The guys all laugh and offer me words of encouragement as they finish packing up their stuff and leave me alone on the court to make my phone call. I take a few deep breaths to not only work up the courage but to calm my stomach enough that I can be sure I won’t throw up while I’m on the phone with Phoebe. I’m feeling better, but I’m still not feeling great.
I’m pretty sure she hates me already, but there’s no need for me to gross her out, too.
With one last deep breath, I press the icon to call her.
“Hello?”
“Um, hello. Phoebe? Hi. This is Archer Fade. We met earlier?” I slap my forehead and scrub my hand down my face. Smooth, Fade. Really smooth.
“Yes, Archer.”Is that a hint of a laugh I hear in her voice? I like it, probably more than I should at this point. It makes the tension in my shoulders melt away and a small creep onto my face.“Did you set up an appointment already? That was fast.”
Chapter 13
Have Yourself A Deoxyribonucleic Acid Christmas
Phoebe
“AlrightMs.Fox,let’sgo over the procedure before we get Lincoln’s sample. It’s not painful, but he might be a little fussy for a few minutes.” The lab technician describes the swab and how they get the sample before turning to her computer to prepare the labels.
When I arrived, Mark, the man who runs the lab, came in to introduce himself, and to reassure me that his involvement in the procedure stopped at fitting us in today and that the regular laboratory staff will handle the sample collection and the processing of the specimens. He wanted to assure me that even though Archer was an acquaintance of his from college—yes, that’s the exact word he used. An acquaintance, not a friend.—our case would be held to the highest professional standards. He’s a bit of a stuffy guy, but I like him. He seems like someone who’s honest to a fault.
Truthfully, I breathed a sigh of relief when he told me that. I had been a little worried that they might tamper with the results with since the guy who runs the lab is also friends with Archer. Not that I have any doubt Archer is the father. He’s the only option, after all.
“Please hold him facing out. Lincoln, I’m going to take this swab and wipe the insides of your cheeks. It doesn’t hurt, but I know I’d be annoyed if someone stuck a swab in my mouth without warning.” The lab technician smiles at me and whispers conspiratorially, “I always warn the patient, even when I don’t think they understand me very well.” I turn Lincoln to face her and she makes quick work of grabbing his little cheeks and getting the swab done before I’ve had the chance to blink. She’s good at this. I didn’t even need to distract him with the brightly colored sensory toy I brought for that purpose.
Lincoln lets out a squawk of annoyance but settles quickly. He’s usually pretty relaxed, so I’m not surprised the swab didn’t bother him much.
His father, on the other hand…
“How far back are you going to stick that thing? I have a, uh, a sensitive gag reflex these days.”
More likely, he’s hungover again like yesterday. I wonder if he has a drinking problem. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s been drunk or hungover. Hmm, that’s a bit concerning.
Not that it changes the way he looks much. He’s still sexy as hell. The heat building between my thighs can attest to that. I need to get out of here before he causes me to leave a different kind of DNA sample on my chair.
“I only ask because I don’t want to, uh, throw up on the sample. I’m sure that would be bad for it, wouldn’t it?”
The lab tech simply nods and continues getting her supplies ready for Archer while Lincoln and I enjoy the show. He’s wringing his hands and bouncing his feet. Why’s he so nervous? And why is that so cute to me?
“Okay now, Mr. Fade. Hold still, this will only take a second.” And to her credit, it does. She’s swabbed, stored, and capped the sample in a flash. “That’s it. We’ll have the results for you soon. Mark asked for us to rush this, so I’m hoping we’ll have the results today. Keep your phones on.” She collects the samples and leaves me in the room with Archer.
“So,” I say, gathering up the items I’d already taken out of the diaper bag. “You wasted no time making this happen.”
He chuckles. “Yeah. It’s good to have friends in the business of DNA testing.”
“Don’t you mean acquaintances?” I tease. “Mark made himself pretty clear on that.”
The man in front of me lets out a loud laugh and a memory from our night together hits me full force. We were in the hotel bar, sitting at a table instead of at the bar where we first met, and we were talking over a plate of nachos so high we could barely see each other. We’d decided to overcome that obstacle by tunneling through the nacho tower using cocktail straws. It was surprisingly difficult, but strangely hilarious.
“You got me there. I haven’t been as good a friend as I should have been and I intend to make up for that as soon as possible.”
The sudden memory of our night together catches me off guard and I find myself distracted while I attempt to pack up. I’m trying to stuff everything into Lincoln’s diaper bag one-handed and it’s not going well. Every time I get something in, something else falls out.
“Can I help?” Archer is so close to me now I can smell his masculine scent. Soap and musky cologne. It makes me want to bury my face in his neck.
But that’s not what I’m here for, so instead of making myself look like a creep, I pass Lincoln to Archer and finish packing the bag. The look of horror on Archer’s face when I turn around forces a laugh from my throat. “Oh. My. God. You should see your face!” I howl. “It’s…it’s…it’s like I handed you a basket of slugs or something.” He’s holding Lincoln at arm’s length and staring at him with his mouth open in a half grimace-half grin. “You can hold him closer, you know. He won’t bite. He doesn’t even have any teeth yet.”
Archer whispers roughly without taking his eyes off Lincoln, “I’ve never held a baby before. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
