Page 79 of Reckless With You

“And you can help with that? Do you know someone at the hospital?”

He gave a hollow laugh. “I love that your mind went to the same place as mine. No, they have a doctor. What they need is bone marrow. From the kid’s biological dad.”

He looked at me then, his face completely pale and emotionless. I tried to comprehend his words.

“You’re saying…you’re saying you had a baby with her?” I asked, my voice shaky. “And you had no idea?”

“Of course, I didn’t know. If I had known, I’d have done something about it a long time ago. You know that.”

“Of course, I do. Tucker, you told me what you went through. About the different foster homes.”

“Yeah, Devin became my family. You all did. I would never put a kid through what I went through. Not knowing his past or feeling like he was abandoned or some shit. And now he’s sick. And, apparently, I’m supposed to do something.”

“Tucker,” I whispered, and then I moved forward.

He didn’t open his arms, didn’t reach out to me, so I didn’t do anything either. I just stood in front of him, feeling as helpless as he looked.

Tucker. A dad.

Dear God.

There was a kid out there that looked like him, that needed him, and that woman that had been in his arms and crying, had been crying for her son. Grieving so much.

And I had no idea what to say. What was there to say about this?

“So she came to you today?”

“Yeah. She called a couple of times before, but I was distracted at the time. I kept telling myself I’d call back, but then I forgot.”

The way he said it, I knew exactly what he’d been distracted by. Me.

He hadn’t answered her calls, hadn’t seen what she wanted because he’d been dealing with my issues.

And that little kid had been sick the entire time, neither of us paying attention to anyone but ourselves.

Bile filled my throat, but I swallowed it, knowing I couldn’t carry the world on my shoulders even though I really wanted to make things better. But I didn’t know how.

“Did she know before this?”

“No. She thought the kid was her boyfriend’s. Apparently, she was dating both of us. Who knew? Apparently, I didn’t cheat, but she did. But that’s not the important thing. She and her boyfriend, well, her husband now, raised that little boy. And he’s sick. Apparently, they need to see if I’m a match. If all this stuff is actually real. For all I know, I’m not the dad, and she was with someone else or some shit.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

I closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his waist, and he stood still for a moment before hugging me back.

I let out a relieved breath and rubbed his back, wanting to make things okay but not knowing how to do so.

I didn’t think there was a way to be okay after this.

“I don’t know if he’s really my kid. Even though he looks like me. And I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if we’re going to be a match or if I can help him. Or what’s going to happen after all of this. I just don’t fucking know. I was always so careful, Amelia.”

“I know. You are. You’re a good man, Tucker. You’ll figure this out.”

“You say that, but I feel like I’m never going to figure this fucking shit out. Jesus Christ, there’s a kid out there that could be mine. And I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry, Tucker. You’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out.” I tried to calm my thoughts, but they were going in so many different directions, I said the only thing I could. “Let’s talk to Devin. He’s your best friend. He’ll know what to do. He always knows what to do.”

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