Page 107 of Love in Fine Print

Once I was lying down, waiting for the nurse to come in with my discharge papers, I closed my eyes. When I heard the beep notifying me that I had a message on my phone, I opened them back up.

My phone. I hadn’t even checked my phone. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone an entire day not checking my phone. When I looked over, I saw Ben holding it.

“Can I have my phone?” I asked.

“What is this?” he asked as he turned the screen to face me.

On the screen, I saw that it was the invoice from Behind Closed Doors P.I. for the Ben Whitaker report.

“You had me investigated?” he asked.

“No, not you…um…”

Fuck. I had totally forgotten about the report, about Ben’s dad not being his dad.

“Then what is it?” he asked as he tapped on the attachment.

“No, Ben! Don’t!” I sat up and tried to grab the phone from him, but he was already reading it.

“What is this?” he demanded.

“Just give me my phone. We can talk about this later.”

He shook his head and kept reading. “Olivia, what is this?”

I sighed as I laid my head back down against the pillow. “Remember around Christmas when I asked about your dad and you said you didn’t even know where he lived?”

Ben nodded.

“Well, for some reason, that bothered me. So, I asked Dominic, a P.I. who works for me to look into it.”

He was still reading the report, but I figured I might as well tell him what I knew.

“He found out that Owen Whitaker is not your biological father. Your father was Roger Dawson.”

Ben looked up at me. “The quarterback for the NY Jets?”

I nodded. “He died in a car accident the day before your mom left. She told your dad the truth before she left. He had a paternity test done. Your Gran knew. I found letters that were returned to her, she wanted to adopt you legally.”

Ben stared at me wearing a blank expression. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or upset. I couldn’t tell if he hated me or not.

“Ben, I’m so sorry. I would have never asked if I knew?—"

“Okay, I heard someone’s ready to get out of here!” a nurse sing-songed cheerily as she flicked on the overhead lights.

“Ben?” I looked at him.

“It’s fine.” He smiled at me. “Let’s just get you home.”

Home. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be able to call it home, not after this.

46

BEN

As I pulledup to the stoplight, I glanced beside me at Olivia whose eyes had been closed since we pulled out of the hospital parking lot. I wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or just resting. Dr. Benson said she was cleared to go home, which I was happy about since I knew how much she hated hospitals. Even so, I couldn’t help but worry now that I was her sole caretaker.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized for the dozenth time.

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