Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I swallowed hard. Fuck, a kid?
Really?
It was strange, but in that moment, an image popped into my head. Myself, Harper, and her kid (who of course, I imagined to be Harper in miniature) sitting in the park, laughing and playing together. I had no idea how old her daughter was – I guessed not that young, if only because of Harper’s toned physique – but I found that I didn’t care. All this time, I’d been chasing Harper and hoping to reconnect with her.
And now, she’d let her guard down and told me something very intimate indeed.
It should have made me want to run away – the idea of being involved with a woman who clearly had another man’s kid – but it didn’t.
If anything, it just made me want to get closer to Harper, to meet her daughter, to maybe even be a family. My lips curled into an ironic twist as I thought of my parents, and what they’d have to say about all of this. Hey Mom, hey Dad, I thought as I leaned back in my chair and kicked my feet up on my desk. Guess you got what you wanted after all.
The existence of a child really did change things. I wondered when Harper had gotten pregnant – it couldn’t have been that long after she’d quit working for me. Was that why she’d left New York for several years? A bad taste seeped into my mouth – had she been living with the father?
And was she still?
My head was a mess now. As much as I needed answers, I knew I wouldn’t be getting them any time soon. And it wasn’t like I could get any more work done today. Instead, I called Clint and asked him to meet me at a different bar, a place where we only went when we didn’t feel like schmoozing with potential clients.
As soon as I got there, Clint was by the bar. He was sitting with a pitcher of beer but I shook my head.
“I need something stronger,” I said, and waved the bartender down so I could order a double whiskey on the rocks.
Clint raised an eyebrow. “That’s some heavy metal, man,” he said.
I shrugged. “Rough day.”
Clint didn’t say anything but I could feel that he was waiting for me to explain.
“It’s ... nothing,” I lied. “I mean, not really. My idiot former assistant came back to apologize, and I told her I’d keep her on until I could find a replacement. It’s not like I can afford to go without a PA right now. It’s almost draft season.”
Clint nodded. I sensed that he could tell something else was wrong, but thankfully he didn’t ask. We drank for hours – not the kind of rushed, throwing things back way that we did sometimes, but rather a slow, contemplative drunk.
The whole time, Harper – and her daughter – were on my mind.
At the end of the night, Clint turned to me. We were outside, waiting for our respective Ubers, and he put a rough hand on my shoulder the way he almost never did.
“You gotta spill, man,” he said, slurring his words slightly.
I groaned. “I will,” I said. “But not right now. I’ll tell you when I get a better handle on what’s going on.”
Thank god for best friends, because Clint just nodded.
24
Harper – Tuesday
Holy shit.
I couldn’t believe I’d just done that – told Nico about Ada.
Not all of it, of course.
But now that he knew I had a daughter, I had no idea what would happen next. I knew Nico well enough by now to know that he wouldn’t let this go: no doubt about it, he’d want to do some digging. He’d even called me back but I hadn’t been able to take the call: Ada had woken up, her fever higher than ever, crying and whimpering from discomfort. She had been soaked in sweat and I’d given her a sponge bath, careful not to make her too chilly, and then bundled up in clean blankets while I put yet another load of sheets in the wash.
Now, thankfully, she was resting – just like she should have been all along, with her face nestled in my silk pillowcase. I stood there and watched her, just watched her. Watched the pulse beating in her throat, watched her shallow breathing, and prayed that everything would be okay. Bronchitis was kicking her butt and it hurt me so much to know that my darling little girl was in pain.
At least I knew it would be over soon – if the doctor at urgent care was to be believed, anyway. I felt sick to my stomach as I paced quietly from one end of the room to the other. My undivided attention should’ve been on Ada, but it wasn’t.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Nico now, and what he’d do now that he found out.