I have a daughter. Who is almost two years old.
Resentment churns in my gut. I’m stunned, and I feel like I’m grieving all that time I lost. But I also feel this overwhelming feeling of love. The need to protect her. The need to know her. And for her to know me.
I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees, and cover my face with my hands.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I take it out.
Alie.
I don’t answer. Not yet.
Because I don’t trust myself right now. Because this … is a game changer.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Alie
The moment Liam walks out of my office, I feel like something inside me has split in two.
I stand there staring at the door, maybe hoping that if I don’t move, he’ll come back.
He doesn’t.
I feel like my knees might just give out, so I make my way to my chair and sit. My hands are shaking so badly that I try to grab onto the edge of my desk to steady myself, but I can barely hold on.
“Oh God,” I whisper to myself.
Everything that I thought I knew was wrong. It feels like all the air in the room has been sucked out, and my heart is beating outside my chest.
I should have been the one to tell him.
With something this important, I should have found a way to get a hold of him.
I should have asked him about it at dinner the other night. I should have been more direct.
But I wasn’t. Now I have to face the fallout of my mistake. And the fact that my daughter hasn’t had her father. I might be sick.
I lay my head down on my desk and fight back my tears. I need to get it together.
A knock on the doorframe makes me practically jump out of my seat.
Presley pops her head in first, then slips inside with Sera on her hip.
“Hey,” she says gently. “He just left.”
I nod, my throat too tight to speak yet.
“He saw her?”
I nod again.
Sera reaches for me. “Mommy.”
I stand quickly and take her from my sister. Holding her close, I press my face into her hair and breathe her in like she’s the only thing solid in my world.
