Page 99 of Never In My Wildest Dreams

“When you say you left, you don’t mean you ghosted her, do you? Because that’s not like you.”

“I left a note with my number, but she didn’t see it.”

“How could she not see it?”

“We’d made a mess. But, also, she left not long after me.”

“Okay, but you own the place. If she found out she was pregnant, she could’ve tracked you down.”

“Nope. The cabin’s owned by an LLC, and if you look it up, you’ll only see my attorney’s name.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. So, here I am, the best man, planning a wedding for my client, and she’s the maid of honor, and…it’s her.”

“The woman from the cabin.”

“And she’s got a daughter who’s two years old.” His pulse accelerated. He looked around, but he had nowhere to go.

“Shit.”

His mind raced. “I don’t know what to do. Do I sign away my rights? Do Ihaveany rights? I doubt I’m on the birth certificate, and I’d probably have to take a DNA test. But what would be the point? I’m not father material. I don’t…I mean, what thefuck, George?”

“You can do anything you want.” As always, George had an even, calm tone. “You can walk away and never see either of them again.”

His heart rate quadrupled.

“But that won’t erase her. You can fly back to the city and drown yourself in work, but you’re always going to have a child in this world who knows her father doesn’t want anything to do with her.” George paused. “And that’s just not who you are.”

It all came crashing down around him. The panic left his body. “No. It’s not.”

“You’re freaking out, and I don’t blame you. And you can take some time to wrap your head around it. But you can’t pretend she doesn’t exist.”

He stuttered out a laugh. “I know. But man, I want to run. I want this to not be real.”

“Which is kind of funny, because your dad had the exact opposite reaction.”

A cold sting flushed through his body.

Shit.

Fuck.

George is right.

“It’s not the same thing,” George said. “But he found out his girlfriend was pregnant with another man’s child, and he jumped right in. He didn’t think about how it would impact his career. He loved your mom, and he decided to love her son, too.”

I’m an asshole.

Here I am trying to be the man my father was, and I’m talking about signing away my rights?

That’s fucked up.

He sat down in the chair. “That’s probably the smartest thing you could’ve said to me.”

“Well, I’ve known you since freshman year. Couldn’t scrape you off no matter how hard I tried.” George chuckled. “And because I know you, I know you wouldn’t walk away. You’re just freaking out.”

“I am.”

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