Page 34 of Ugly Duckling
His head tilted. “Will they babysit?”
I shook my head. “If you gave them the chance, they’d be over the moon. I was an only child, and they wanted more kids, but my mom wasn’t able to carry another after me. Apparently, I caused her uterus to rupture, and the doctors highly suggested that she never get pregnant again. So they gave up their hopes of a big family and focused all their attention on me. But they love kids. All of their friends’ kids have kids and they’re all about them. I think that’s why they let me stay with Jackson. Because they really wanted a grandkid, and they knew that I’d have them if I stayed with him.”
“But you didn’t,” he said.
“I was able to overlook the face thing.” I touched my chin where I could feel a tiny hairline scar running down my jawline. “But not the infidelity. I’m not sure how women are ever okay with their significant others cheating. I told Jackson point blank before we got married that it was a deal breaker for me. He assumed the risk, thought I wouldn’t find out.”
“How did you find out?” he asked as he pushed into the kitchen from the garage and shut the door behind us.
“He was stupid.” I scoffed. “He was seeing the nurse who was on the team that removed his testicles. She thought I was his sister. He went along with it, and since I had my own therapy sessions,” I gestured to my face, “I didn’t make as many of his appointments as I probably should have. One time, my therapy appointment was canceled. So I decided to just head over and sit in on his appointment with him, and found them kissing in the hallway outside the doctor’s office.”
He winced. “What did you do?”
I leaned my hips against the counter and felt my legs start to shake.
I immediately came out of the lean and headed for the padded bar chair.
Once I’d climbed up I told him the rest. “I confronted him in the hallway. She was freaked. Had no clue that we were actually a couple. Apologized profusely to me and went running back into her office. I then asked him if he really had doctor’s appointments every week, or if he was just coming up here to see her. He admitted that he didn’t actually have any appointments. Everything was taken care of when they removed his testicles. And he didn’t have any chemotherapy. He just really liked her, and realized that he didn’t love me anymore. He just didn’t know how to tell me that.”
The words didn’t hurt anymore.
At the time, I was devastated, if only because of what we’d lost.
Now, I was happy to be free, and not tied down to a man like Jackson.
I would’ve hated having him as a father to my child.
Which was why I should keep taking my own advice and get rid of his stored sperm.
It was doing none of us any good, and maybe if I stopped making monthly payments on storing his sperm, then I’d be happier.
He gestured to the couch. “My legs are getting sorer by the second. Do you want to watch a movie with me?”
“I literally just climbed into this seat,” I grumbled.
He walked over to me and held out his hand.
Butterflies took flight in my belly.
What was it about this man?
He’d always made me feel this way.
In high school, it was easy to ignore it because I was so dang busy I didn’t have time to moon over a boy.
But I was an adult now, and I got to make my own decisions.
I also didn’t have anyone depending on me.
I could rot on the couch with the sexiest man alive.
He set me on my feet and backed away slightly before he said, “What movie do you want to watch? I’ll literally watch anything but The Lorax.”
I snickered. “Your girl a little bit obsessed?”
He looked at me with warm eyes as he said, “You have no idea, Sutton. No idea whatsoever.”
Two hours later, I woke up from one of the best naps of my life.
