“Your father worried that you would do whatever it took to get Freedom to be with you if you knew he came back.”
“I would’ve never forced or believed I could make a man do something he doesn’t want to do. All these years, I felt guilty because he deserved to know about his baby. Maybe if I knew he abandoned me even after knowing I was pregnant for him, it would’ve stopped me from…” I cut off my words before I admitted my heart.
“From loving him,” Kody snarled.
I grew silent, willing my fast-beating heart to calm down. I loved Kody. I wouldn’t have married him if I didn’t. How could I explain that Freedom owned my soul in ways that I still couldn’t comprehend? I also believed I would never see him again. His dreams were far too big for the ones I had. Like me, Kody wasborn and raised in Dallas and planned to take his last breath in Dallas. Freedom and I were a fantasy love story. Kody and I were real. Working on our relationship and building a life every day.
“Now, you’re all quiet. What did he say to you?” Kody asked.
Complete honesty and truth were the hallmarks of my life and marriage.
Until tonight.
“He said that he wants to meet Jamie.”
My husband snickered, “He’s trying to fuck you. He doesn’t care about meeting Jamie. Probably figures that his way in to get back at me by convincing you to cheat on me.”
“You just told me it’s not about revenge?” I shuddered, grateful that my husband couldn’t see my reaction at saying that Freedom wanted to “fuck” me. As a teenager, Freedom had me wide open and hot for him. I couldn’t imagine what sex would be like with him as a grown, virile man.
“It’s not revenge. Freedom likes to play these games with me. One up me on every damn thing.”
“And yet he’s building a home using our company. What ifthisis his way to get back at us?” I hit the console. “Funny how it never occurred to you that he might investigate a little deeper into his old friend and discover that not only has his best friend married his girlfriend, but that same best friend is raising his son. He had to be pissed and feel betrayed. How can we be sure he’s not trying to get back at us?”
Kody sighed with annoyance, “Even if it’s about revenge, our lawyers looked over the contract too, and we still will make money if he pulls out at the last moment. Maybe it’s as simple as he’s moving back home, and this is his way of giving his old friends money. He might be making amends. Maybe he does want to meet his son, and it’s not about trying to get at you, okay?”
“I’m not ready to fight him about Jamie.”
He softly admitted, “I’m not ready for Jamie to know I’m not his father.”
I closed my eyes briefly at the regret in his voice. “I’m sorry. We should’ve told Jamie a long time ago who his real father is. Now, we might have to tell him before either of us is ready to tell him. He’s so sensitive.”
“That’s the only bright spot of this conversation. He needs to be able to handle life,” Kody wryly admitted.
I reminded him, “Handling life is one thing. Knowing the very people you trust have been lying to you for years is another story.” The passing headlights of cars cast shadows on my windshield, reminding me that I was driving.
“And sometimes we don’t have choices in how we live. That boy is blessed. He doesn’t even remember the shabby one-bathroom, two-bedroom apartment we had. All he knows is his Beats, Jordans, and the latest game system. He needs to struggle and figure it out on his own.”
“Oh, I guess it doesn’t matter to you how Jamie will handle knowing the truth since he’s not your ‘real’ son anyway.” I flipped my signal to exit the highway.
“Stop. That boy has been my son since he was two. Have you let Freedom fuck with your head, already? I’m the one who’s been here with him all this time. Even if he meets Jamie, which is a big ‘if’, I guarantee sooner or later he’ll return to his celebrity life, and Jamie won’t matter to him anymore. I’ll still be here for Jamie if and when it happens.”
“Then why would you open the door for Freedom to come back into our lives and sign a contract to work with him without telling me?” Only a husband who took a wife for granted would agree to work with her ex and the father of her child without making sure that the wife was okay with that decision.Had he learned nothing from therapy?
“You would’ve said ‘no,’ and if I listened to you, we wouldn’t be about to make five million in profit.”
I jerked the steering wheel so hard when I turned at the light that my wheel skidded, and I bumped the curb of the median. “Shit.”
“What happened? Are you driving?” His voice rose in alarm.
“Yes. And I ran into the damn sidewalk.” I nervously checked the empty street for cars and the lit console. So far, no red light signaling tire damage has appeared. Thankfully, the hit sounded worse than the reality.
“Which car did you drive?” Kody anxiously asked.
I stared at the console in angry disbelief before hanging up the phone and ignoring all the calls that followed. “Asshole. I legit married a selfish asshole.”
When I turned on my street, the idea of going to an empty home didn’t appeal. The boys were with my parents for a weekend in San Antonio. I’d thought this could have been a weekend of fun with classmates and to reconnect with my husband. Instead, he decided to finalize deals in Atlanta, and now he was stuck there until tomorrow.
I probably should’ve stayed at the reunion. There was no need for me to run, now that Freedom knew about his son. Correction. He now wants to meet his son. Or was it a ploy to get me to lower my guard through Jamie as Kody suggested? I tapped the back of my head against the leather seat. Freedom wasn’t a manipulator. If he didn’t get what he wanted, he accepted it. But then again, Kody had been his best friend longer than I’d known him. Maybe Kody knew another side.
