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“Are you going to tell your parents?” Miles asks.
Silence fills the room. I’m going to disappoint my dad. Everyone knows it. The man lectures me constantly about settling down and how I’m asking to be put in the position I’ve now found myself in. He’s going to tell me he told me so.
“I’m going to call them. I just wanted to make sure it was for sure. I thought about keeping it from them, but my mom would be crushed. As it is, Adeline is six months along already.”
“Your mom is going to spoil the baby,” Miles adds.
I nod, knowing he’s right. Between my brother, Ollie, being ten years younger than me and me being the playboy of the league, she’s resigned herself to being the best great-aunt she can be to my cousin’s kids, but what mother doesn’t want to be a grandmother someday?
“Good luck. He might just take your black card away.” Cooper laughs.
I shake my head as Ellery returns with a tray full of shots. My dad won’t take my black card away, but what I’m really worried about is how Adeline will feel about the fact that the baby growing in her stomach will have a trust fund with more money in it than she’d make in her lifetime as a teacher solely because his or her last name will be Siska.
Then it occurs to me that we’re not married—what if she doesn’t want our baby to have my last name? There’s so much to figure out, and in some ways, it’s even more difficult because we’re not in a relationship with each other. But we never will be, so we might as well start sorting it out now.
I have the choice to tell my parents face-to-face or in a phone call. I opt for FaceTime as the best of both worlds. They’re sheltered in their East Coast mansion, and I’m far away in Chicago.
My gut clenches as my mom’s phone rings. It’s Sunday, so they should both be home today.
She answers on the second ring. “I was just thinking about how I raised you better. It’s been over two weeks with no word from you.” She’s smiling, her blonde hair with sprinkled gray cut in a neat bob and her face fully made up.
“Sorry, I’ve been busy.”
She rolls her eyes. “A mother doesn’t want to hear what or who has been keeping you busy.”
“I’m not sure about that,” I say without thinking of how she could misconstrue that, but her raised eyebrows and small “O” of her lips says she got the wrong idea. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
Her shoulders fall. “Oh.”
“Boy, I’m just full of disappointments.”
She stares at me with that look. The one that says she’ll always be proud of me, but they’re hopeful to get me out of the trench I’ve been stuck in for so long.
“Oh, Otis just came in.” She turns and looks behind her at the dog. “Otis, it’s Damon!”
When Otis reaches her, he sticks his entire face into the camera view and licks the screen.
“Hey, Otis. How is the training going?”
My mom rolls her eyes and pats his head. “We’re getting there, right?”
“Sure, you are.” I chuckle, not believing a word of it.
She laughs because Otis has failed obedience school twice, and two personal trainers have told Mom there’s nothing they can do. Now, she has him with some specialist who has their own show on television. The dog is the most loving thing, but not very well-behaved and always gets into everything.
“Is Dad around?”
My mom’s laugh fades, and she stares at me as though she’ll be able to see whatever I’m about to tell them. “He’s in his office. Why?”
“I need to talk to you both.”
With a worried expression, she stands and takes her phone with her as she walks through their mansion, Otis trailing behind her. “This scares me,” she says softly, as if I can’t hear her. “Is whatever this is the reason why you haven’t come home?”
Then I hear my dad screaming when she gets nearer to his office.
“Oh boy,” she says. “I think your brother is home.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
