Page 137 of The Promise Of You

“What if she moves across the country and raises your child to hate you?”

Shit. She could do that, couldn’t she? “Yeah… I guess.”

“Just humor her for a few days. Be decent. Show her you’d be a good co-parent. We don’t know what she’s after. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s the support of a family to raise her child. Maybe she just wants her child to have a father. Is that a crime?”

“My child.”

“Right. You get what I’m saying?”

I’m beginning to.

We meet with Gisele in my office. I don’t need to actively feed the gossip mill by a public meeting at the pub. I keep Chloe next to me, our hands intertwined. I don’t want there to be a fucking doubt in anyone’s mind, and especially in Gisele’s, that if this kid is mine, it will have a stepmom from the beginning.

Also, Clover’s presence keeps me in check.

She keeps me together.

Gisele agrees immediately to the test tomorrow, and I have to say, that’s depressing to me.

It means there’s no doubt in her mind I’m the father.

Fuck.

“We’ll have time to talk in the car,” Gisele says when I stand to show her the meeting’s over.

And I feel, down to my bones, Chloe going still and cold.

Fuckfuckfuck.

After Gisele is gone, Chloe pecks my cheek. “Thalia and Lucas will be at the restaurant any minute, and then I’m meeting with Kiara about our dessert menu,” she says. “I’ll see you—”

“I’m coming with you.”

forty-one

Chloe

Iknow what he's doing, and it’s not that I don’t like it. I do. But if he thinks I need reassurance, doesn’t that mean there’s something to reassure me about?

Am I overthinking this?

I’m totally overthinking this.

I focus back on the meeting.

“Understated chic, with natural elements pulled in,” Autumn is saying while Lucas jots down measurements and Thalia examines details, takes photos, and writes notes.

I chime in, “Our target market is people coming in for a special occasion—an anniversary, a first date, a proposal—”

Thalia points to a table. “Lucas did an almost proposal to me right here.”

“An almost proposal?” Autumn asks.

“Long story,” Thalia says, looking lovingly at Lucas. “Anyway, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be working on this project. It’s perfect timing for us. We’re in between projects at the resort with a lot of time on our hands.” She climbs on a stepladder Lucas brought with them. “You know, ever since we had dinner here months ago, I’ve been thinking how gorgeous this place could be with maybe very little work.” She pushes a ceiling tile in and gets on her toes to take a peek, her head disappearing in the ceiling. “Honey,” she says excitedly to Lucas, her voice muffled. “Come here. I knew it.”

“This looks good,” I say to Autumn.

“These two are on fire. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.”

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