Page 52 of The Omega's Secret Baby
“I know.” Like I could ever forget. If those people weren’t Matt’s family, he and I would have had a lot less trouble. “Do you want to come with me get Jake from school? You could say goodbye, since you won’t be around for a while.”
“Great idea. We could go for ice cream before I have to leave. Or in this weather, maybe waffles or something.”
“I’m sure he’d love that.” I felt the corners of my lips tug up. I didn’t often take Jake out for treats. We simply didn’t have the money, but that wasn’t an issue for Matt. He could have bought the ice cream parlor, if he’d wanted to. I hoped he wouldn’t start trying to spoil Jake, but the occasional treat was fine.
We got into my car and drove out of the woods. Slowly, because a bit of snow had gathered on the roads. It wasn’t super bad, but plows didn’t come through here as often. The situation got a little better as we made our way back to civilization.
We made it to the school about ten minutes before classes were over, and I spotted my brother standing by the gates. “Hey, Griff!”
“Oh, hi, you two.” He turned to us. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d be back in time.”
“I’m sorry. I should have called you.”
He waved me off. “It’s fine.”
I was really lucky I had such an understanding brother. And as I took in the half-hidden looks some of the other parents were giving us, I wished everybody could be a little more like him.
I turned to Matt. “You remember my brother Griff?”
He squinted. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, but I’ve heard stories.”
Oh, right. We’d never done the wholemeet the familything. Something else we needed to talk about if we were going to move forward with this relationship. Something else that needed to wait until after Matt had moved back here. I suppressed a sigh while Matt and my brother shook hands.
“Good stories?” Griff asked.
“Mostly!” Matt confirmed.
Griff’s eyes twinkled. “I’ve heard stories too.”
“Griff!” I cut him off. Matt didn’t need to know that I told my brothereverything.
“It’s fine,” Matt said with a chuckle. “Look, there’s our kid.” He pointed at Jake, coming out of the school. That was indeed our kid. And our kid looked grumpy. I could tell by the way he hunched his shoulders. Was it because I’d spent the night away from home? No, couldn’t be. I’d explained to him, and he’d told me it was fine. Especially after I’d allowed him to order pizza for dinner.
Maybe he’d gotten into trouble with some of the other boys again. Sadly, that was always a possibility. Couldn’t be too bad, though, if I hadn’t been called.
“Hey, kiddo,” I greeted him as he stomped up to us.
He looked up at me out of narrowed eyes, ignoring both Matt and Griff. “Is it true what they say?” he demanded.
“Uh… I don’t know. What do they say?” I lowered my voice a little to encourage Jake to do the same. I didn’t want the other parents to stare. They all loved drama way too much. Especially other people’s drama.
He ignored my silent plea for discretion. Scrunching his face up, he turned to Matt. “They say you’re paying Daddy to do stuff with you. They say you must be my dad.”
Shit.We were too late. We’d waited too long to talk to Jake, and now the rumors had reached him first. I looked to Matt, who seemed just as lost as me. After a minute, he managed to speak, though. “I’m not paying your Daddy for anything.”
So that was the part he wanted to address, huh? I took a deep breath and took Jake by the arm. “This is really something we should talk about in the car.”
“I don’t wanna go in the car! I wanna walk!” He broke free from me and grabbed Griff’s hand. I cringed. This was a bad temper tantrum waiting to happen. And one that I didn’t want to happen in public.
“Okay,” I said. “Why don’t you and Uncle Griff go home and we’ll meet you there?” And once I’d said that I looked at Griff and mouthedgo. Then I dragged Matt back into the car with me.
“You’re just gonna let him go like that?” he asked.
“I’d rather deal with this at home. Too much of an audience here.”
“Howarewe going to deal with this?” Matt asked, fastening his seat belt.
“Honestly? I don’t know. Seems like he’s going to be mad either way, but…” I looked Matt in the eyes. “You have to remember that he’s mad because of the way he found out, and because this is confusing to him. He’s just a boy, it’s not weird if he doesn’t know how to handle this. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you or anything.”
