Page 146 of The Last Close Call

She sat down on the grass beside him and pulled her knees to her chest to keep her shoes out of the creek. It was a chilly March day, and they had woken up with the wind howling against the windows and Oscar curled at their feet.

Jack turned to look at her. His hair was wet from his run, and his skin was flushed.

“Sorry I snapped at you,” she said. “I’m in a bad mood.”

“What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “My mom called.”

He leaned back on his palms and waited patiently for her to explain.

“We don’t see each other much. But she wants to have dinner next Thursday.”

“Your birthday.”

She glanced at him. “How did you know that?”

He gave her a get real look.

She gazed out at the leaves floating atop the water. She’d been putting off this conversation for weeks. But it was time to have it. Nerves fluttered inside her as she thought of his reaction. His family sounded so normal. Just the other day, his mother had called to tell him his cousin in Dallas had had a baby.

She looked at him. “So... I told you how my parents split up when I was fourteen. I’m not real close to either of them anymore.”

“Why not?”

She watched a leaf swirl on the surface of the water and then float downstream.

“You know that night we were at the Duck and you asked me if I’d ever researched my ancestry? I didn’t tell you the truth about that.”

“I know.”

She looked at him. “How?”

He shrugged. “The look on your face. And I didn’t really believe you would devote your whole life to genealogy and never trace your own family.”

Rowan glanced away. She should have known he’d know. From the very beginning, she’d felt like he could read her thoughts.

She took a deep breath. “Five years ago, I tested my DNA and learned that I’m an NPE kid.”

“What’s that?”

“It stands for ‘non-paternity event,’ which basically means my father isn’t who I thought. My mom had an affair and... well, I’m sure you can guess the rest. My dad knew about it, but they decided to stay married, probably for practical reasons. They had two kids already and bills to pay. But it was never a love match, at least in my memory.”

Jack watched her, and she wished she could read the look on his face.

“After I found out, I confronted my mom. I could see why they kept this from me when I was little, but now?” Bitterness welled inside her. “They should have told me after the divorce. Or if not then, when I turned eighteen. They had no right to keep it from me.”

Silence settled over them. Rowan plucked a weed from the ground and tossed it into the creek. She watched it swirl and spin.

“And the thing is, even as a child, I always knew my dad felt differently about me than my sisters. He was always aloof. That’s his basic personality, yes, but with me, there was always this underlying disapproval. I made good grades, I never got in trouble, but still I could never please him.” She shook her head. “I had this hang-up about it for years, and my mom knew it, and she did nothing. She never would have told me any of it if I hadn’t discovered it for myself.” She swallowed the hot lump in her throat. “I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her for that.”

She stopped speaking, and there was just the sound of the rushing water and chirping birds.

“Do you know who your biological father is?” Jack asked.

“Yes.” She didn’t say his name because it still felt alien to her. “He lives in Arizona with his second wife. They have three grown kids—my half siblings. Anyway, I’ve never reached out to him.”

“Do you think you will?”

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