I pursed my lips and nodded. They’d long since figured out how I felt about Liv. “In addition to my confusion about having feelings for two people at the same time, Kayden is Kaylee’s biological father.”
Mom stared at me in shock.
“How do you know that?” Ima asked, looking stunned.
I ran both hands through my hair and tipped my head back on the couch. “Because he came by the office yesterday on Liv’s first day. She freaked in a very un-Liv like way when she saw him. I asked him about her, and he admitted that they hooked up once but never saw each other again afterward. Then he smiled and I looked at him. I meanreallylooked at him and I just knew. Kaylee has so many of his features, it’s amazing I didn’t see the resemblance sooner. Liv confirmed it after he left.”
Ima sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. “Is she planning to tell him?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I asked her to but she’s afraid. Which I get, and I want to support her, but I can’t keep something like this from Kayden. This isn’t the kind of secret you can have from someone who you’re maybe starting a relationship with.”
“Did you tell her why you care about Kayden’s feelings?” Mom asked.
“I can’t. She thinks he’s just someone working for me because he’s not open about his sexuality. He’s not ready to come out and I won’t push him to.”
“Fuck,” Mom said.
“Yeah.” I chuckled sadly. “Fuck is right.”
Ima leaned forward to hug me. “I’m so sorry. You’re in a terrible position.”
I held on to her as I tried to keep it together. “She has to tell him eventually, right? She has to give him a chance to know his daughter.”
Mom took a deep breath. “Honey, I think she should. But you have to recognize that she may not want to do that.”
A wave of certainty washed over me as I felt my chest crack. “I can’t live with that being her decision. I know it’s her decision to make, but if that’s the choice she makes it will change everything between us, Mom.”
No matter how much I cared about her, keeping a secret like that when Kayden was right in front of her and she had no evidence that he wouldn’t be a good influence on Kaylee’s life was something I couldn’t be okay with. It would be enough to make me rethink everything I thought I knew about her. Which is also why I was certain she’d regret the decision to keep Kaylee a secret.
“That’s not her. I know she’s scared, but keeping this from him is not who she is,” I said confidently. IknewOlivia. I knew her better than I knew myself most of the time.
Ima let go of me. “Then you’ll need to talk to her again. Try to find a way to help her through the fear, Jace.”
“What do I do about Kayden in the meantime? I can’t keep screwing him and developing feelings for him while I’m keeping a monumental secret,” I said, pulling at my hair.
“It’s not your secret to share and you know that,” Mom said, tugging my arms down. “It’s why you’re pulling your hair out, honey.”
I dropped my hands in my lap.
“Unless you can convince him to let you tell Liv about your relationship, you’re going to have to get her to tell him the truth without telling her who he is to you,” Ima said. “You’re probably going to need to do both anyway if you really want to be honest with both of them.”
“Fuck!” I yelled, trying to fight back the tears as the real fear I’d been plagued with for twenty-four hours threatened to burst out of me. I swallowed my pride. “What if this information makes them want to be together and I’m left alone? I don’t think I can handle losing them both.”
“Would you rather Kayden stay in the dark about the situation?” Ima asked.
I sighed as I wiped the moisture from my eyes. “Not at all.”
I’d rather the three of them be happy and together as a family than have Kaylee and Kayden never know each other. Which meant I was going to have to help Olivia come to terms with telling him and I was going to have to risk my heart in the process.
Chapter Sixteen
Olivia
My phone buzzed again,and despite knowing it would be Jace, who was still begging me to talk about Kayden and Kaylee, I picked it up and read it.
Jace:Can we please talk over the weekend, Liv? He’s coming into the office again in a few days. Please let me work through this with you.
I threw my phone down on my mother’s dining room table and cried out in frustration. She set the bows and candles for the centerpieces we were making down on the table and eyed me suspiciously. I glanced over at Kaylee who was locked into one of thePaw Patrolmovies with Carl, neither of them paying us any attention despite my outburst.
