Page 112 of The Forever Play

“Let me dial your mother in.”

Shit. Well, this just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?

Clenching my jaw, I crouch down when Zoey starts tugging on my pant leg and try to hide my angst with a broad smile. “Those are so pretty.”

“Fowers!” She holds them out.

“Leaves,” I correct her. “Yellow and red leaves.”

“Lellow.”

“That’s right.” Rubbing her back with a proud grin, I then point behind her. “Do you think you can find me some more yellow leaves?”

“Lellow?”

“Yeah, yellow.”

She nods and skips off, tripping over and landing on her hands and knees. I dash over to help her, but she just giggles and gets back to her feet, skipping off again to collect yellow leaves for me.

I love the way she talks.Lellow. Seriously. Too cute.

“What’s going on? Why are you calling me into your football debrief?” Mom’s face appears on the screen.

I wave to her. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetheart. Your father’s not riding you too hard about that pass, is he?”

“Of course I’m not.” Dad stands up for himself, and I don’t say a damn thing.

My heart’s racing too hard as I wait for the impending meltdown.

“It’s not even about that, Elise. Our son has some important news to share, and I think you better sit down.”

“Well, that’s never a good sign,” Mom murmurs as she pulls out a kitchen stool. “Zander, what’s going on?”

“I have some big news.”

“That you found out weeks ago and didn’t bother to tell us,” Dad snips.

Working my jaw to the side, I let out a dry laugh. “It’s not like it’s the easiest news to share, Dad.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything. Something this big?”

“What is it!” Mom ends up barking. “I’m dying here. What? Tell me what’s going on.”

Pulling in a short breath, I let it out and rush to say, “Sienna got pregnant just before I left for Kelsey U.”

“What?” Now Mom’s the one who’s going pale.

“She didn’t tell me about it, but a few weeks ago, I found out that… I have a daughter. Her name’s Zoey, and she’s?—”

“You have a daughter?” Mom interrupts me. “You’re a father? You’re a… you’re a…” She lets out a little screech, her face going instantly red. “You did exactly what we warned you against doing!”

I close my eyes, then force them back open so I can check on Zoey.

She’s crouched down, singing to herself while hugging a pile of leaves to her chest.

“I can’t believe you got Sienna pregnant.”

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