Page 113 of The Problem with Falling
A few days later,Jensen showed up with an envelope in his hands. He came straight through the front door, hopping up and down. “It’s here, Theo! It’s here!” he exclaimed as he approached me, and I sat on the couch.
“What’s here?”
“The DNA results.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I thought those were supposed to come to my house?”
“They did. I’ve been checking your mail for the past few weeks to see when they arrived.”
“Do you know that it’s a federal crime to go through a person’s mail?”
He waved me off. “Yada, yada, yada. Let’s open them!”
I chuckled and stood from the couch. I took the package from his hands and walked toward the back of the house. Jensen followed me like a puppy dog searching for a treat. We each took a seat in the rocking chairs, and I held the envelope tightly in my grip.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Open it!” Jensen said, shoving me in the arm lightly.
I shook my head. “We have to be prepared for whatever this says, Jensen. I know you are hopeful for a certain result, but I want you to know that if it doesn’t turn out the way you want, I’ll always be in your corner, no matter what.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, open the envelope!” he ordered.
I sighed as I opened it. A pit of nerves sat heavily in my stomach. There was a part of me that wanted a certain outcome. A huge part of me wanted to see it say that he was my son. Yet a bigger part would’ve been pissed off that he was my son and I’d missed out on years of being there for him the way he deserved.
Having Jensen as my son would’ve been one of the greatest gifts I’d ever received. He was a good kid. I’d be lucky to call him my own.
But that wasn’t how things seemed to be going for me as of late.
I stared down at the paper and felt as if someone stabbed me straight in my heart. “Sorry, kid,” I muttered. “Turns out we’re just cousins.”
The look of defeat in Jensen’s eyes was crushing.
He sat back in his chair. “I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“It would’ve been cool, though, huh? I think you would’ve made a good dad to me.”
“And you would’ve been a great son.”
He smiled a little and shrugged. The disappointment was still in his eyes. “I’ve kind of been playing a stupid scenario in my mind ever since we’d decided to take the test. Like what it would’ve been like to be Willow’s and your kid.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And Willow’s?”
“Yeah.”
I clasped my hands together. “Sorry, kid, but Willow went back to her hometown.”
“I heard that. When is she coming back?”
“I don’t think she is.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “So when are you going to see her? Are you moving?”
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. “No. We aren’t together anymore.”
He gripped the edge of the rocking chair and leaned toward me. “What did you do?!”
I liked how his first reaction was that I’d somehow messed up. Not that Willow decided to walk away. “Nothing. She made a decision after some thought that we weren’t right for one another.”
