“Oh.” Enzo frowns. “That still doesn’t excuse your behavior.”
“I’m sorry Gaby died,” I say, and my gaze flicks again to the toddler hiding behind Enzo’s leg. “Is that…?”
Enzo gives me an ugly smile, entirely different from the guy I met when I was eighteen, the guy I used to explore Boston with, the guy who was my best friend, the first real one I’d ever had besides my brother, the guy I thought would never stop speaking to me one day.
“Meet Luca,” Enzo says.
I shift my weight from leg to leg.
Because he still hasn’t addressed what I think he might address, and I’m too scared to say the words myself. Because they’re absurd. But Gaby asked me once for a sample, and I didn’t even have to think. Gaby is—was, oh, fuck—Enzo’s sister, and I would have done anything for him.
But when I texted her to ask if she’d gotten pregnant, she said it hadn’t worked.
And when I’d texted her to ask if she wanted to try again, perhaps using IVF, she’d never responded.
I’d assumed she’d changed her mind.
The toddler presses against Enzo’s leg, half-hiding. He peeks out at me with those blue-green eyes—my eyes, oh God—then buries his face in Enzo’s thigh.
Does he look like me?
I mean, he looks like a toddler. He has dark hair, like me, but Enzo has dark hair. Gaby has—shit,had—dark hair. Mine is from that vague Irish/German combination, and Enzo is Italian, which means his skin is a nice olive tint instead of freckled.
I don’t want to ask Enzo, in case he thinks I’m more ridiculous and narcissistic than he already does. But still…
“Is he yours?” I ask.
He grimaces. “I’m his parent now.”
Right.
“But…” He swallows hard and grimaces. “You are too.”
I step back and collide with the sofa. In the next moment, I am falling, falling, falling, staring at Enzo, and—holy Mordor—my kid.
CHAPTER
TEN
Enzo
Axel topples onto the floor, his expression frozen somewhere between shock and horror, and all I can think is:I’ve made a terrible mistake.
I grip Luca tighter, feeling his warmth against my chest, trying to steady myself, but my hands won’t stop shaking.
I shouldn’t have told him.
Maybe I should have taken the chance that Axel wouldn’t one day accuse me of kidnapping his kid by not bringing Luca to him. Maybe I should have dismissed Gaby’s dying wish as the delusions of a dying woman.
No, I wasn’t going to ignore her wish. Of course not.
But have I just ruined her son’s life? What if Axel disappoints Luca? What if Luca gets to know him and care about him and then he leaves? After Luca’s fallen in love with him? Because how could he not in Axel’s presence?
Not, perhaps, his presence now when he’s goggling and quiet.
“Are you going to open your eyes?” I ask Axel.
His eyes snap open. “So this isn’t a dream.”
