Page 15 of Despite It All
I don’t want to sit here in their driveway hashing this out with my sister. “Just drive, Anna. I’ll explain when we get back to your house.”
“No, I want to know—”
“Damn it, Anna. I said I would explain later,” I snap. I sigh when I realize how harsh that came off. “I’m sorry. Please, just let me have a few minutes to process this, and we can talk about it at your house.”
Anna grumbles something under her breath, but I don’t catch it, nor do I care.
I have a daughter. With Wyla.
Once we reach Anna’s house we walk inside, and I immediately raid her fridge for anything that has any sort of percentage of alcohol. With this being Anna, my choices are Angry Orchard or White Claws, so I opt for the cider.
“Alright, we’re here. Talk. Is she yours?” Anna asks bluntly. How have we not pieced this together before?
“Yeah, she’s mine,” I say, and take a big swig of the hard cider.
Anna’s mouth drops, then she goes to the fridge to pull out a White Claw and pops the tab of her seltzer.
I chug the rest of mine and set it down on the counter to grab another. “I have a daughter and she’s four. We just left her fucking birthday party.”
“Yeah, which I don’t understand, by the way. Why did we leave? You better not be trying to skip out on her. Jett, I swear on all—”
“Hey, don’t jump on my ass. How do you know Wyla didn’t ask me to leave?” I swallow another swig, and I can feel it go all the way down.
“Because I know her,” Anna huffs. “I know that whole family. I know for a fact Wyla wouldn’t do that. So tell me why we left the party.”
My anger is starting to bubble over at her accusations. Like I truly wanted to leave that party. No, but what was I supposed to do? I’ve been actively looking for this girl for years. Wanted her for just as long. And then add in the bomb that she’s also the mother of my child… yeah, there was no way I was going to be able to keep my shit together the whole time. Kissing her on the forehead was a risk in itself, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to kiss her again the moment I saw her.
“If you know them so well, then how have you never connected the dots? The girl looks like your damn twin at that age.”
“They never said your name, ever! What was I supposed to say, ‘Hey, this little girl has blonde hair like me. Is her dad named Jett by chance?’ No, I assumed that she—like many other girls in the world—just happens to have curly blonde hair and blue eyes.”
I groan and run my hands over my face. “I believe her, I do… but I have to ask, do you think there’s any chance she’s not mine?” I hate even asking that question, but it felt stupid not to.
“No,” Anna says immediately, and I can’t help but feel relieved. “If Wyla says she’s yours, then I believe her. It’s pretty common knowledge that she didn’t know the father, and while Waverley never said your name, they were all confident it was the guy she met in Nashville. Plus, she never dates. Even before Stevie, I never knew of her to have a boyfriend at that time.”
“And now? Does she date now?” This should not be my first question, but it is.
“No, not that I’m aware of. It’s a pretty small town that likes to gossip, so I’m sure I would have heard about it.” Anna takes a drink of her seltzer.
“What about some blonde-haired guy? Lanky? Something like Mack, or something with an M?” I really wasn’t listening when Wyla introduced him to me, but I didn’t miss the way he looked at her.
“Matt? Nah, they just work together.” Anna shrugs, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. “So, what’s the plan now?”
“Fuck if I know. I told Wyla I would get her number from you and text her so she could call me once Stevie’s party was over.” I drain the last of the second cider and decide it’s best to stop here. I’ll need a clear head to talk.
Talk.Damn it. “What am I supposed to say to her?”
There are a million things I thought I’d say to Wyla if I found her again, but I did not expect this to be the situation.
“Well, what do you want out of this, J? I mean, you’re only here for two weeks, and you’re supposed to go back to Washington. Are you planning on playing again next season? I don’t think Wyla would move away from her family, so would you just travel back and forth? If you needed to get some form of legal custody, we would have to call a lawyer—”
“Let’s not talk about court and lawyers right now. I don’t think my brain can process that.”
Anna sighs. “Jett, you have to think about this, I mean seriously think about it. I’m not saying court is the first and only option, but I'm saying it’s a possibility. Do I think you and Wyla can come to a reasonable agreement that benefits Stevie? Yes, but you have to think it through. How are your agents, your coaches, your teammates going to respond to this? Are they going to support your extra travel? What if something happens and you need to leave in the middle of practice? Hell, a game! What—”
“Fuck, Anna. I don’t know!”
Anna sighs and takes out her phone and in a second, my phone vibrates in my pocket. “I texted you Wyla’s number. I’m gonna go grab us some lunch, and we can talk when I get back if you want, or you can stew over it yourself, but I’m starving.”
