Page 23 of Walk Off

He had a kid. They had a kid. A kid that she’d kept from him for all these years.

He’d loved her with everything he had and he’d asked her to come with him. If she’d been pregnant, why didn’t she come with him? Why’d she turn him down? None of it made any sense, and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around it all.

He walked and walked, the cold winter air chilling him down to the bone, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t until his phone dinged in his pocket that he even stopped to look where he was. A park where there were kids everywhere playing.

Jesus. One of the little girls could be his. He had a daughter.

Pulling out his phone, he saw a text from Dallas. They weren’t super close but they’d met many times over the years and had easy conversations.

Dallas:

Are you still in town? Want to meet up?

Shit, he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he was supposed to be on a plane back home. He looked at his watch. There was still time to make it if he wanted. But did he? He had nothing going on in Arizona right now. And there was a lot going on here.

Kyle:

I am, but I’m not great company right now.

Dallas:

Listen, Celia’s here and she told me that you talked. I imagine you could use a friend.

Fuck. Dallas knew. How many other people knew?

Kyle:

A friend. Is that what we are? Is that why I am just finding out about this?

He was so fucking angry. Angry at Celia. Angry at Dallas. Angry at himself. He shook his head and dropped down to the bench next to him. He’d been replaying his memory of the day Celia broke up with him over and over in his head, and the more he remembered it, the more he saw how distraught she’d been. Something told him she hated what she was doing but that she didn’t see another way out. He knew her. She’d never do that unless she felt she had to.

No. No, he was not going to forgive her for this. She’d kept his own kid from him.

Dallas:

It wasn’t my place and I haven’t known that long. Just meet me and we can talk in person.

Kyle:

I’m at some park. The sign says Brentwood.

Dallas:

That’s close. I’ll be there in ten minutes.

He sat on the bench trying to think of anything but Celia and how she’d looked when she’d been naked in his arms. But that was all that came to him. He hated her for what she’d done, but he still wanted her. Want was a mild word. He craved her. Over the years it had died down some, but the minute he’d seen her, it came rushing back. There was no getting her out of his head, or his heart.

If knowing she’d kept his kid from him didn’t do it, nothing would.

He lifted his head and saw Dallas strolling toward him. “Hey, man.” He took a seat next to him.

Kyle wasn’t sure what to even say or do. “Hey.”

“Are you okay? Do you want to talk or, I don’t fucking know, go get drunk?”

Kyle laughed. “Getting drunk sounds like a great idea but I think that might only make it worse.” If he got drunk, he’d think about Celia naked even more than he did sober.

“I’m not going to pretend to know why Celia did what she did, but can I tell you a story that is sort of part of it, and how Ruby and I came to be?”

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