Page 91 of What I Should've Said

Josie wraps an arm around Norah’s shoulders in comfort. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this is the very last thing Norah wants to do.

As the commotion picks up, Jessica and her lawyer come out of the sheriff’s office, and as soon as Breezy spots her, her eyes go round. “What the hell is she doing here?”

“I’m here for my daughter.”

Josie and Clay gasp. Norah turns tearful eyes to me.

Breezy, though, she’s not having any of it. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Jessica Folger. That girl is not your daughter. Your role was giving birth, and that was the extent of it.”

“Because he paid me to leave!” she shouts.

“He paid you a generous sum of money, yes, but you didn’t need any convincing to leave, Jess. You and I both know you didn’t want anything to do with that baby.”

“She’s saying I’m not the biological father,” I choke out somehow, causing another round of gasps that suck almost all the air out of the station.

Breezy, though, she doesn’t even blink. “Is that right? Well, I guess it’s a good thing we did a DNA test before Bennett ever left the state with her, then.”

“You have DNA?” the lawyer bumbles, an instant fool.

“Yes,” my sister declares. “We have DNA, a signed affidavit swearing the money was not a bribe, and a signed transfer of full rights to Bennett for Summer. I don’t know what you think you have, but you don’t have jack shit.”

“You signed an affidavit?” the lawyer questions Jessica, his eyes widening in incredulity.

“I signed a lot of things, but I was coerced!” Jessica wails at the top of her lungs.

“Exactly!” Thomas shouts, and Breezy turns on him like a mama bear.

“You stay out of this!”

I chuckle without humor. “He’s having a hard time staying out of it because he’s the one who convinced Jess to come. Right?”

Thomas and Jess are both silent for a long moment, and Eleanor sees fit to fill it. “This is preposterous. Sheriff! This is all lies, every bit of it!”

Josie guffaws. “Don’t act like you’re innocent, mother. You’ve had your hand in all of it.”

“Listen, folks, from what I’m hearing, Bennett is free to go,” Sheriff Pete interjects, coming toward me to take the cuffs off. “If there’s anything else to be settled, I suggest you file suit with the appropriate court.”

“This is bullshit,” Jessica cries, pointing at Thomas. “You said I could get more money! That’s the whole damn reason I even came!”

Her lawyer, mind you, is already packing up his briefcase.

I shake my head at her antics and run my tongue against my teeth as Sheriff Peeler frees me. I rub at my sore wrists lightly. The only thing that keeps me from regretting ever knowing Jessica is the daughter I got out of it.

“The money’s gone, Jess,” I say as simply as I can manage. “All that’s left is the daughter you never wanted. The daughter I would give anything to keep. So, I suggest you go back to wherever you’ve been because the only place you’re going in the company of this guy is prison.”

The entire time she’s been here, not once has she asked to see Summer. Not one single fucking time. She has no idea what her daughter has been through. She has no idea that Summer’s life is hanging by a thread. She doesn’t know and she doesn’t care, and the tragedy of that scenario makes me thankful my daughter has a lived a life without this woman.

Thankful that the only maternal figure she’s experienced in her life is Norah.

I seek out Norah, ignoring the bullshit Eleanor and Thomas are still spewing into the air. She’s standing there, her shoulders sagging, her mouth set in a firm line of discomfort.

She looks destroyed, and I hate myself for it. Hate myself for what I pulled her into. For what I asked her to do. But I can’t change any of it. The only thing I can do is get the hell out of here and go to the one place I need to be. The one place I should’ve never been forced to leave—Summer’s bedside.

I step through the crowd. “Pete, I’m leaving.”

He doesn’t stop me. “Okay, Ben.”

“I’ll drive you,” Clay offers, already pulling his keys out of his pocket and heading toward the exit door.

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