Page 89 of I Saw Her First

My gaze swings to Daisy. The color drains from her face, eyes wide and startled. Her hands shake at her sides, and it takes everything in me not to reach for them. Before I can soothe her, I need to face my son. I need to tell him what’s been going on and take responsibility for what I’ve done. No more lies.

I press my eyes shut, sucking in a fortifying breath. “Jess—”

“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” he growls. I expect he’s talking to me, but when I open my eyes, he’s glaring at Daisy, holding up one of the photos. The one of her, on the floor between my knees.

The oneItook.

Like an idiot.

Shame and mortification flood through me, stealing the air from my lungs. How could I have been sostupid?

“It’s—” Daisy begins, but Jess continues to speak right over her.

“Tell me”—his voice vibrates with rage—“that this isnota picture of you with my father.”

Daisy raises a trembling hand to cover her face, which is somehow both translucently pale and bright red at the same time. She doesn’t answer Jesse’s question, but the way she hides her face in shame is enough.

“I don’t believe it.” He flings the photo onto the floor with sudden revulsion, as if it’s turned into a dead rat in his hands. “I figured I had to be wrong. That it wasn’t what I thought. But this…”

“We didn’t mean for anything to happen,” I say, but Jess acts like I’m not even here, his furious gaze trained on Daisy.

“Him?” he spits in outrage. “You wouldn’t fuck me, but you’ll fuck mydad? Do you know how old he is, Daisy?”

She studies the floor, her voice wobbling as she says, “He’s not that old.”

“He’s fucking ancient!” Jesse throws up his hands in disbelief, and I take a step forward. Anger comes off him in waves, his gestures become jerky and agitated, and my first instinct is to protect Daisy.

“Jess—”

“Don’t you fucking come near me!” he spits, hands raised in my face as he finally acknowledges my presence.

I sigh, knowing there’s no way to get through to him when he’s this irate. “Please calm down,” I urge, trying to keep my voice steady. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, and we—”

“Calm down?!” he bellows incredulously. “How could you do this? YouknewI liked her.”

I open and close my mouth, faltering, because that’s not entirely true; it wasn’t until he came to see me at work that I realized how much he liked Daisy.

By then, it was too late.

How could I have known, though? He’d brought home another girl, then stormed out of both our lives, and while that doesn’t justify us getting together, it does show how little he cared for her at that point.

How little he cared for both of us.

“Don’t blame your dad,” Daisy says, shaking her head. “He was very clear that nothing would happen between us, but I—”

“Stop.” I place a hand on her arm. Jesse’s gaze follows the motion, and I quickly pull it away. “It’s not your fault.”

“Wes—”

“No, Daisy.” I turn back to Jess. There’s no way I’m letting her take the fall for this. It’s time to come clean. “I’ve known Daisy for a while. She’d been making my coffee at Joe’s for a year when you brought her home as your girlfriend. I had intended to ask her out, and I was shocked as I didn’t know she was seeing anyone, let alone my own son. I did my best to act like I had no interest in her, but I couldn’t help how I felt. I know it was wrong. Then after things with you, we… We didn’t mean for it to happen, Jess.”

He barks a cold laugh. “Of course you didn’t.” His gaze swings to Daisy, lips curled in disgust. “You want me to call youMommynow?”

She recoils in horror. “No!”

“You’ll never replace my mom.Never.”

My blood heats with irritation. This kid fucking disappeared after his mother died, leaving me to pick up the pieces alone. He has no idea what it’s taken for me to get to the point where I could consider spending my life with anyone else, and while he’sallowed to hate me for moving on with Daisy, I’ll be damned if I let him take his resentment out on her.

---