Page 43 of Free Fall

When Seren slammed my cherry milkshake down in front of me, it was hope warming my chest, not grief.

Even if Luca refused to be there with us, I had two special people stepping up. How could I let the looming loneliness win when Seren and Avery were bracketing me?

Twenty Three

Luca

Familydinnerwasaquiet one this week. None of the kids were with us, all with excuses or just straight up not coming with no explanation. So Ali and I sat opposite Henry and Delilah, picking at our food in an unusual heaviness.

My self-imposed isolation from Zelda wasn't helping my mood, but after the hospital, how close to the surface emotions had been, the step back was a necessity. We had to rebuild the space between us, the brick wall so we didn't do anything stupid. Like getting caught.

The tension was high between the four of us around the table, and it wasn’t clear why. I had a good guess, considering what I’d done, but there’s no way I’d have stepped a single damned foot onto the threshold without a fist to the face if they knew.

Ali and I hadn’t managed a word between us the entire evening, so maybe the Summers were picking up on that. It was our new normal, but we’d masked it well for the time being. After another argument this afternoon, neither of us had the brain power to give a fuck. I’d looked at apartments to move into, but the decision to stay close to Henry or move near Zelda had me in a brain lock. I always clicked away from the real estate agent websites before any actual plans settled.

“So, if we move the Springfield project to next week’s presentation, we should be able to…” Henry continued to ramble on, filling the quiet as best as he could. He was a quiet man by nature, but hated tense silence.

Ali and Delilah moved their food around their plates, a baked spaghetti squash fiasco none of us liked, and I just sat there with my arms crossed, not even pretending, looking at each of their faces for clues. We’d known each other over twenty-five years, children, weddings, businesses, house moves, we’d been through it all together. Something had fractured.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, and the tension shattered, exploded. Delilah was on her feet and pointing between me and Ali, fury on her face. We all tensed, shoulders flying up under ears and jaws feathering with contained rage. Thank fuck we were getting somewhere. The relief was almost worth spilling out my darkest secrets…

“Your son knocked up our daughter,” Delilah blurted, her words rushing from her like she was afraid of them. Henry groaned and sank his forehead to his palm, muttering under his breath.

“For fuck’s sake, Del,” he said louder, glaring at his wife and shaking his head. But not looking at me. Only the women looked at me, both angry, but different with it.

I didn’t react, not yet. “Cole fucked Jules?”

“Jesus Christ, Luca!” Ali shrieked, slapping my arm. Our first communication beyond glares in hours.

Delilah looked distraught, her face pale and drawn. “No,” she murmured, tears welling in her eyes. “Zelda. Cole and Zelda.”

I looked at them all again. Henry’s face was apologetic, Delilah distressed, Ali shocked, her brow furrowed like she was working out some math.

“Sorry,” Henry told me. “For not telling you sooner. I promised…”

“No,” I said after a moment too long. I was short-circuiting. “No.”

Delilah slumped into her seat with an oof, grabbing the bottle of red closest to her and gulping it down. She wiped the merlot from her lip with the back of her hand, laughing like she’d lost her mind. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! Apples and trees, I suppose.”

“Zelda’s not a teenager,” Henry came to her defense. “It’s different.”

“Zelda’s pregnant?” My brain wasn’t computing.

“She was supposed to have it easier, Henry,” Delilah carried on. “She was supposed to be in a secure relationship, have a home ready to bring the baby into. She was supposed to plan it and want it. Not this. Not this.”

“Zelda’s pregnant.” I tried the words out, letting them fall from my lips. Images of the many times I’d fucked her flashed through my mind. All the times I shoved my cum back inside her or demanded she hold it all in. Six months of relentless fucking, of making her walk around with my seed dripping from her, it was a wonder it had taken this long. Holy shit.

“Luca?” Henry called, and I realized it wasn’t the first time he’d said my name. “We’re going to be grandads. Another thing together.” He didn’t look devastated. He was trying his hardest to make the most of it. Stoic, resilient Henry was doing his best while I fell to pieces under my skin.

My mouth flapped open and shut like I was a fucking fish with a metal hook through my lip. He was going to be a grandfather, yeah. I would be a father again. Holy shit. I had to find her, see her, make sure she was okay.

“Cole’s the father?” Ali asked, her words slow and careful. “You’re positive of that?”

“He told Henry himself,” Delilah responded through red wine stained lips. “Confessed to the affair they’ve been having, how they’ve been sneaking around and made a mistake. He said he’s willing to step up and promised he’d tell you, but he clearly hasn’t. Not a damn surprise there, though.” Delilah’s voice was icy, distant, like she was reciting from a script. Her eyes looked a bit bleary, and I wondered how long she’d been drunk. Maybe since she’d heard the news? She needed to calm the hell down, though. “Ali, we’re gonna be grandma’s… I’m not ready for that!”

“You know Cole is my son?” Ali said to her best friend, eyes narrowing. Delilah hadn’t exactly expressed her joy that it was Cole’s apparent semen making her first grandchild. In fact, she seemed more devastated atthatfact than she did about Zelda’s situation.

“Of course,” Delilah spluttered, eyes widening as she realized what she’d implied. “And he’s…”

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