Page 83 of Of Literature and Lattes
Becca climbed out of the back seat and looked between them.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Krista looped an arm around her daughter and pulled her close. “Can I talk to Daddy alone a minute?”
Becca nodded, looked between them again, and shuffled inside.
Jeremy watched her go. He recognized the sliding flip-flopthwapof the night Becca had arrived quiet, stressed, and uncommunicative at his apartment. It felt like a lifetime ago. “This isn’t good for her, Krista. This isn’t how we should be acting. I’m not saying don’t move. Just not so far away.” He waved his hand between them. “We shouldn’t be at odds with each other, not in front of her. Not at all.”
Krista motioned toward the house’s front stairs. “I need to talk with you. Come sit. Please.”
This is new, Jeremy thought. He was dictated to or yelled at, but talked with? He led the way to the steps and sat down.
Krista dropped next to him as she slid a white envelope from her back pocket.
“This isn’t easy, and before you react, I want you to hear me out.” She paused a beat, then handed him the envelope.
“What’s this?” He slid his finger along the envelope’s seam.
She stayed his hand. “It’s the results of a paternity test. I had my pediatrician rush it because I thought you’d want proof.”
“Is this a joke?” He pushed the envelope back toward her.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you or tell you like this or... You’re not Becca’s father.” Krista shook her head and tucked her hands between her knees. “I’m terribly sorry, Jeremy. You don’t deserve this. But you have to understand, I was so scared back then, and I really messed up.”
“What the—” He popped up and spun around, stopping himself just before the last word flew. Becca had left the door open behind the screen. He suspected she was close by.
Krista looked behind her, noted it, got up, and shut it. She turned to face Jeremy again. “I know. I know I should have told you, and if you’ll calm down, I will.” She stepped down the two stairs and met him on the sidewalk. “I met him the spring before us, and I thought... It doesn’t matter. He dumped me and he graduated. I never meant for us to be more than a fun summer, but...”
Krista stalled so long Jeremy filled in the next sentence. “You found out you were pregnant.”
“Yes.”
Jeremy felt hot, like every nerve ending was on fire. He glared down at her. “Before or after?”
“Before or after we got married?” Krista stared up at him.
“Before or after we slept together.”
Krista’s silence gave him his answer.
He paced to his car, then circled back. Noting the door again, he kept his voice low. “That night—you were so determined. What a fool I was... You played me just right, didn’t you?”
Krista reached out to him. He stepped back and her hand fell. “I didn’t mean to, I promise. I was scared. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Don’t even—you were thinking straight... Does he know? What was his name again? This was David, right?”
“It doesn’t—” Something in his expression stopped her, because she stopped talking. She bit her lip as if trying to decide which road to take. Jeremy waited.
“Yes, it was David, and yes, he knows. I called him and I told him, and it didn’t change a thing. He didn’t want either of us. In fact, he told me never to contact him again, no matter what happened.”
“Cue Jeremy.”
“It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like how you’re making it sound, and I thought we could work.” Krista reached out again, but stopped just before contact. Her hand stayed suspended inches from his arm.
“For like, what? Five minutes?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Are you kidding me? Fair?” His voice pitched high. He noted a front living room curtain move. He crossed the strip of grass between the front walk and the driveway.
