It was an old one of Ariya and me when we were younger.
She was beautiful. Then again, she was beautiful now, also.
That likely would never change.
“Take a seat,” Rosemary instructed.
I did as she asked, and then listened as she promptly changed my entire life.
“You have a daughter.”
***
Three hours later
I walked into the first bar that was open; the only thing on my mind was getting a beer, and drinking away my current state of mind.
“You have a daughter. And she’s dying.”
I never, ever thought I’d hear that first statement, let alone the two that followed it.
“Carolyn had a CT scan last week of her abdomen and chest. Dr. Mottle told me this morning that the cancer has filled her liver and her chest is covered with the tumors. Her lower spine has also been affected. The tumors span the length of her spine, and they don’t expect her to walk for much longer. Palliative chemo will stop. They’re going to start hospice soon to make sure she’s kept comfortable.”
Tomorrow, I’d be strong.
Tomorrow, I’d make plans.
Tomorrow, I’d figure out what the hell I was going to do.
Tomorrow, I’d meet the child I didn’t know I had.
Tomorrow, I’d process the fact that she was dying, and there wasn’t a damn thing in the world I could do about it.
Tonight, I’d drink. Tonight, I’d forget. Tonight, I’d ignore everything in this world but the state of my beer mug.
Chapter 16
Unless you’re a pregnancy test, I don’t need you to be negative.
-Hennessy to Krisney
Hennessy
“Did you hear?”
I stared at Krisney in confusion.
“Hear what?”
“Hear that Ariya and Tate have a baby together.”
My entire being, everything that I was, froze in complete, abject horror.
“What?”
It was said so softly that it took me a few minutes to realize that my single word had frozen Krisney in her tracks.
“You didn’t hear?”
No, I hadn’t.
“They have a kid?” I asked, a little more loudly this time.
She nodded her head. “Yeah, apparently Ariya’s sister told him, and then he told everyone at the bar last night that would listen.”
I tried my best to ignore anything and everything that had to do with Ariya, so it came as no surprise that I wouldn’t know that she had a kid. Nor that she had a kid with the man I was currently sleeping with.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
“How far along is Ariya?” I murmured.
When had he had time to be with her? Was it that time that I saw them out at the taco shop while I was on my date with the vegan that wasn’t really vegan?
Could I forgive him for sleeping with an ex before he was sleeping with me? Then again, we didn’t have an agreement of any kind. What we had was borderline illegal.
Oh, my God.
I’d slept with a man that was sleeping with other women, and I could lose my job!
I had to transfer his care to another psychologist. Right this very minute.
“Hey!” Krisney cried out as I stood up in the middle of our breakfast. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to be right back,” I lied.
I wasn’t going to be right back. I was going to my office and I was going to call my mentor, and I was going to ask her just what in the hell I was supposed to do next.
“But we haven’t even finished our pancakes yet!” Krisney yelled at my back.
I waved her off and continued to walk, pulling my phone out as I did.
Krisney would pay. She’d also eat the rest of my pancakes, but I didn’t have time for that right now.
The moment I was outside, I came to a sudden, bone jarring halt as I looked in the parking lot next to my car.
But I knew in an instant that Tate, who was standing so close to my car that I could barely breathe, wasn’t there for me.
He was there for the woman that was standing so close to him that they could likely smell each other.
I dropped my head and allowed my hair to spread out over my face, concealing everything but the path in front of me.
I made it to my car and unlocked it with the fob, immediately dropping inside and locking the doors as I started it.
If I rolled my window down right now, I could literally reach out and touch Tate’s ass with my hand.
I growled at myself and clenched my hands into fists, so angry that I could cry.
How could he sleep with her, and then me, all within a two-month period? Seriously, the man had been out of prison for all of two months! He’d been seeing me for one of those months—though we hadn’t been actively fucking all of that time.
But still!
Angry and a whole lot hurt, I speed dialed my mentor’s number as I put the car into reverse.
Looking in my rearview mirror and not at the man that I knew had to have seen me by now, I backed out and dropped the gear shift down into drive.
Just when I was about to leave, I couldn’t help but look to the side, and what I saw made my stomach clench.
Tate was staring at me, as was Ariya.
Tate with pity, and Ariya with not a little bit of hostility.
I instantly felt bile rise in my stomach, and would’ve screamed at the both of them if my mentor hadn’t answered the phone.
“Hennessy, my dear. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
I bit my lip to keep the strangled sob from breaking free of my lips.
“I’m in so much trouble that I don’t even know where to start…”
Thirty minutes later, I was telling my mentor goodbye, no surer of what to do now than when I placed the phone call.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Joan murmured quietly. “But this needs to be taken care of swiftly. His care needs to be handed off to another psychologist, and I would be glad to take it if that’s what you decide. However, this is a line that you need to determine if you only crossed for him, or because you’re letting your emotions get the better of you when you shouldn’t be. I realize his situation isn’t ideal, and that he didn’t do the things he did because he was truly bad, but that doesn’t make him innocent. He needs the care that you can give him, and if you can’t give him that care, then you need to pass him off.”
I knew she was right.
I bit my lip, then blew out a breath while staring at my front door through the windshield of my car.
“I’ll have my assistant send his file over,” I said. “I’ll tell Isidra to also call him and tell him an appointment time. Send that info over to me via email, and I’ll get Isidra on it…if she actually comes in today. She’s been off for two weeks thanks to the flu.”
Joan started to laugh. “Must be going around, because mine has been out almost the same amount of time. I don’t even know how to function without her. I didn’t realize how much work she was doing until I had to do it myself.”