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My heart sank. Obviously, this wasn’t the first time paparazzi had camped outside our house to take photos and intrude on our lives but something told me they would be especially intrusive over this. And it wouldn’t be over in a day, either.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be ready for it.”
Radleigh placed his finger under my chin and gently tilted it upwards. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
With a deep sigh, I nodded. “I know.”
He leaned down and kissed me softly. “I have to go. Will I see you after the game?”
“I’ll be here. I’ve scheduled in some girl time with Freya. We’re gonna go down to Genie’s and catch up.”
Radleigh smiled. “Sounds good.”
“If I don’t see you again today… good luck for tomorrow. I hope it goes well.”
He kissed me again, his lips lingering on mine, and as he pulled away, he looked deep into my eyes as if trying to reassure me. “Thank you. I love you, Leah.”
Closing my eyes, I kissed him one more time. “I love you too.”
**
As it turned out, I didn’t see Radleigh after the match. At least, not to spend any amount of time with. Probably for the best since our last goodbye was awkward and I wanted to avoid going through it again. What I needed more than anything was to hang with Freya. The only thing that would have made it better was if Bree was there, but she was working, so Freya and I entered Genie’s at around five p.m, which was the ideal time of day for a quiet conversation. Most of the beach bums had gone home, and it was still too early for the evening revellers to be out; the place was perfect.
After grabbing a latte each, Freya and I settled into our favourite booth in the back. Freya sat opposite me, her eyes heavy with concern, making me wonder what my own face portrayed. Honestly, I didn’t have the slightest idea how I felt. I was lost somewhere between missing Radleigh, worrying about how he’d get along with Jayden, worrying about whether Jen was playing some kind of game – I mean, asking me to go meet Jayden too? That was way too cons
iderate. The whole situation made me want to throw cocktails down my neck until I didn’t have to deal with it anymore.
“I don’t even know what questions to ask,” Freya said, after a while of just watching me.
I gave a soft laugh. “I’m not sure I’d know how to answer, but I’ll try to explain. We found out yesterday that Jayden is Radleigh’s. Jen was almost giddy with glee, but instead of giving us a second to process, she not-too-subtly dropped in the revelation that she and Radleigh had seen each other the day before. Something he’d failed to mention. And… I pretty much lost my shit and now he’s living with his parents until Monday.”
Freya’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Back up. I… what?”
“Yeah. It’s been a crazy couple of days.”
“Wait. So, first of all… Jayden really is Radleigh’s son? There hasn’t been some horrible mix up?”
I shook my head. “As much as Radleigh tried to tell me it was impossible, I knew. I don’t understand why she waited until now to spring this on him. Maybe I’ll ask her if I can ever stand to be in a room with her for longer than five minutes. It doesn’t really matter, though. What matters is that Radleigh suddenly has another child.”
“And you and he fought about this so badly that he left?”
“Not exactly. I was pissed off with him for lying about seeing Jen, so I told him I needed some space. He offered to leave.”
“Why did he lie?”
“He said it was because he knew I’d be angry, but since I’d already made it blatantly clear how I feel about him hiding things from me, that excuse didn’t work for me.” I sighed, leaning my elbows on the table and resting my head in my hands. “This whole thing is a nightmare, Freya. If some totally random woman had knocked on our door and said Radleigh was the father of her child, it would have sucked but it would have been preferable to Jen.” I looked up at Freya. “She is the devil in Louboutins.”
Freya shot me an understanding smile. “I remember. So… I mean… how do you feel? What’s going to happen?”
Pushing my hands through my hair, I straightened up. “I feel… on edge. Like she’s going to sweep in and take everything from me. My man, my wedding, my life. All of it. I know Radleigh loves me and I know he knows what she’s capable of. But I can’t stop thinking that she’s going to do something to make trouble. I feel like I’m going to lose him.”
The feeling had been pressing at the edges of my consciousness since Jen arrived, and although I’d done my best to focus on what was real, what I knew to be true, that he loved me, I couldn’t stop the fear trickling in.
“Leah, come on,” Freya said gently. “There’s no way.”
“And I would agree with you if it weren’t for the lies. I know it might not seem like much but… the fact he felt like he had to hide this apparently meaningless meeting makes me uncomfortable.”
“I can understand that. But, Leah, this is just… a glitch. This is just him trying to get used to the situation.”
