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As they drove out of town he glanced over at her bag. “Did you have all of that at your house?”
“It’s my in case of emergency road trip supply,” Viv explained. “This isn’t my first trip to the ‘are you my daddy’ rodeo.”
“And you eat all of that on your road trips?”
“No. But I have to bring it. It’s been a tradition since I was a kid. My mom didn’t really let us have junk food in the house, but when we went on road trips all bets were off. We got to pick out anything we wanted.”
“Your mom sounds pretty cool.”
“She was. She was a health nut but loved junk food.” Viv lifted the snacks up as exhibit A. “She was obsessed with Old Hollywood and Christmas so much that she named all four of us after the holiday and starlets.”
“She did?”
“Yep. Grace Noelle, Ava Bell, Vivien Star, and Audrey Faith.”
“Star. That suits you.”
“Thanks, I always thought so.” Viv had always loved her middle name. “And my mom loved all things love. She believed in soulmates. Fate. Destiny. Serendipity and one true love.”
“So she would have believed in The Hope Falls Effect, then?”
“Oh yeah, she would have been a card-carrying member of the Hope Falls Effect Society.” She could tell by the way he’d asked the question that he would not be joining that club. “What about you? Do you believe in it?”
“I don’t think I’ve seen enough evidence to come to a conclusion.”
So, the answer was no then. “And you doubt my research?”
“I need to see things first hand before I believe in them.”
And the fact that you’re driving me to Oregon to meet a man that might not even be my father isn’t proof enough for you?Viv thought to herself.
This was going to be an even tougher challenge than she’d originally thought. Good thing she had her secret weapons. And by secret weapons she meant boobs.
* * *
“I met Zoe,”Viv said before popping several M&M’s in her mouth. “She came to my door looking for you.”
“Yeah, she mentioned that.” Glenn checked the time. They’d been on the road for a little over two hours. That was two hours longer than he thought it would have taken for Vivien to bring his ex up.
He knew for a fact that Zoe had gone to Vivien’s door on purpose. He’d explained that he was renting the backhouse and she knew that wasn’t where to find him. Zoe was a smart cookie. She’d wanted to meet Vivien because Bree hadn’t stopped talking about her and his ex knew him well. She knew that something was going on between them even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
“She’s fucking gorgeous.”
Glenn didn’t respond right away. He could sense this was definitely a fact-finding expedition, but he wasn’t sure what she was fishing for. If this was anyone else, he would shut the conversation down. That was sort of his default when people started asking personal questions. But he didn’t feel like that with Vivien. He felt like he could share anything with her. He trusted her in a way that he hadn’t ever trusted anyone outside of his family.
“She is,” he finally agreed.
“You guys seem like you co-parent well. How long were you two together?”
“Four years, on and off.”
“That’s a long time. Why did you break up?”
“She got pregnant.”
He could feel Vivien’s stare boring into the side of his face, but she didn’t push for more details. He could take her lead and drop it, that would be the smart thing to do, but he didn’t want her to have the wrong idea.
“I asked her to marry me.” That was the first time he’d told anyone that. Not even Gabe knew that he’d asked Zoe to marry him.
