Page 87 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

“It’s fine. Doesn’t matter,” he cooed while continuing to pat me dry.

He held me there on the couch, even when my crying grew hysterical. Harper and I had a pretty good relationship, but we had never been particularly close. Tonight, his unconditional love and support helped me in a way I desperately needed.

I closed my eyes and let it all out, until eventually my eyes and clothes were dry. When I was finally able to speak, I explained everything that had happened.

“Oh,” he said. “Lucas is Bran’s… Okay. Yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.”

“I fucked everything up,” I whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”

He hugged me tighter. “Do you want my opinion, or do you just want to vent?”

“I only want your opinion if I’m going to agree with it,” I said.

Harper chuckled. “You’re so much like your sister.”

“She’sso much likeme,” I sniffled. “I’m older. I came first.”

“Spoken like a true firstborn.” He pulled away so he could look into my eyes. “Obviously, I don’t know what Lucas is thinking right now, beyond how you told me he reacted. But if I was in his position? This news would shock me. Women have a lot of time to mentally prepare for motherhood. By the time a child is born, you’ve had them inside you nine months. You’ve felt it kick, and move around. You’ve developed an emotional attachment. Men don’t get that. We can pretend like we have some sort of connection, but we don’t really, not until the baby is born. Right now, I still don’t feel like any of this is real, and my wife is just about ready to pop like a balloon.

“It’s not going to sink in until I see those healthy twins,” he continued. “And I know it’s going to be amassiveshock to my brain. I’m trying to imagine what it will be like, but I can tell I’m not even close to prepared. Now, think about Lucas. He’s spent his life not being a father. Maybe he’s thought about it, but it’s probably always been a distant idea. So, to suddenly find out that not only is he a father, but he’s been one all this time without knowing? That’s a lot of information to receive all at once. He probably doesn’t know how to feel. His brain is probably rebooting right now.”

“He seemed pretty sure of how he felt,” I replied. “He wasfurious.”

“Understandable,” Harper admitted. “But that’s just his immediate reaction. And honestly, Haley? He kind of has a right to be angry. I’m not blaming you,” he quickly added. “It makes perfect sense to me why you wouldn’t tell him before now. But it also makes sense to me why he would be mad. That’s okay. Let him be mad for now. Give him some space. This is massive news, and he needs time to process it.”

I used the corner of the towel to wipe my eyes. “Do you think he will forgive me? Do you think everything will be okay?”

He smiled sadly at me. “I don’t know, Haley. I’m sorry. But Idoknow you did the right thing by telling him. And I hope if you give him some time, he might forgive you.”

This time, I was the one to hug him. “You’re going to be a great father, Harper.”

“Make sure you tell your sister,” he replied. “She’s still upset I couldn’t put their cribs together without watching a YouTube tutorial, and has called my entire manhood into question.”

In spite of everything, I laughed.

43

Haley

Harper’s comments made me feel somewhat better.

For about twelve hours.

That was long enough to get some real sleep, but I woke up the next morning feeling shitty all over again. Even making breakfast for Bran, which normally put me in a great mood, only reminded me of the rift I’d caused with his father.

A rift that might permanently be damaged.

Sara burst into my apartment while I was helping Bran get ready for Kindergarten. She waddled over to us and shouted, “You should have woken me up last night!”

“You need your sleep. And Harper did a good job of calming me down,” I replied. “He’s going to be a good father. He wanted me to tell you that, by the way.”

“Don’t change the subject. What happened last night…” She glanced at Bran. “It’s the kind of thing you tell your sisterimmediately. Without delay.”

“Like being admitted to the hospital?” I asked sweetly.

“Yes! Exactly like—” She cut off and glared at me. “Ugh. You got me.”

“I’m enjoying a large amount of pleasure at turning the tables on you,” I said.

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