Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Cleo shifted her gaze to me. “And you, honey?”
I felt a lot of things in that moment, but none of them were good. This wasn’t my moment to share. I wasn’t sure how Dex and I could ever be a team when he already had a partner to do this with. I…felt out of place. “I’m really excited.” I put on my best smile and lied my ass off because the last thing I wanted was to ruin this moment by making it about myself.
Because it wasn’t about me at all.
Twenty
Dex
I was nervous.
Like, wanna throw up kind of nervous.
Catherine opened the door to her apartment, dressed in tight jeans and a top, and gave me a smile. “Ready?”
“Yeah, I think so.” I had a bag over my shoulder with some toys I’d brought for him, some clothes, even though he wouldn’t care about that, and my phone so I could take a ton of pictures.
“Alright.” She stepped aside so I could walk inside.
He was in the middle of the living room, sitting on a blanket on top of the rug, playing with a couple toys. He didn’t look at me when I walked in, too busy with his plastic key ring and his plastic fire truck.
In awe, I stood there and stared.
He had my light-brown hair, my mom’s blue eyes, and his facial features were already even starting to look similar to mine. I was mesmerized by the scene, looking at him like he was the single most important thing in my life.
It reminded me of the way my parents looked at me.
Full circle.
Catherine stood there and waited for me to make a move.
I was paralyzed on the spot, unable to believe I was looking at my son.
Catherine kneeled on the floor beside him. “Baby, someone is here to see you.” She ran her fingers through his thin hair as she looked down at him. “Look.” She gave him a couple pokes.
Like an idiot, I held up my hand and gave an awkward wave.
He stared at me the way I stared at him, even though he probably had no idea who I was.
“That’s your daddy,” Catherine said. “Can you say Daddy?”
Ryan looked at her again, watching her lips move as she said my title over and over. Then he got it, saying it on his own. “Daddy…”
Oh my fucking god.
Catherine smiled then turned to me. “Told you he was smart.”
I dropped the bag on the rug and took a seat beside him, looking at him with a new perspective, an even deeper love than I had before.
He looked at me too, very interested in me.
“I’m your daddy…that’s me.” My hand slowly extended until it reached his shoulder. It sat there, my fingers gently touching the cotton of his clothing, my breathing a little deeper because this was a moment I would never, ever forget.
He went back to playing with his toys.
Catherine looked at me, her eyes watering at the sight of us together.
My eyes watered too.
Life was totally different now.
Any free time I had during the day was spent thinking about Ryan. Should I take him to the zoo? What about the planetarium? Maybe he’d like to meet his cousins for a playdate? Did he understand who I was? Did he understand that we looked similar?
Sicily walked into my office. “I’ve got Dr. Guerra on the line for you. He wants to discuss an emergency patient he’s sending over.”
I’d been staring at the wall, daydreaming about Ryan, and I had to force myself out of it. “Sure. Patch him through.”
She hit the button on the phone and handed me the receiver.
I took the call, discussed the patient he was referring to me, and then hung up. Sicily was gone and my food had been left on the desk, so I walked into the lobby and found her sitting at the front desk. “Hey, you want to come over for dinner tonight? I know we should cook, but I’m totally on a pizza kick right now.”
She looked up and gave a nod. “Sure.”
Things weren’t the same between us. I could feel it. It sucked. I knew my parents assuming she was pregnant really freaked her out. I was really absorbed in my son right now, so I tried to make an effort to spend time with her and not mention him at all, so we could have our own solid foundation that was unaffected by the chaos in my life. “Great.”
The elevator doors opened and revealed Daisy.
Oh no.
She gave me a dumbfounded look. “You have a kid?”
I stayed at the counter. “Heard the news, huh?”
She marched over. “You have a kid, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Look, everything happened really fast—”
“You told Mom and Dad.”
“And I knew they would tell you and Derek.”
She rolled her eyes. “So, we all get to meet him this weekend?”