Page 40 of Instinct & New Identity

I had no claim on him.Still, hearing these words said about him agitated me.Iwasn’t sure ifIwas agitated that she was being so callous about her own cousin or ifIwas agitated about the content of her actual words.

“Do you know why he went into theArmyin the first place?” she carried on without giving me a chance to respond. “I’lltell you.HegotLauraLynnpregnant and didn’t want to be a daddy, so he signed up for the military the very next day.Hemade good, promising to pay her child support and all that, but he dropped her like a hot potato once he was done with her.Ranaway from all his daddy duty responsibilities as fast as theArmywould take him.”

Feeling embarrassed thatIdidn’t even knowVincehad a kid,Ididn’t know what to say.Sheobviously mistook my silence as her encouragement to carry on.

“Again, he’s not a complete dick,” she said as though she hadn’t just spent the last few moments bashing him. “He’smade it very clear to all the women he’s been with since that he isn’t interested in anything long-term or serious, so again, just doing you a favor here, woman to woman.Youcan have fun, but just don’t expect it to last.”

She flashed her hand in front of her signaling me to move. “Now, can you move soIcan use the restroom?”

I started to move away, but my legs were struggling after she just dropped that bomb on me.

“Oh, and you.”Tracyturned to point atVal, who had just come into the hallway. “Stayaway fromArcher.He’smine”.

She slid by me, practically pushing me out of the bathroom and into the hallway withVal.Istood there speechless whileValstared at me.Shegrabbed my hand and led me farther down the hall into the craft room we were in earlier.

“Okay,Ididn’t hear everything she said, butIheard enough,”Valrevealed. “Cat, my gut tells me there is more to the story, because that doesn’t sound likeVince.Ithink you should just ask him.”

She was being kind and supportive andIappreciated that, butIwas not ready to ask him about a kid that he clearly didn’t want me to know about.Iunderstood why he hadn’t mentioned the child in his early letters.Butwe had gotten close in the last few weeks, or at leastIthought we had.Irealized at that momentVincenever really told me why he joined theArmy.

“Cat, that woman is a bitch,”Valstated, referring toTracy. “Don’ttake what she says at face value.AskVince.”

I knew she was right, butIstill wondered if even a small part of it was true.Ihonestly didn’t know what to do, soIjust nodded and told herIwould.

We went back out to the main room, and as soon asIentered,Vince’sgaze was on me again.Thesmile on his face faltered a bit, andIsensed he knew something had happened.Notready to have that conversation, ifIever did,Ireached for the only distractionIcould think of.

“Susan,Iwould love to see the cat-haven you talked about,”Iannounced to the table.

Susan shot up fast and clapped her hands with excitement.Aquick glance back atVinceshowed his knowing grin.Heknew something was up but wasn’t going to call me out on it.Atleast not yet.Mygoal now was to avoid that conversation.Maybeforever.

17

VINCE

WatchingCatall day in those tight pants that looked painted on her skin was a struggle.Thatwoman had a bodyIimagined some men started wars over.Fullof curves, and that outfit she had on did not leave much to the imagination.Fromthe moment she came out of her room this morning dressed to leave in that outfit,Iknew today would test my resolve.

When she came back out from the hallway with her sister,Iknew something was wrong.Iwas going to ask her about it when she sat back down, but she clearly didn’t want to talk about it because she used my mother to avoid me.Iwasn’t worried about it.I’djust ask her about it later tonight when we were alone.

Archer, who had moved to sit next to me after the meal was over, spoke in a hushed tone.“I’mready to leave when you are.”

“WhenValandCatcome back fromMom’sgrip, we can head out,”Ireplied.

Tracy turned the corner to enter the room again and noticed thatVal’sseat next toArcherwas now free.Isaw the intention in her eyes, and so didArcher.

“AaaandI’mleaving now.I’llsee you there,”Archerannounced to me as he got up from his seat.

I chuckled at his discomfort but knewIwould do the same ifIwere in his shoes.

“We’ll meet you there soon,”Iresponded.

About twenty minutes later, bothCatandValreturned from my mom’s cat castle monstrosity, or whatever she called it.Itold themArcherhad already left to head to the pub, so we should probably leave soon, too.Theyboth grabbed their stuff, and we said our goodbyes.

“Here, take some food with you.Ihave plenty,” my mother demanded.

“Mom, we’re headed straight to the pub, so we have nowhere to put it to keep it refrigerated,”Itried to convey, hoping that was a valid excuse.

“Oh, okay.Iwill just bring it over to your house tomorrow then,” she countered, andIjust sighed in defeat. “Ihave to bringHarryover anyway.It’sperfect.”

Since we couldn’t takeHarryto the pub, my mom was going to cat-sit for the night and return him the next day, and she was thrilled about it.

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