Page 93 of The Problem with Falling
Theo
Iwoke up the following morning with Willow in my arms. For a while, I just lay there, debating whether I even wanted to get out of bed. Whenever she was in my arms, everything seemed a little bit easier. When my feet hit the floor, though, reality set in, and I was reminded of how shitty the world around Willow and me had been. I liked our haven. I liked how things were easier when she was around.
When someone pounded on my front door, I knew I had to pull myself up from Willow’s warmth. After I stood from bed, she snuggled up against a pillow and fell into a deeper slumber. That was good, seeing how we were out on the water pretty late.
The pounding on the door didn’t stop, and the more the person slammed their fists against it, the more irritated I grew.
“What?” I hissed, annoyed as I opened the door. My anger quickly disappeared the moment I saw Jensen standing there. “Jensen. Hey, what are you do—”
“Am I your son?” he spat out, his words straightforward. They threw me for a loop more than I thought they would.
I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Last night, Dad said you slept with my mom. Did you?”
I grimaced. “Listen, what happened between your mom and—”
“Don’t give me the runaround about it, Theo. I just want to know. Is there any chance you’re my dad? Did you sleep with her around the time I was born or what?”
I couldn’t tell from his tone if he was pissed off at me or hoping that I was his father. “Your mother and I only slept together once, Jensen.”
“Now, I’m not a rocket scientist or anything, but it turns out people can get pregnant from one night of sex. And if you slept with her…”
I frowned because I saw it in his eyes now—the hope.
I shook my head. “Buddy, I don’t think I’m your dad.”
“But is there a chance? Just a slight chance…?”
“Jensen, I—”
“Please, Theo,” he begged, his eyes flooding with emotions. “Can you just take a test with me or something? I just…” He shook his head, and the tears began to fall down his cheeks. “Because if you’re my dad, everything would make a little more sense to me. If you’re my dad, I would understand why I’d only felt comfortable when I was around you. If you were my dad… I’d be happy.”
I didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know how to express that I was ninety-nine percent certain I wasn’t his father.
“I hate him,” Jensen continued. “I hate that he’s a drunk, and he’s cocky, and he doesn’t give a damn about anything I’m into. I hate that he wants me to be different from who I am. I hate that he doesn’t do anything that makes me feel like he’s my father. Ihate him, Theo. But that would all be okay if it turned out that I was never supposed to love him anyway.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Jensen, listen…”
“I’d be a good son to you, Theo,” he cried. His voice cracked as his whole body trembled in front of me. In a flash, I saw his mother in his eyes. I saw how she used to stand on my porch crying over her hatred for Peter, too. I saw her hurt. Her pain. Her struggles.
Thalia was flawed. There was no getting around that.
But Jensen?
Fuck, he was just a kid.
A kid who was hurting.
I knew what that was like.
Jensen and I had more in common than I’d ever want to admit.
I pulled him into a hug, and he continued to fall apart in my arms. “We can take a test,” I told him even though I was ninety-nine percent certain I knew what the results would be. Still, if it made him breathe a little easier at that moment in time, then I’d take the damn test.
“Thank you,” he cried, squeezing me tighter. “Thank you.”
After spendingthe morning with Jensen, I headed to Grandma’s to check in on her. After walking through the whole house, I spotted her through the kitchen window, sitting out on the edge of the dock.
