“Krissa.” Her father interjected with a frown.
“That’s what she believes. You know it, and I know it. Only, you know what, Mom? I am not responsible for everyone else’s problems. Derek made choices in his life. You made choices in your life. I had nothing to do with those choices.”
They both stared at her open-mouthed.
The shocked surprise on their faces gave her a funny little rush. The desire to shock them more.
“So, since you’ve already judged me, you may as well know…the baby isn’t Derek’s. The baby is Nate’s. You were right. I was screwing around with him. But…Derek was right there with us.” Their sharply indrawn breaths were audible across the room. “The three of us were in a relationship. Derek is sterile and we wanted Nate to be the father of our baby. But things didn’t work exactly like we planned.” Her mouth twisted. “It’s true, Derek cheated on me. It’s been going on for years. You can blame me for it if you want. I don’t care, because I know it wasn’t my fault.”
Krissa swallowed the last of the tea and clunked the glass down onto the cocktail table. She stood up, slung her purse over her shoulder.
“Thanks for your support, Mom and Dad.”
The sight of her mother’s face, all the color drained out of it, her eyes hazy, almost stopped her from walking out. But hell, she had momentum going, she might as well go with it.
Krissa wasn’t sure what should happen next. She was not going to apologize to her parents for shocking them, though. They’d either accept her and not judge her for what she’d done or…
She sighed, sitting by the pool with a magazine the next night. Several people were enjoying the pool in the warm evening. Krissa smiled as Joe Surfer Dude tossed oneof the teenage girls into the water, her scream submerged in a splash. Krissa felt way older than her neighbors but at least they were human company.
Why she even thought of apologizing, she had no idea. Long-standing guilt nibbled at her. She really had to get over that. But if she ever wanted any relationship with them, she’d likely have to make the first move.
Or not. Her stomach flipped over as she spotted her mother at the gate of the wrought-iron fence enclosing the pool. She slowly flipped her magazine closed, rose out of the chair she’d been sitting in. She lifted a hand to her mother and walked toward her.
She opened the gate. “Hi.”
“Hello.” They eyed each other. “Krissa. We need to talk.”
Her mom’s face looked tight, with faint lines around her eyes and mouth.
“Sure. Let’s go up to my place.”
“This is a nice building.”
“It’s okay.”
Mom followed her up the wooden stairs to her second-floor door. Krissa unlocked it and led the way in.
Mom looked around. “Oh, Krissa. I hate to see you living like this.”
“It’s fine, Mom. I have what I need.”
“Are you…do you have enough money?”
“I have money. My business is doing okay. I’ll be fine, really. I’m just starting over, that’s why it looks so bare in here.”
“You know, half of everything you had with Derek is yours.”
Krissa blinked at her. “Well…yes. It is. But…in the end, there wasn’t much I wanted. Just what I needed.”
“You need a lawyer. That house must be worth a few million dollars. Half of that is yours.”
“There was a humongous mortgage on it.”
“Krissa. This isn’t just about you. It’s about your child, too. I’ll get you the name of our lawyer tomorrow. Call him.”
Krissa blinked. “Okay.” She gestured to the sofa. “Have a seat. Would like a drink? Coffee? Tea?”
“Tea would be lovely.”
