Page 77 of The Secret Play

It was a relief to hear that she liked him that much. I took a deep breath, as I prepared myself for what I was about to say. “Winnie, there’s something very important I need to tell you.”

Her expression turned even more serious, and she nodded for me to continue.

“You know how you’ve always asked about your dad, and how I told you he lived very far away when we were in Los Angeles?”

Her eyes widened slightly, and she nodded again, her small hands clutching at my sweater.

“Well,” I said, my voice trembling, “the truth is…Casey is your dad.”

She blinked, her mouth falling open as she processed my words. “He’s my dad?”

“Yes. He didn’t know before we came here, but now he does. And he cares about you very much.”

She was quiet for a long moment, her little face scrunched in thought. “Is he going to live with us? Martina’s dad lives with her.”

“She’s the friend you’ve been telling me about?”

“Uh huh,” she said, nodding. “She lives with a mom and a dad and a buela.”

“I think you mean she lives with an abuela.”

“That’s what I said. So, will Mr. Casey live with us?”

“Maybe one day,” I said, my throat tightening. “If we’re lucky. And you can still call him Casey, if you want. But I think he’d like you to call him Dad.”

Her expression brightened, and a small smile spread across her face. “I like that idea.”

Tears blurred my vision as I pulled her into another hug, relief and guilt warring in my chest. Seeing her so happy at the thought of having her dad around made my heart ache in a whole new way.

As Winnie scampered off to play, her excitement clear in the bounce of her step, I sat back down at the table as a searing guilt crowded my heart. There had been so many moments Casey had missed. The birthdays, the scraped knees, the bedtime stories, the bath times. Princess Knight. He hadn’t been there for any of it, and that was my fault.

I’d convinced myself that I was protecting Winnie, but the truth was, I’d been protecting myself from the fear of rejection, from the possibility that Casey might not want to be a father. But he did. It was obvious in the way he looked at her, the way he lit up when she laughed, the way he melted whenever she called him Casey.

I couldn’t change the years they’d lost, but I could do everything in my power to make sure they didn’t lose any more. I turned back to my laptop, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. It was time to tell the truth. All of it, good, bad, or ugly.

And I was the ugly part of the equation.

Chapter 31

Casey

The phone felt heavier than usual as I stared at Gemma’s name on the screen. My thumb hovered over the call button, but I hesitated. Her text had been straightforward.

“Story’s going live this afternoon. Just wanted to let you know.”

Simple words. Dramatic possibilities.

This was it. The truth would finally be out there. No more rumors, no more half-truths or gossip. I should’ve been relieved, but all I could feel was dread. What would it mean for her? For Winnie? For me? For us?

Too late now. The truth would be out there, whether I wanted it to be or not. Part of me was terrified, but the other part wanted this. No more secrets. I finally hit the call button.

She answered on the first ring, her voice soft but tense. “Hey.”

“Hey there,” I replied, trying to keep my tone steady. “You okay?”

There was a pause, the silence growing between us. Finally, she let out a shaky laugh. “I guess we’ll find out. Gordon’s publishing the story before the game tonight. It’ll be posted in a couple of hours.”

In a couple of hours, I might be unemployed.

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