Page 5 of Embracing Us

“What’s her name?” she asks.

“Does that matter?”

“If she’s one of my daughter’s friends, I’d like to know which one you’ve been with,” she says, her voice strained. “Which one has had their tongue down your throat.”

“Beautiful, we weren’t together. It was a kiss. She was the result of a drunken night in the pub.”

“Twice,” she spits. “Two weekends you said, Max. You saw her more than once, and you went to her home.”

“I didn’t sleep with her,” I repeat, but it doesn’t take the sting from her eyes. “Her name is Marcy.” She wants to know, and the least I can do is tell her. “Do you know her?” She nods, raising her eyes to mine. They are wide and watery, the hurt evident on her face.

“So, after me, you went back to a younger woman. More your age,” she mumbles, almost to herself.

“No, Linda,” I snap. “After you left me, I was heartbroken. A few weeks later I shared a few kisses with someone on a couple of drunken nights. There was no one else, and I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

“You wanted someone young, someone more like you. Then I appear pregnant, trapping you.” My face falls with her words. She pulls her hands from mine. “I need a moment. Can you look after Jackson, please?” She rises, grabs her coat from the hook, pulls on her shoes and leaves. All I can do is watch her go. She needs time to process what I’ve told her.

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