Page 20 of Masquerade Mistake

“So, getting the inside scoop on lover boy, huh?” she asks as she wipes down the table.

“Kind of.”

“Well, good luck.” Maren tilts her head at Nina, then rolls it back to me. “She’s already messed up five people’s orders, and they of course are blaming me for the mistake.” She nods at my latte. “She entered that one in as a raspberry mint mocha. But I have a feeling she did it on purpose.”

“Thanks for saving me,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “But why? Does she hate me?”

“Nah, Nina doesn’t care enough about anyone to hate them. I think it amuses her.” Maren looks back at the coffee station. “I better go. Good luck. Tell me what you find out.”

I actually don’t want to ask Nina too many questions about Ethan. Knowing Nina, she’ll put a damper on any kind of feelings I have for him. Besides, I’d rather Ethan show me who he is than get a second opinion. But there’s one question I can’t bring myself to ask him.

For forty-five minutes, I nurse my coffee as I stare out the window, ignoring the searching glances of other coffee lovers looking for a place to sit. Even when my cup is empty, I pretend to drink only so I can avoid looking like a table hog. It’s my downfall, and I know it. I care too much about people’s opinion of me, even those I’ll never see again.

Which is why my mouth feels dry and it’s hard to swallow when Nina plants herself at my table, plopping a breakfast sandwich in front of her that she picks at piece by piece with her chopstick fingernails. She doesn’t say anything, leaving me to scramble for what to say.

Here’s the thing about Nina. She only knows me as Maren’s friend, and that’s it. I don’t even think she knows I have a kid. Or maybe she does. Maybe she’ll say something to Ethan before I have a chance to say anything, and it will ruin any chance I have of getting to know him better. I study her, trying to gauge how much she knows.

“What?” Her eyes narrow, and I realize I’m staring at her like a psychopath.

“I have a son,” I blurt out. Nina’s eyebrows raise up, and I mentally shoot myself for saying anything.

“And you’re telling me this because…”

I sigh, realizing honesty is probably the best path to take.

“Because your cousin told me last night that he doesn’t want kids, and he doesn’t know I already have one.”

She nods slowly, but a look of understanding washes over her face.

“Look, I’m not ready to spring this on him,” I say, and then ignore her questioning look as I continue. “But after last night’s date, I think there’s some potential between us. If I’m right about our connection, I need to know why he doesn’t want kids.”

“And you think I know something,” Nina says, looking down at me through her hooded ice-blue eyes.

“I was hoping you did.”

She leans back in her chair and eyes me. It feels like I’m the subject of an evaluation or something, like I’m being appraised for my worth. I’m irritated that she’s being so coy, but I hide my feelings and wait out her dramatic assessment.

“Have you ever watched those Lifetime dramas where the dad has two complete families, and neither one of them know about the other?”

I feel numb as Nina shares how Ethan discovered his dad’s other family—a girlfriend and two daughters in North Carolina. Because he traveled for work, he was able to explain the long absences.

“Uncle Tom is my dad’s brother, and even we didn’t know about it,” Nina continues. “My uncle denied it, of course. Told Ethan he was a confused twelve-year-old. But by that weekend, he disappeared and none of us ever heard from him until my Aunt Stacy received divorce papers.”

“Oh my God, that’s awful,” I breathe.

“It gets worse. Uncle Tom had supported the family, allowing Aunt Stacy to stay home. When he left, he stopped contributing too. With no job skills or experience, Aunt Stacy could only find minimum wage jobs those first few years. She and Ethan lost their house, their car, and almost all their belongings while Aunt Stacy struggled to keep things afloat. They moved in with our family for a time, but it’s not the same, you know? She sued for support, but you can’t get money out of someone who works under the table and keeps moving locations. Last I heard, Tom and his other family moved out of the country, though none of us know where.”

“And because Ethan’s dad failed him, he doesn’t want kids,” I murmur. I think back to the way I spilled my guts to him last night, telling him about my mother. We had all this talk about Frankenstein and the theme of isolation, and he never once brought it up. “Why didn’t he just tell me?” I ask Nina.

“You think one date with him will get him to spill his dark past with you?” Nina rolls her eyes as she huffs a laugh.

“I’m not being an egomaniac,” I say. “It’s just that I was sharing about my own messed up childhood, and…”

“And he doesn’t talk about this with anyone,” Nina finishes. “As soon as it was clear that his dad was gone for good, Ethan shut up about it. He’s never mentioned his dad since. He won’t talk about it with his mom, my dad, or even me—and we were close growing up. So it’s not surprising that he never told you.”

“This complicates everything,” I mutter.

“Because of your son?”

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