Page 42 of Forgotten

“I’m at the park, down the street from the jail. Where are you?”

“Back at the ranch,” he said. “I thought you might be at the Millers’ so I went there.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, I’m here. Do you want me to come there?”

“No,” he said. “I’ll come to you. Just don’t move.”

Twenty minutes later, I watched as his car pulled up and parked in the little parking area. I waited on the bench as he hopped out and made his way over. His lip looked slightly swollen, and he seemed to be favoring one of his sides as he sat beside me.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey. So…”

“So I went to the jail to get you out,” I said.

“You did?”

I nodded. “Lacey was there.”

“Lacey? Banks?”

I nodded again.

“She showed me some screenshots of text messages you sent her. Thanking her for a good night and asking if she could walk correctly. They were timestamped to nine months before the baby was born.”

I let the words hang in the air. Not exactly an accusation, but clearly looking for an explanation. I waited as he shifted in his seat.

“I’m sure she did show you some text messages,” he said. “But they aren’t real. I don’t know how she faked them, but Inever texted her. The problem is, I changed my phone twice since then. Even if I thought I might have sent them, I can’t look them up or anything.”

“So you think she faked them?”

“I have no recollection of them, and yes, I don’t put it past her to have faked them.”

I nodded.

“When I was leaving,” I said. “I saw her and Trish talking. They seemed like they were close. Like they had been friends a long time. Did you know she was friends with Trish?”

“Absolutely not,” he said. “That would have been a non-starter from the beginning. If she became friends with them, I think it had to have happened after we dated.”

“So ten years ago. But why all this? What’s the point?”

He shrugged. “Never put it past an Anderson that any action they are taking is an attempt to defraud or destroy the Galloway name. I’m sure it traces back to them somehow. I just don’t know how.”

“You think Trish and the Andersons befriended Lacey and are doing all this just to get back at you?”

“I know that sounds farfetched,” he said. “But yes. I think that is a very real possibility. And until further notice, it’s the idea I am going to believe.”

We sat silently for a few moments, looking at the park with the children playing. I wondered how likely it was that maybe he just didn’t remember. That this child really was his. If that was so, then would I be able to deal with that? Knowing someone else had his child? Knowing that I’d never really get to know that child, unless it became an adult and wanted to know him? It was a lot to process.

At the same time, he might be right. It might be some grand conspiracy. Even I had my doubts about certain elements ofher story. Why did she keep calling her child ‘the baby’ when it would be nearly ten years old now? Why didn’t she have any pictures of him on her phone to show? Why did she have text messages from eight years ago all cued up? And not anything with her and this child that should resemble Jesse so much that it was impossible to say?

So many questions swirled in my mind, but above all of them were the words I needed to say. Things that needed to be cleared up before I could even contemplate a scandal like this one. I cleared my throat and shifted on the seat.

“There’s something else we should talk ab—” I began, but I was cut off by my now unsilenced ringer.

“You should check that. It might be your sister.”

Sighing, I pulled the phone out again and glanced at the screen. My blood felt like it turned to ice. On the screen was a picture of Graham with his name. Jesse saw it, and I looked up to him, expecting to see anger. Instead, his face was unexpressive, and he simply nodded toward the phone.

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