AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Five, huh, wow that’s pretty cool,” Keaton said as he realized that made the kid four.
Avery said his birthday was a few months away. The kid was four. The last time Keaton had seen her was five years ago.
Could he be his?
Was that why she’d left?
Because she’d gotten pregnant and couldn’t face him to tell him?
No. There was no way. She would have reached out to him. Right?
Suddenly all the other questions he’d had seemed insignificant to the newest one. Was this boy Keaton’s son?
* * *
Shit. Avery could see Keaton doing the math in his head. He was trying to calculate how long ago they’d slept together, to try and figure out if this was a Maury-you-are-the-father moment.
Avery was trying to figure out how to tell him that he wasn’t without making it obvious to Jacob what she was saying, when her mom came back from using the restroom.
“Well, hello there,” her mom Eartha Kitt purred at Keaton before looking over at Avery. “It looks like someone made a friend while I was away.”
“Mom, this is Keaton Savage. Keaton this is my mom, Blanche Bardot.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Bardot.”
“Oh, please call me Blanche,” she insisted.
“Mom, why don’t you go show Jacob the mural? I’ll be right there.”
Her mother’s raised eyebrows indicated in a not-so-subtle way that she thought something was going on between Avery and Keaton.
“Mom,” Avery prompted her.
“Nice meeting you Mr. Savage.” Her mom winked at him before ruffling her grandson’s hair. “Come on, Jakey boy. Let’s go check out this dragon.”
Once her son and mom were out of earshot, she turned back to Keaton.
Before she could speak, Keaton placed his hand on his chest. “Is he…?
“No, he’s not,” Avery assured him. She glanced around making sure that no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. She’d only spent a few months in Whisper Lake but from what she remembered gossip spread like wildfire. Since there were several people waiting to be seated, she moved into the alcove off the hallway that led to the bathrooms for privacy and Keaton followed. When she was sure they were alone, she whispered, “I found out I was pregnant, the day after we…spent the night together.”
“But, are you sure?”
“Yes, remember I told you I had a doctor’s appointment the day you went into the city?” she whispered, hoping to jog his memory.
Keaton nodded.
“I went in because of those headaches and found out I was pregnant. I thought they were joking when they told me. I didn’t believe it. But they did an ultrasound I measured at eight weeks. There is no way that you are…” Avery couldn’t speak out loud the wish she’d had for all these years. She cleared her throat. “But just to make absolutely sure I had a paternity test done when Jacob was a year old.”
When Avery did the test, she’d known there was no way Keaton could be Jacob’s father, but she had to admit, she’d held out hope until the results came back. Even though logically, she knew it would have been impossible, seeing the words in black and white say that Jude was 99.99999% Jacob’s father had filled her with disappointment.
Keaton nodded, and unless Avery was crazy or projecting, she saw the same disappointment she’d felt mirrored in his eyes as they searched hers.
The way he looked at her was so different than she’d ever experienced before. He didn’t just look at her, he saw her. With other people, she could put on a happy face or hide whatever she was feeling. But not with him.
“Is that why you left?” he asked.
Avery felt herself getting emotional, but she forced herself to push those emotions down. She nodded. “I just… I had to go back and face my life.”
