw someone, and it was serious enough for you to have a kid together. This is going to sound dumb, but I, uh, haven’t seen anyone else since I met you.”
“No one? Not even a one night stand?” she asks, an incredulous frown creasing her forehead.
“None.”
Grace’s lips part. “I, um . . .”
“What is it?” I ask. “Go on. You can laugh at my dry spell.”
“It’s not that.” Her chest heaves as she fills her lungs with air. “I should apologize too.”
“What for?”
“I didn’t . . . I haven’t seen anyone either. Since that night at the club,” she blurts out as though she’s afraid she’ll change her mind about telling me halfway through.
She hasn’t . . .?
But that means . . .
My gaze flicks between Grace and Jack as a million thoughts rush through my mind.
The realization hits me like a freight train.
Jack . . . He’s . . .
Fuck.
I get up. I hear the sound of my chair hitting the tiled floor, but it’s so far away.
“Jack is . . . He’s mine?”
Grace nods, her eyes fixed on me.
That’s good news, right? I should be happy?
But as I grip the door handle and yank it open, my head spins violently. I drag air into my constricted lungs, letting the oxygen flood my system, hoping it’ll help quell the anger rising up inside me like an unstoppable tide.
My hands clench into fists. No. I need to rein myself in. There’s a baby—my baby—and I can’t have him wake up to the sight of me blowing up in a rage.
“Sorry,” I hear a soft whisper.
Sorry?
I have a baby, and I didn’t know about it for four years. Four fucking years I’ll never get back.
I missed his birth, his first word, his first step. A million moments slipped through my fingers without me even realizing it.
When the screaming in my head stops, I turn to find Grace and Jack already gone. The woman I love, and my firstborn son. My family.
I have a family.
And I need to find them. Lay my claim to them. Bring them home with me.
Get it fucking together.
I narrow my eyes and find the bright-green stroller on the sidewalk across the street, moving away from me. Grace’s hips tick from side to side as if to remind me I don’t have all the time in the world. She raises her hand up to her face. Is she wiping away her tears?
Breaking into a run, I catch up to them. “Grace.”
Grace’s eyes are red, and so is her nose, but she puts on a brave face. She probably didn’t want to cry in front of strangers in some ice cream shop. She’s too proud for that. She’s too proud to let me see her breaking down too.
“If you’re going to freak out, I’m going home,” she says. “Jack doesn’t need to see that.”
I run in front of the stroller and block her path. Jack’s still asleep. My son is still asleep. Anger flares hotly in my chest, but I can control the burn now.
“I agree he doesn’t need to see that,” I say through gritted teeth. “But I can’t let you just walk away after revealing something like that. You don’t get to walk away every time something gets difficult.”
Grace stares at me, unflinching.
“Look, I didn’t mean to scare him, and it looks like he’s still asleep, so no harm done, right?” I ask. “I’ll take you home. We’ll talk there.”
Grace opens her mouth but changes her mind and follows me toward the car. I didn’t think a car ride could possibly be quieter than the one before, but this one is. No one says a peep.
