Page 18 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

The letter also mentioned something about Maya “asking” her boyfriend to wait with the breakup. She must’ve replied to his previous message.

At this point, however, any further communication with her ex-boyfriend was nothing but harmful. Kear had to stop it.

Using his access to the Liaison Committee system and the expanded clearance granted to him by Alcus Hecear tonight, he recalled the boyfriend’s last message and blocked it from reaching Maya. After that, he blocked his entire account to prevent any future messages to her, too. There was no need for him to contact her ever again. The asshole could wax poetic about destiny elsewhere.

Feeling a little calmer, Kear finally stomped into his bedroom and climbed into bed. He might be able to salvage about an hour or two of sleep still.

As he lay in bed, however, thoughts of Maya wouldn’t leave him.

She’d written to her useless boyfriend. She’d expect a response, and when it didn’t come, she’d be worried. Letting her see his last message would be a mistake. However, leaving her without a reply wasn’t the best option, either.

This was a lose-lose situation.

Tossing the covers aside, he sat up in bed once again, racking his sleep-deprived brain for what to do. What would be the best outcome for Maya here?

The best would be a message from her boyfriend writing to her that his first email was a mistake. That he actually loved her. A lot.

But that wasn’t going to happen. At best, her good-for-nothing boyfriend should’ve kept his stupid “honesty” to himself for just a few months longer. He should’ve waited until Maya was no longer pregnant and exceptionally vulnerable. Until she was back home, among humans again, surrounded by her family and friends. Then, he could’ve had this unpleasant conversation with her face-to-face.

Kear knew nothing about romance. He didn’t know Maya that well, either. But he believed she deserved that much after putting up with that asshole for ten years.

Instead, the coward chose to break up with her long-distance. And now, he kept poking the poor woman where it hurt, writing to her about his cheating.

Since there was no hope the man was willing or even capable of rectifying the situation, Kear had to do it for him.

“New message,” he announced to the drone. “Dear Maya...”

He decided against using the Pooh Bear moniker, just in case it was an insult.

“Upon further consideration, I have come to the decision to rescind my previous communication...”

That sounded like one of the letters to a medical publication he’d written over the years, not something a man would write to a woman.

The problem was, Kear had never written to a woman before. The best Kear could do was pretend he was writing to his father or to one of his brothers. Normally, they communicated by video when needed and got together for family celebrations. But he could pretend he had to write to someone from his family this once.

“Sorry, I made a mistake and sent that message too quickly. You’re right. It’s best to wait until you’re back home. We’ll talk then.”

He made the drone read it to him out loud. It sounded simple and to the point.

“Perfect,” he said.

“Send?” the AI inquired.

“Wait.” He remembered the previous message to Maya was signed. “Put the name Walter as the signature and convert it to the Earth language.”

“Which one? There are currently six thousand and five—”

“Whatever language was the last message you read to me in? Use that one.”

“The language and the signature are confirmed. Send?”

“Wait.” He stopped the AI again.

Using his tablet, he accessed the Liaison Committee’s system once again. Here, he found Walter’s account and configured it to connect with his. This way, when his message reached Maya, it would look like it came from fucking Walter, which is how it had to be.

It was for Maya’s peace for now, he decided. She can deal with all this mess later, when she was in a much more stable situation back home and would be far better equipped to deal with it.

“Send,” he ordered the AI.

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