Even if it hurts because I wish I were the father, that I’d stepped up and told her my feelings. Now, all I can do is be a support system, a friend, a man who wishes she were his.
I don’t get a moment alone with Grace until after dinner.
With the exception of the few minutes we had before being interrupted at her townhouse, we haven’t had a full conversation since her pregnancy news broke.
We’re back on the couch after stuffing ourselves with tacos and guac.
There are so many questions I want to ask, yet so many I don’t want to know the answers to.
Tell me about how it happened, but I don’t want to know that you had sex with another man. Explain how you kept a relationship from me, but also don’t tell me shit about him.
I might not know the dude, but I hate him.
I’ve done a decent job of playing it cool tonight, but finally, I can release the anxiousness that’s been eating away at me. My attention is fixed on her, not taking in any of the motions or conversations around us. Her hair is pulled up, exposing her slim neck. I shut my eyes, remembering the first time I saw her. As weird as it sounds, the color of her hair reminded me of fruit—a mixture of apricot and strawberries.
She changed from her work clothes—her teacher outfits, as I call them—and she’s wearing striped overalls. They’re not Farmer Ben overalls—more along the lines of what you’d see a celebrity sporting on the front page of a magazine. It fits her skinny frame, the cream color and blue stripes beautiful against her sun-kissed skin.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, blowing out a stressed breath.
She sighs, avoiding eye contact. “I told the father.”
“And?” My heart races.
Do I even want to know?
Her answer could make or break us.
If she got together with the baby daddy, would he want me around?
Or would he see me as a threat?
If the roles were reversed, I know I would.
Anyone who watches Grace and me together knows that we’re not just friends, no matter how much we lie to each other about it.
She plays with her hands in her lap. “He wants to be in the baby’s life.”
Fuck, this stings.
“Is that what you want?”
“Not exactly. I mean … yes … but no.”
I scratch my head. “What do you mean?”
Moments of silence pass as she chews into her cheek.
Her hands stop, and she looks forward. “He’s married.”
My mouth drops open.
Not what I expected.
This motherfucker.
Her shoulders slump. “Married … with children … and another one on the way.”
Anger swells inside me, but I draw in steady breaths to hold myself back from acting on it. I thought I had questions before, but this? This is an entirely different field.
She eyes me nervously. “I didn’t know he was married. He hid it from me.”
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I appear as stressed as her. “What are you going to do?” I wrap my arm around her shoulders, drawing her into my side. “Are you sure you don’t want to take me up on the offer of kicking his ass?”
At this point, if I knew who the bastard was, I’d do it without asking. It’d feel damn good to smash my fist into a man’s face who lied, played, and knocked up the most important woman in my life.
She relaxes into my hold. “No, it’ll only make the situation worse.”
“Did he tell his wife?”
“As of yesterday, nope.”
“He thinks he can hide it from her?”
This dude has some serious balls.
“I have no idea.” She frowns. “My guess is, he wants to be in the baby’s life because he wants to keep me.”
I grind my teeth.
“But I think he’ll chicken out when it’s time to tell his wife, and then the baby and I will be on our own.” Her eyes squeeze shut.
I carefully take her hand in mine. “You’re strong, and you won’t be on your own. You have me. You have our friends.”
A tear falls down her cheek, and she bows her head. “My sister lost so many friends after she had my niece. It changes things.”
“What’s wrong, babe?” Georgia asks, taking a seat on the floor at Grace’s feet and crossing her legs.
As much as our friends bring joy into my life, they have terrible timing. They have no problem with interrupting conversations and calling people out.
Grace swipes the tear from her rosy cheek. “I’m just thinking about doing it all alone if the dad doesn’t want to be in the picture.”
“Um, you have me,” Georgia counters.
“And me in the next room,” Cassidy chimes in, walking toward us with the group following behind her.
“You have all of us,” Lola adds. “Every step of the way, we’ll be there for you. I’m totally up for Lamaze class, and we all know Georgia is the queen of positivity. She’ll be at your side every step of the way, holding your hand through labor. We can take turns being the baby daddy, and one day, you’ll find a man ready to step up and take over our job.”
“I’m down for playing baby daddy for a few days,” Silas says, pointing at Grace with his beer.
Grace’s mood doesn’t improve. “That’s if I’m alive when my parents find out.”
“It’s the twenty-first century. We’re in new times,” Cohen says. “Even if they’re upset at first, they’ll get over it because they love you.”
Georgia reaches up and squeezes Grace’s knee. “We got this, babe.”
“You know, I was thinking about something,” Silas says.
He and I, along with Georgia and Archer, who are in the kitchen, are the only ones left in the penthouse. It wasn’t long after our conversation with Grace not going on her journey alone that she went home.
I snort. “That’s fucking scary.”
“I have the perfect plan for Grace and her baby.”
“Not taking any advice from the guy who suggested we have an adults-only baby shower at the club.”
He rolls his eyes before pointing at me. “You step up and be the dad.”
I should’ve known better than to take a drink before he spoke because as soon as the words leave his mouth, I’m choking on my beer. Dribbles scatter along my shirt as I gawk at him. Silas is the jokester of the group, and I expect a sarcastic smirk on his face. There isn’t.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking or serious,” I grunt, wiping my palm down my shirt.
He chuckles. “Eh, kind of both. Although leaning more toward serious.”
“For someone who doesn’t drink, you sure say some drunk-person bullshit.”
“The least you can do is act like it in front of her parents. The poor girl looked stressed as fuck when she mentioned them.”
I shift in my seat. “And what? Be a dad for a day?”
“Go with her, introduce yourself as the dad, and then later, she can say you broke up.” He delivers a self-satisfied smirk. “Or, better yet, maybe this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Have a relationship with her and be fucking happy.”