“You ain’t the only one,” he repeated. “Shoulda met elsewhere.”
That was true and she should’ve made that suggestion. It was a mistake on both of their parts.
She released a resigned sigh. “If it wasn’t him, it would’ve been someone else.” A vision of Ledger scarfing down pancakes while sitting between his father and grandfather suddenly hit her. It had warmed her heart but also scared the shit out of her. Now that Zeke’s father knew about Ledger, there was no turning back. Her control over the situation wasquickly slipping from her fingers. “Ledger loved the pancakes, by the way.”
“Don’t know what Larry does to ‘em, but they fuckin’ rock.”
“It’s all Ledger has been talking about.”Along with you and your father.But Zeke didn’t need to know that just yet.“My pancakes will never live up to those.” She paused. “What did your dad say after we left?”
“Wants to spend more time with Ledger. Just a warnin’, my mother called me last night. She wants to meet Ledger as soon as possible.”
No surprise. But… “I’m not sure I’m ready to?—”
“She was both disappointed and fuckin’ excited. Disappointed she missed out on his first three years and excited to be a grandmother. She’s already trying to figure out what Ledger should call her.”
Damn it.He was purposely pulling on her heartstrings.Especially since his mother, Sophie, had never been anything but warm and welcoming to her. “And did you tell her?—”
“Told her that ‘grandma’ would work. She disagreed since she said she ain’t old enough to be a grandmother.”
She wasn’t? “Isn’t she in her sixties?”
“Yeah. But she don’t look it. Kinda fucked up to say my mom’s still hot, but she’s still rockin’ it.”
“She’s lucky you didn’t make her a grandmother when she was a lot younger. But Zeke, I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I don’t want to rush this and confuse him. He doesn’t even know you’re his father yet.”
“‘Bout that.”
She groaned. “It’s not up to you, Zeke.”
“Bullshit,” he growled.
“I told you I wanted to do this the right way.” At least the waysheconsidered right.
“The right way woulda been you not runnin’ the fuck away and hidin’ him from me for the past three fuckin’ years, Ky.”
Kyra closed her eyes and gripped her phone so hard, pain shot through her fingers. “We’ve already talked about that. Anyway, why are you calling, Zeke?”
“Wanted to talk to you.”
“Well, we talked. Now we’re done and I need to go to sleep. I have an early shift tomorrow.”
“How’d it happen?”
She blinked up at the dark ceiling.How’d it happen?“Do you mean how’d I get pregnant?”
He grunted out a, “Yeah.”
“Well, you see, men have this appendage called a penis, and when he gets excited, it?—”
He huffed out a breath. “Forgot how much of a fuckin’ smart ass you can be.”
She allowed herself to smile. Only because he couldn’t see it. She didn’t want to encourage him in any way to try to re-spark their relationship.
That wasn’t happening.
He burned her once and she wasn’t about to place her hand back on the hot stovetop again. Any relationship they had would strictly be about Ledger. That was it.
And she certainly wasn’t going to tell him how much watching him and Zak interact with Ledger yesterday morning over breakfast melted her heart.
