little bit,” she offered. I wasn’t a fan of airing my dirty laundry, but I also didn’t have many people
who would understand what I was going through.
“Willow’s mom isn’t a bad person. I know it seems that way, and please don’t think I’m not upset
about her handing over my daughter to someone neither of them had ever met, but she never planned
on having kids. She’s overwhelmed and that’s always been a recipe for disaster if she needs to make
responsible choices.” I wasn’t sure why I was defending Lisa, when it wasn’t long ago I was ready to
threaten to take Willow away from her if she didn’t get her shit together.
“Life doesn’t always go the way we plan. I understand unplanned pregnancies. She’s lucky you’re
still there. A lot of us don’t have another parent to help us out, and we still get by.” Gen got up and
started pulling ingredients out of the fridge.
Oh crap.
Jayden.
The kid she raised on her own. The guy I was pretty sure had some massive Daddy vibes going on
with his buddy.
He’d mentioned dinner at his mom’s house tonight.
Lovely.
“Hey, are you okay?” Gen set down the bowl of veggies and rubbed my back.
I bit my bottom lip and nodded. I was fine. Just peachy. It wasn’t at all weird that I was going to
do this whole family meeting thing when I felt like I was coming apart at the seams. I needed Daddy
to haul me up to the apartment so I could get away from everything for a bit, but he couldn’t.
No way could I tell her I already knew her son because I didn’t want to have to explain where
we’d met. That wasn’t my place if she didn’t know her kid was gay or kinky. And really, I couldn’t be
certain of either. For all I knew, he might just be the world’s most supportive friend.
“Okay, so you didn’t ask for it but I’m going to give you some free advice,” she said as she started
laying out everything she needed to make dinner. “You need to have a long talk with her. Tell her you
understand that this isn’t the life she planned on having but it’s the one she’s got. That little girl needs
stability in her life, not fear that she’ll be dumped on strangers when her mama can’t deal.”
“I don’t think she would have but she had a test today that she swears she couldn’t postpone,” I
explained. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve someone like William in my life, but I was pretty
sure I was stuck with him, which meant his family would see everything. I didn’t want them hating
