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“Yep.”
Arm in arm, my sister and I walked around them, and dang it if the whiff of his familiar cologne didn’t send my pulse racing as I passed. It made my stomach turn, and the latte in my hand suddenly seemed like a bad idea. I dropped it in a nearby trash can without a second thought.
When we were far enough away, I hissed out a breath. “I have no words.”
“Yep.”
“I mean, can you even believe that?”
“Nope,” Lyndi replied, looking quickly over her shoulder.
“Seriously, the man has a six-year-old son I didn’t know about? How is that possible?”
“And why didn’t he introduce his baby mama?” Lyndi wondered. “She looked just like him. He has to be hers. But it was like Zac forgot she was standing there.”
I frowned, realizing she was right. I was focused on not looking at her because I didn’t want her to see my heart break right before her eyes. I didn’t even notice Zac had completely ignored her, too.
“Maybe he was about to before we walked away,” Lyndi said when I didn’t reply.
“Well then, I guess I’m glad we left.”
We reached the bridal shop, and Lyndi grabbed the door for us. When we stepped inside, Aria and Shelby were already there waiting for us to arrive. Aria stood from the plush leather couch she’d been sitting on and let out a squeal, clapping her hands. Lyndi and I returned her tight hug and rocked back and forth with her, and I did my best to put what had just happened out of my mind. This was Aria’s special moment. I didn’t want to ruin it with my Zac drama.
“Guys,” Lyndi said when we stepped back, eyes wide as she stared between Aria and Shelby. “Guess who we saw outside?”
I sighed. “Lyn.”
“Oh, please, they’d wanna know.”
Shelby came closer, looking concerned. “Know what?”
“Who was it?” Aria asked.
“Zac,” Lyndi said. “And he wasn’t alone. He had a woman and a kid with him.”
All eyes turned to me, and Aria was the first to speak. “Yikes, so I guess he’s really living here, then?”
“Apparently,” I replied. Then I took her hands in mine, giving them a squeeze. “But listen, Aria, this isyourday. Let’s not talk about Zac. Let’s focus on fun stuff, like what you want us to wear and finding your own perfect dress. We can talk about Zac later.”
Aria snorted while the other two rolled their eyes. “Uh, fat chance, friend. We’re talking about Zac first. We still have a few minutes until my appointment, and I need to know the details. So, he’s got a new girlfriend, and she’s got a kid? I thought he was adamant about not having kids? At least for a while, anyway.”
“He was,” I said in a small voice. “But maybe that was just with me.”
“The kid is definitely his. You don’t need to take him onMauryto know the results of that paternity test. He was like a little Zac 2.0,” Lyndi said.
“Oh, man.” Aria’s eyes drooped at the edges as she looked at me. “I’m so sorry, friend.”
“But get this. He was also too old for Zac to have had him since they broke up,” Lyndi whispered, looking over her shoulder as if they’d somehow magically appear in the shop to overhear us.
Shelby almost choked on the sip of water she’d taken from her ever-present Hydro Flask. “Whoa. Wait, back up. That would mean he’d been a dad when you knew him? Does that mean—”
I shook my head. “Grayson said he was six, so I guess it would have happened before Zac and I met, if my math is right. But still, how could he not tell me he was a dad? How could he tell me he didn’t want kids when he already had one?”
Biting my lip, I tried to remember any clues about this from when we were dating. Was it really possible that he’d been able to keep his son’s existence from me, given how close we were? Especially if he had any kind of meaningful relationship with the kid or his mom.
Then again, it wasn’t like we spent every waking minute together. He’d been a Marine stationed at the nearby base in Beaufort, and I was a high school English teacher. There was plenty of time during the day for him to have connected with his son over FaceTime or on the phone. In fact, he’d gone away with the military multiple times during our two years together. Any one of those trips could have been a cover for going to see his son.
“Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What did he actuallytellyou?” Aria asked.
