Page 47 of The (Maybe) Murderer Who Knocked Me Up

My new phone buzzes on the countertop. It’s an unknown number. I’m not sure if Jake added himself to my contacts list before giving me the phone, so I answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi.”

I recognize his sweet, tenor voice right away.

“Quin?”

“Yeah. Your brother gave me your number.”

How did Jake find Quin? Even I don’t have his phone number. What did Jake say to him? Did he just call to pass on my number or did they talk about something else?

“Look, I’m sorry about yesterday,” Quin says. “Everything happened so fast, and I think I handled it all wrong.”

“It’s okay. I was just… surprised.” And heartbroken. And euphoric. And devastated.

“I was hoping that you could come over for dinner tonight. With enough adult supervision Chime makes a pretty good macaroni and cheese.”

Chime? He’s inviting me to have dinner with our daughter?

“I’m free for dinner. What time?” I ask.

“Um, how about six? Chime goes to bed at seven-thirty. I was thinking we could talk afterwards. About us.”

Us? Does that mean he wants there to be an us? Even after I ignored his letter and left him to raise our child all alone? Maybe he’s found out more about our unresolved bond. That would make more sense.

“Okay,” I say. “What should I bring?”

“Chime likes cake. Or any dessert, really. If it has sugar, she’ll love it.”

I get to give my daughter cake. The idea makes me irrationally giddy. We’re going to share a meal together. I can talk to her, ask her questions about her life.

“Thank you, Quin. I appreciate this.”

There’s a long pause on the other end. “Don’t thank me just yet. I need more time before I’m ready to tell Chime that you’re her alpha dad. I think it would be better for her to get to know you first, so you don’t feel like a stranger when she finds out.”

When she finds out, not if.

Did Jake say something to Quin about the murder? I spent six years in hell so that he could be free and happy. He wouldn’t jeopardize that, would he? Especially not while he’s pregnant.

Maybe Quin had a change of heart because I offered to pay child support. That must be it.

“We can wait to tell her as long as you want to,” I assure him.

“Thank you, Slade.”

My heart sinks as I realize I can’t go to dinner at Quin’s tonight.

“I don’t have a car,” I say.

“I figured. Coin has a spare he can lend you for a while. I already talked with him about it.”

After my conversation with Silver, that surprises me.

“Coin is lending me a car so I can come see you?” It sounds even more implausible when I say it out loud.

“Not exactly. He thinks you’re going to use the car to find a job so you can pay child support. My brothers are very into the idea of you paying child support right now. It’s all they want to talk about. Well, that, and the many violent things they’d like to do to your genitals. Our litter group chat has been very annoying during the last twenty-four hours.”

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