“Bastard,” I mutter at him. I reach for my fries and throw a fistful at him.
Ashton doesn’t even attempt to dodge them. He just lets them fall against his chest. He brushes them off, not the least bit insulted by what I’ve done.
“Wait. You’re getting married? Is it to Luca? Is Luca the father?” Kensley asks, trying to wrap her head around the announcement.
“Luca isn’t the father, but, yes, we’re engaged,” I say quite calmly.
“Give me your hand,” she says and yanks my arm across the table, disappointment etched on her face. “No ring?”
How is Kensley so calm about the news of the engagement? I had expected her to scream at me, to tell me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life.
“It’s not like we’re rolling around in cash,” I joke and withdraw my hand from hers, placing it back into my lap. “His mom offered to buy us wedding bands, as a gift.”
“That’s nice,” Kensley says slowly, like her brain is wrapping around the entire scenario. “What about your parents? And your son? And I have so many freaking questions, Harper.”
Ashton doesn’t say a word; he just watches and listens. I’m not sure what Luca told him, if anything, about last weekend when we went to visit his parents and had dinner with both of our families.
“My parents aren’t exactly on board, and since the news of the engagement, they’re pushing Zeke back on me.”
“Well, he is your son,” Kensley says. “Wait. How old is he?”
“Two,” I say and sigh, retrieving my phone from my pocket. I flip through my pictures and reveal a photo of Zeke with a huge, toothy grin. In the picture, he’s trying to reach for my phone, and rather close-up, with his face near the camera lens.
“Gosh, he’s adorable. Makes my uterus hurt,” Kensley says with a laugh.
Ashton snorts and then holds out his hand, wanting to see the photo that I showed Kensley. “He’s actually cute,” Ashton says, sounding quite surprised.
“Thanks?” I laugh and put my phone back into my pocket. “He’s a handful. Mom stayed home after I gave birth, while I finished up high school and got my diploma. She agreed to help me raise him while I went to college. Long story, but I try to visit him on weekends when I don’t have to study. When I don’t see him, I have video calls with him, so he remembers who I am.”
“I’m sure he knows who you are,” Kensley says and smiles weakly. “I really wish you’d have trusted me to tell me sooner about your son, but I’m sure that was a huge secret to carry.”
The truth is, I didn’t want Zeke to be a secret, but it had been my parents’ idea. They’d wanted me to keep it quiet in high school. I’d been homeschooled the minute my parents discovered I was pregnant and then, after Zeke was born, the following year, I returned to high school.
I suppose they were trying to give me a normal life.
At least that’s what I’d thought, but I think it had more to do with my education, them wanting to make sure that I focused and got accepted on a scholarship to college. Because neither of them could afford the cost of my tuition.
“Wait, is that why you and Luca are fighting? Is it about Zeke?” Kensley doesn’t miss a beat.
“Yeah,” I say and glance at Ashton, hoping he’ll confirm the story for Kensley, because her learning about the mafia is clearly off-limits.
Ashton folds his arms across his chest. “He was pissed you lied to him.”
He’s still upset, but I don’t bother to mention that to Kensley or Ashton.
Because if he hates me forever, our upcoming wedding will never happen. And when it does, it won’t make the least bit of sense to anyone.
“And he’s forgiven me,” I say.
But I’m not sure that he has forgiven me completely.
Ashton’s eyes flicker, like he knows that I’m lying, but he doesn’t say anything aloud.
Luca has been civil to me when we’re in class. We’re returned to our study dates for economics, so that I can keep up my grades up for my scholarship, but the quiet moments that we shared, they don’t seem to be there anymore.
Except when we’re both stuck pretending.
And I could live with that if I have to, because at least pretending with Luca is better than anything happening to Zeke.
