Page 56 of Lost In Someone

Milo grins, not a shy bone in his body. “Yeah, thanks, Uncle Drew.”

My son, my greatest joy, walks over to Brodie and me. I take my arm from around Brodie’s waist and hug Milo. “I’m sorry about this, but Brodie insisted.”

“Hey!” Brodie elbows my ribs. “That’s not true. Happy birthday, Milo. I tried to stop him, but you know what he’s like.”

“It’s great, Dad. I knew he’d do something.” He smiles the lazy, confident smile that has all the holiday kids swooning. He’s built the same as me. At just over six foot tall, with golden-blond shaggy hair, he has the whole surfer look mastered. And while the young holidaymakers crush on him, he’s down to earth and friendly.

At sixteen, he didn’t so much come out to us but came home with one of his school friends and introduced him as his boyfriend. Until that relationship ended, and he brought home a girl.

Willow comes bounding up to him and throws her arm around his shoulder. “Aww, you’re all grown up now.” She laughs and kisses his cheek. As far as I know, they’ve never been more than friends, but they both have the same relaxed outlook on life, so they may have had something more.

Milo accepts his first legal pint and takes a drink. He looks so happy and carefree. I wonder, as I have done plenty over the years, if Kate thinks of him on his birthday. Did she ever regret the selfish way she abandoned him? Has she had more children with the man I never knew about? Milo has asked questions about her over the years but decided he wasn’t going to reach out to her.

“Do you think she’ll turn up?” Brodie asks.

We’d discussed the chance of her coming back, if only to catch a glimpse of the child she abandoned. “Possibly, maybe. Honestly, I don’t know. She may never have given him another thought. Would I recognise her after all this time?”

“I doubt she looks that different. You don’t, just a little older. You’re still hot. I’d do you.” Brodie laughs. “In fact, I doubt Milo needs or wants us here. So why don’t we go home?”

He’s right. Milo has his friends, and we’ve covered the tab for his drinks. “I like your way of thinking.” I kiss below his ear, knowing how much he likes it. After nearly twenty years together, we still want each other as fiercely as we did when we first met.

“We should let him know.” Brodie nods to our son. It only takes a minute, and after hugs, we walk out together, holding hands.

We make it to the corner when a car door opens. Brodie was right. I instantly recognise the woman getting out of the car. Brodie tightens his grip on my hand. He too knows it’s Kate.

“Ivan, I—”

I hold up my hand. “Don’t. Don’t say a damn word. You need to go. Leave him alone. Milo doesn’t want or need you in his life. And I sure as shit don’t want to hear your lies.”

“You don’t know what happened. You don’t know the stress I was under.”

“Stress from your other lover because the baby wasn’t his. Yeah, right. You had it all planned. You had it all set up to walk away from your child, your hours-old son. You had money ready for him. You planned the whole fucking thing. You let him go to foster care for nearly three bloody months rather than come to me.”

Brodie rubs my arm, shushing me. “It’s okay, love. Let’s go home.” He turns to Kate. “You have no reason to be here. Go away and leave us and, more importantly, Milo alone. He doesn’t want to know you.”

“Dad?” Milo says from behind us. “What’s going on?” When I turn around, he’s looking past us at Kate.

“Milo.” Kate’s voice is low but harsh, painful even. “You’re so handsome. I knew you would be. Just like your dad.”

“No! Shut up,” Milo says firmly. “No, I told you before I didn’t want to hear your shit, and I still don’t want to hear it. Not now, not ever. Just fuck off.”

Kate closes her eyes and nods, gets back into her car, and drives away.

“What do you mean ‘I told you’? When did she get in touch?” I can’t believe she went against her own conditions.

“She contacted me through Facebook. I shut her down, Dad. I told her I wanted nothing to do with her.”

“I’m sorry, Milo,” I say.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. You’ve been the best parents ever.”

I wrap my arms around him. “I’m so proud of you. Go back to your party. We’re going to head home.”

I let him go, and Milo walks back into the pub.

When we are back home, I can’t get the audacity of Kate out of my mind. To think she could step back into our lives. That anything she said would make up for what she had done.

“Hey, Ivan, love. Don’t give her any head space. Let’s go and do dirty things to each other.” Brodie brushes his mouth over mine. He nips at my bottom lip. The sting sends sparks through my body straight to my dick.

“What would I do without you?” I murmur and pull his hips to mine.

“You never have to find out.” He kisses me, and every thought floats away as I lose myself in him.

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