Page 61 of Beck and Call

Of course the man I accused her of having an affair with turned out to be her father. Speaking of Colter, he hadn't spoken to me once since we got the results. I wanted to be there for him. He was right; I threw away thirty years of friendship and as much as I wanted to turn to him for help right now, I wanted to be there for him while he dealt with learning the love of his life had been dead for the last fifteen years.

The phone in the secretary's station rang again. Ordinarily I could have picked up the line from my office, but I trashed almost everything on my desk after I learned I was going to be a father, and I might never get to see my child. It wasn't like I could use my resources to manipulate her to see me. I was desperate enough to try anything at this point, but Colter would make sure she could stay away from me forever if that's what she decided she wanted.

After a while the ringing stopped. It had been ringing in shifts for the last couple of days. I ignored it. My cell phone had died and I left it uncharged. Evie's phone sat on the corner of my desk, so I knew it wasn't her. It would probably never be her again.

I'm not sure how much time passed since the last time the phone rang. I managed to drink four glasses of Scotch, so I hardly cared anymore. My mother burst into my office, and I had a flashback to high school. Callie convinced me to sneak out and go to a party in an abandoned warehouse with her. I was so drunk we ended up sleeping in my car in the parking lot.

The next morning, I tried to sneak back in, but my mother was waiting for me in my room as I tried to crawl in through my window. She seemed less pissed off then.

"Beckett Nathaniel Anderson! I've been trying for three days to get ahold of you and Evie. Where is she?"

She finally took in my appearance. "Oh, no. What did you do?"

"Why do you assume it was me?" I slurred. It was of course, but as my mother would it have been so hard to give me the benefit of the doubt?

"Because I've watched you two together now for the last few months. It was so clear she was waiting and hoping for you to open up to her, and you were determined to keep her at arm’s length."

I set the glass I held on my lap on top of the table and rested my head in my hand. "She's never going to forgive me."

"Did you cheat on her?" she asked softly.

My head jerked up. "What? No! I'd never."

"Then she'll forgive you."

I sneered and fought the urge to lash out at the one person who'd never been on the receiving end of my ill temper. I was losing that battle. "You think so? So, she'll forgive me for accusing her of screwing my best friend and getting knocked up?"

My mom flinched, but I kept going. I threw back the last swallow of Scotch and set the glass down with a thump against my antique desk. "I made her and Colter take a paternity test."

I laughed, but it sounded deranged to my own ears. "He learned he's a father alright."

She dropped down into one of the chairs on the other side of my desk, reached for the bottle of Scotch and took a hearty swallow directly from it. "Oh, shit."

I'd never heard her curse before, and I never saw her drink more than a glass of wine at a benefit. I passed her a clean glass from the drawer where I kept the bottle. She poured a couple of fingers and tossed that back as well.

"So, she had cheated on you. I'm so sorry. I just find it so hard to believe." She hiccupped, but still poured herself another glass.

"No, she's pregnant with my child."

Her nose scrunched up. "I'm confused. You said Colter learned he was a father."

"Yeah," I poured another glass for myself and held it up in a mock cheers, "he's Evie's father."

Together we drained our glasses. Before I could pour another, she took the bottle away and set it on the floor. "We're going to need our wits to figure a way to fix this disaster you've made of your life."

"I can't see how any of this is fixable. Colter isn't even speaking to me."

She rolled her eyes, an action she'd have considered undignified without several shots of Scotch coursing through her. "Can you blame him? Not only has he been your best friend since you were in grade school, but he's her father as well. I can't figure out why you'd think she cheated on you."

I winced and wished she hadn't taken the bottle away from me. "Well, three years ago I had a vasectomy."

She nodded, reached down, and grabbed the bottle, swallowing more. "If I remember this conversation later I want to be able to convince myself I was drunk and confused. If I do remember, I'm telling your father. Then he is going to kill you, and Lord help me, son, I will carry the shovel."

"What do I do?" I begged.

"First you need to make up with Colter. If I know that boy at all, he's with her now making up for lost time. You'll never get around him, so you're going to need his approval."

"Then what?" I asked.

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