Page 7 of Skylar

Aiden dragged his gaze from the elevator and looked at Tyler. “It ended up being personal in nature.”

“Ex-girlfriend?”

“Yep.”

“Hah.” Tyler grinned. “That was just a wild guess.”

“Wild and correct.”

“She’s back to tell you that you’re a dad and owe millions in child support?”

Aiden just gave his head an exasperated shake at Tyler, not wanting to confirm or deny his question. “It was an interesting conversation that I need some time to digest.”

“Good thing you have the weekend to do that,” Tyler said, looking at his smart watch.

“You can go ahead and leave,” Aiden said. “I’m sure you have a date.”

“That I do. I’m taking her to a concert.”

“Hope you have fun.” Aiden had thought he’d have an enjoyable—albeit not very exciting—weekend. Now, he wasn’t so sure. “See you on Monday.”

Returning to his office, Aiden prepared to leave for the day. He also had a date, only it was at a fast-food restaurant with his mom and niece.

Somehow, he had to decide how best to approach this with his mom. He was still trying to grasp that he had a daughter, when all these years, he’d told himself that there had never been a baby.

The fact that Cole—his best friend and Skylar’s brother—had never mentioned his sister being pregnant or having a baby had reinforced that for him. If Cole had gotten a whiff of Skylar being pregnant, he would have known it was Aiden’s and come after him, perhaps with a punch or two.

So, in his mind, he’d been right. Skylar had only been trying to manipulate him into staying with her.

Except he’d been wrong. So very wrong.

When Aiden finally arrived at the restaurant a little while later, he still had no idea what to tell his mom. He left his suit coat in the car on a hanger, along with his work bag, and made his way inside.

He’d no sooner set foot in the restaurant when he heard his name called.

“Uncle Aiden!” Willow came running toward him, her curly, long, dark hair bouncing in a ponytail behind her.

He swung the little girl up into his arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m great!” She grinned at him. “Want to hear a joke?”

“You know I do,” he told her as they walked to where his mom waited at a table near the play area.

“Why can’t Elsa have a balloon?”

Aiden didn’t have to ask who Elsa was.Frozenwas very popular with Willow. “I don’t know. Why can’t she?”

“Because she’ll let it go!” Willow laughed in delight as Aiden grinned at her.

“That’s a good one.” He held out his hand for her to give him a high five. “Probably your best one ever.”

“You say thatallllllthe time,” Willow said.

Willow’s obsession with jokes always brought levity to his day, regardless of how dumb the joke was or how bad his day had been.

He set Willow down so she could climb into one of the chairs at the table. Aiden bent to kiss his mom’s cheek.

She looked a bit tired, but that wasn’t uncommon these days. She’d told him that she struggled to sleep at night.

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