“Really?” he asked, surprised. “Like, on the spot?”
I nodded.
“Well, that’s cool, right?” he continued.
“I think I want to take it.”
“Oh.” He paused. “It’s pretty far. That’s like a two-hour commute every day. Each way.”
“Not if I move.”
“Move where?”
“Back to Queens?” I asked, as if it was a question instead of a choice.
“Do you really want to do that?”
“It’s my home. It’s where I’m from.”
“Sound Hollow is your home too, though. What about Pat’s job?”
I shook my head, tears spilling down my cheeks. “I don’t think I can stay here.”
“Why not?”
I took a deep breath and held it, counting to five in my head before exhaling slowly. “Because you’re having a baby with someone else,” I admitted.
“Taylor.” He sighed.
“And the only thing holding you back from maybe making some room for that baby in your heart is me.”
He shook his head.
“I can’t do that to a child. Especially not to your child, Matt. I know you had it easy with your parents. But I didn’t. And I know from personal experience—”
“Stop, Taylor.” He wrapped his hands around mine.
“But—”
“You’re right,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“You’re right,” he repeated. “I talked to my parents today.”
“Oh. How’d that go?”
“Exactly the way you said it would.”
I nodded silently.
“My father even cried.”
“Really?”
“He had a big heart to heart with me. We talked about what it means to be a man, and what it means to be a father.”
“And?”
