Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“Oh my god! What is he doing the—”
“I can’t talk now,” I say, cutting Daisy off.
“Is he still there? Oh my god!”
“You’ve already said that. And remember I was waiting for a phone call from the hospital?”
“Oh. Right. Call me as soon as you can. Promise me.”
“I promise. Bye now. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Daisy says before she hangs up.
When I get back into the living room, I expect to see William crying and Adam trying to stare him into shutting up—to no avail, of course.
But instead, William’s contentedly sitting on Adam’s lap, leaning back on his broad chest as they both watch TV. Adam’s even got a Kleenex in his hand to wipe up the drool that’s escaped through the side of William’s mouth.
I have to say, I’m kind of disappointed by how calm things are.
And man, do they look alike. The dark, messy hair that’s just a joy to ruffle. The bright, intelligent, green eyes. Even the facial expressions that they make.
Damn it. There’s no way Adam’s just going to let this go, is there?
Fear and dread fill my chest. What’s going to happen now?
Katie
The Next Day
“Spill,” Daisy says urgently, as soon as I pick up the phone call.
“I still haven’t heard from the hospital,” I say, although I know that’s not what she’s asking.
Daisy sighs. “Don’t tease me, Katie. Tell me everything about the guy. So, who is he?”
Daisy knows I used to try to find Adam in the beginning. She helped talk me down from the ledge when I cried to her, telling her I couldn’t possibly raise a child on my own.
She still gives me tons of parenting advice and even some hand-me-downs from her own two kids. She also helps babysit William sometimes.
She’s been right there beside me in my journey as a mom. I couldn’t have done anything I’ve accomplished without Daisy.
I tell her exactly what happened last night—Adam’s stunned expression when he first saw me in the kitchen; what he said about Sawyer’s “investigation” to find me; the way he asked me directly if William was his and my negative reply; and the way they went into food comma together on the couch.
“That sounds adorable,” Daisy sighs. “I love to watch Caine interact with the kids. It’s the most mesmerizing thing.”
“Yeah, well, Caine’s your husband, Daisy. We’re talking about a guy whom I slept with once. At a sex club. While he was wearing a mask. And I didn’t even know what his name was. Oh, and he left me some money on the nightstand when he was done.” I massage my temples; my head’s been feeling progressively worse today. Good thing I’m not working today, I guess. “God, Daisy, I can’t believe I did all those things.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Daisy says. “You were just having fun, and you weren’t hurting anybody.”
“Maybe I hurt William by bringing him into the world when I couldn’t give him what he needs to flourish.”
“If you don’t stop talking like that, I’m going to slap you,” Daisy says. “You’re a great mom, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. So you can’t send William to private school. Who cares?”
I stop myself from pointing out that her kids will probably go to private school, seeing as Caine’s whole family is loaded.
“Besides, it wasn’t like you were running around being irresponsible. He wore a condom, right? It was just . . .” Daisy pauses, probably stopping herself from calling William an accident—yes, she’s done that before, although she didn’t mean anything negative by it. She finally says, “It happened by chance.”
“Yeah, but I probably shouldn’t have been banging a faceless, nameless guy in a kinky sex club in the first place,” I say.
“Well, as Alanis Morissette says, ‘you live, you learn,’” Daisy says. “So, was it kinky?”
“What?”
“The sex. You said it was a kinky sex club.”
“I guess, a little,” I answer quickly just to move on to what I really want to talk about. I get up from the couch where Adam sat last night and pace the floor. “So, what should I do now?”
“What do you mean? Like, whether you should tell him or not?”
“Well, that, too. But I meant in general; what should I do to fix this situation?”
“You said you told him he wasn’t William’s father, right?” Daisy asks.
“Yeah. I’m not proud of that, but yeah, I lied to him,” I admit.
“Are you going to tell him the truth?”
“I don’t know . . .” I take a deep breath and tell Daisy about the thoughts that have been bothering me. “I feel like. . . Maybe Adam has a right to know William’s his son.
“But when I tried to look for him at the club and couldn’t find him, I gave up the thought that I was going to see him again. I decided to raise William on my own.