“Duke.” She sets her fork down. Her hand is shaking.
I don’t answer. I put my forearms on the table and lace my fingers together.
I don’t say anything. She’s the one who fucked up. She can go first.
The kid hums to himself and stacks creamers into a wobbly tower on the highchair tray. Violet catches one before it rolls off the edge.
“You look good,” she says, and her eyes drop.
“Who is he?”
Her lips part. “What?”
“The guy.” I keep my hands laced. Keep my body planted. My dick is hard, and I’m furious, and the two don’t cancel each other out the way they should. “You have a kid that’s maybe two years old.” I do the math out loud. “You left three years ago. You moved on fast. Who is he?”
The color drains from her face. Her hand moves to the edge of the table, like she needs to hold on to it.
She shakes her head.
My teeth clench. “Who. Is. He?”
She takes a breath. Straightens her spine. “There’s no guy.”
“Bullshit.”
“There’s no guy, Duke.” She holds my eyes when she says it.
No guy. Either she’s lying, or the guy left her.
Or she left him. She’s good at that.
“Why are you here, Violet?”
She pulls herself together. “My friend had a baby. I’m visiting.”
The kid reaches for me.
Fat little fingers stretching across the gap between the highchair and the booth, grabbing at the air near my arm. Egg smeared on his chin. Big blue eyes locked on me.
The kid grins up at me with a mouthful of tiny white teeth and says, “Hi.”
Even knowing this is some other man’s kid, I’m not a monster. Besides, he’s half Violet.
I pat the top of his head. Soft brown hair, fine as silk. “Hi, kiddo.”
Violet goes rigid. Not afraid. Not angry. Just watching the interaction.
I pull my hand back. She blinks, grabs a napkin, and wipes egg off the kid’s chin like she needs something to do with her hands.
The waitress appears. Young, nervous, reading this table from ten feet away and walking up anyway.
“Can I get you anything, hon?” Pen hovering over her pad.
“Black coffee.”
She leaves. Violet traces the rim of her water glass with one finger, not looking at me.
“You were going to come into town, like you just forgot I live here.” I lean forward. “Drive into Ash Valley, visit your friend, drive out. And you weren’t going to tell me.”
