Page 65 of Storm

It’s another thirty minutes before Tatum and Ezra show up, the latter rushing into the room and relaxing the moment his eyes fall on the back of Miriam’s head. “Petal! I’ve?—”

Interrupting him, I try to do damage control because he hasn’t seen her face yet. She’s drained and stressed beyond belief. “Ez, sit down. I’m certain there’s a lot which needs to be discussed.”

She almost gives me a thankful look, but I could just be hopeful.Hell, I’m becoming someone else completely… Since when do I worry about fawning over someone?

Tatum places his hand on the back of her chair and bends down to see her face with a friendly smile, which quickly falls into a worried frown when she doesn’t reciprocate. I’m alsosurprised by his familiarity and I’ll definitely be asking him about it later.

“So,” she and I both say simultaneously. I hold up my hand but she dips her chin, giving me the floor. “Apparently, we’ve all missed the appointments Miriam has scheduled for a paternity test.”

“One I’ve had to go have my blood drawntwicenow for, I’d like to add.” Fuck, she’s rightfully fucking pissed, and knowing she’s taken time out twice for us to not show up doesn’t sit right. I’d be furious if I had clients who repeatedly didn’t show.

Looking around at my friends, I see Tatum and Ezra looking at each other and Kevin looking at my desk with a frown, thinking hard. He turns to Miriam.

“I only knew of the one and let you know why I wasn’t able to come, which I’d apologized for. Why didn’t you let me know about the second one?”

“I did,” she snaps. “I texted you all the date and time in that group chat Tate set up.”

He pulls out his cell, asking, “When did you text?”

“Last week,” Tatum supplies. He clearly knew when it was, and he looks sheepishly at Miriam, then kicks Ezra with his foot and asks him, “Want to share why we didn’t go, or should I?”

Miriam is doing her best to rein in her temper, but she’s breathing hard, her chest rising and falling quickly. “Does it matter at this point? Courtesy would have been to let me knowbeforethe appointment so I could cancel. Now they aren’t letting me make another one because you all didn’t freaking show up!” She looks at all of us. “I thought we all decided that this needed to be found out so none of you would be sitting in limbo for the next five months!”

Kevin is still scrolling through his phone, then turns it to her. “I don’t have anything here from you. If Tate’s date is right, that’s when we were wrapping up a case and I was called in for apress conference by the district attorney.” Tatum hands over his phone and shows him the text. As Kevin reads, his brows lower further over his eyes. “I’m sorry, Miriam. I never read this. If I had, I would have been there.”

Snorting in annoyance, she’s less snippy with him, but still annoyed. “You should probably askSandraif she’s been sneaking around on your phone.”

I’m not entirely sure what that means, but Kevin certainly does because he tightens his hand around his cellphone before shoving it angrily into his pocket. “I plan on it,” he says dangerously, but Miriam doesn’t react.

Instead, she points at me. “What about you? Why didn’tyoushow up?”

“Honestly? I have no excuse. I simply got my days mixed up.” Picking up my planner that goes everywhere with me, I show her where I had written it down. I always cross of the days as they pass by and I’m two days behind. “I thought it was the day after tomorrow.”

“On a Sunday…” she drawls.

“Well, I thought today was Wednesday, not Friday. I’m sorry,” I say back. It’s not a good excuse, but here we are and I can’t go back in time.

Her jaw works against her desire to lay into me, but whatcanshe say? I wasn’t there and I’m not going to throw my mistake back at her. Taking accountability is something I am capable of doing. Whether she believes me or not, that’s up to her.

Jerking her eyes away from me, she zeros in on the last two. “I’d ask why you two didn’t show up, but at this point, it doesn’t matter. It’s been missed. So, what are we going to do about it now?”

“I don’t want to know,” Ezra blurts out, then glances at Tatum for reassurance.

The rest of what he says shocks me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ezra speak this seriously before over all the years I’ve known him.

“I don’t want to know because I’m worried that whatever my dad fucked up in here”—he taps the side of his head—“will pass to my kid. I’m afraid I won’t be a good dad because the only one I’ve had was a monster. I don’t know how to do it.”

It’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop in the room. Ezra seems ashamed as he drops his head to look at the floor, unable to meet Miriam’s gaze.

Tatum clears his throat. “I knew he was spiraling. If I got tested, and the baby wasn’t mine, I knew he’d spin out with the higher likelihood heis. I should have told you. I dropped the ball, since I was unsure how to explain without breaking Ez’s confidence.”

Miriam watches Ezra with a hard, considering look, then leans forward and uses her fingers to rub at her temples. “Okay,” she whispers. Looking at no one, she adds, “This is becoming really overwhelming for me. Trying to coordinate while everyone isn’t fully communicating is turning this whole thing into an even bigger shitshow that it already was.”

Stepping up, I quietly lay out an idea that just popped into my head. “Let’s not worry about testing until after the baby is born. If everyone agrees, we could continue as if we’re all a part of this equally. This can’t be good for you, the stress I mean.”

“It’s not,” she says, totally drained.

“I will agree to that,” Kevin adds while setting his palm on her back and leans down to see her face. “If you’re comfortable, too.” Tatum and Ezra agree as well and we wait on her answer.

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