The view of my small town out the window was as familiar as my office in the city. Nothing ever changed here—in a good way. It was like rereading your favorite storybook, always knowing there would be a happy ending.
I got out of the truck first, and when I got to Jada’s side, I noticed her checking her reflection in her phone camera. “You look beautiful. As always.”
She had a nervous expression. “Everyone’s going to be here.”
She wasn’t wrong about everyone being here. Main Street was lined with cars, as was the diner’s parking lot. There were muddy pickups, well-loved minivans, and several luxury cars that had come here from the city. Glamma might be the only one missing since she was coming in a limo the next day. I easily recognized Simon’s Rolls Royce. He said no one made a car like it. “Eyes on me,” I reminded her.
She nodded, seeming to settle a bit.
Jada and I walked toward the front door of the diner. I tugged back the heavy glass and metal door, letting her walk in first. But I nearly bumped into her because she stood stock still.
Jude was waiting just inside the door, wearing a designer suit and grinning ear to ear. “The happy couple’s here,” he said, like the last week hadn’t happened at all.
71.Jada
“Congrats on your wedding weekend,”Jude said, extending his hand to me. This close, the memory of our night together flashed through my mind. His smile the next morning as sun streamed in through gauzy hotel curtains. The scribbled number on a paper for me to reach out again. Telling me to enjoy as much room service as I wanted.
But the guy standing across from me acted like we were mere acquaintances. Like his biological daughter wasn’t cartwheeling on my bladder, making me wish the restroom was onthisside of the restaurant.
Bryce put his hand on the small of my back and said a cool, “Thanks.” He shook Jude’s hand, then took me to greet his family and friends crowding around.
And it hit me that one day my daughter would go to a function much like this one with Bryce and see a different man with her eyes.
A wave of nausea rolled over me at the thought.
“I need to use the restroom,” I whispered to Bryce.
His worried expression told me he spotted my distress. “Do you need me to come with you?”
“No, just distract everyone?”
He nodded.
Weaving through the narrow aisle covered in checkered tiles, I finally made it to the bathroom at the back of the diner that said “Dolls” on the door.
My eyes were stinging as much as my chest by the time I tugged the handle and let myself inside.
The place reeked like stale urine, but it was a haven, nonetheless.
What was I going to tell my little girl one day?
That her father had denied her? That she could be physicallyunsafeif anyone knew? Would we have to keep her away from Bryce’s work so no one made any comparisons? Would social media sleuths figure it out anyway?
Hiding in the shadows for fear of being found out was no life for a little girl.
I got my phone out of my pocket and tapped into my bank account.
The money was still there, staring at me like a threat. How far would he go to keep me away from Bryce and out of his life?
How could I raise my daughter in this tangled web? Around the man who was biologically programmed to love her but rejected her before even seeing her face? Would he be there at every company barbecue? Every gala? Every milestone event?
I got to my knees in front of the toilet, feeling even more nauseous. Even those magical ginger suckers Bryce got me wouldn’t help.
Money was supposed to solve my problems, not create more.
But the truth was, I had enough money to start over. To put a down payment on a house, to live in it for months, if notyears, before I even needed a job. And if Jude was telling the truth, maybe I’d never need money again.
Yes, I loved Bryce, but my daughter had to come first.
