Page 21 of The Biggest Secret
When I hear his truck start up about thirty seconds later and take off down the street, my hope turns to sorrow.
“Fuck,” I say and let out a breath.
“That was rough,” Britt says.
“You should have been out there.” I nod my head towards the backyard. “He wasn’t ready for this today. God, what a mess I’ve caused.”
“Hey, no.” Francesca comes and pulls me into her, hugging her. “It’s a shock. It was a shock for us all. You know Adam. If he can’t control it, he runs. You have to give him time. You guys need to talk, alone. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll watch Dom. Everything is going to be okay, you’ll see.”
A few tears leak from my eyes. I thought I was all cried out, but it looks like I’ve found a new round of waterworks.
Chapter Sixteen
ADAM
Most men have time to prepare for a child, time to prepare for the idea of becoming a father. Nine months to be exact. The emotions clogging my mind right now are unbelievable. I love him already. I’ve known him for ten minutes and already I know I’d die for him. I accepted him the moment I laid eyes on him. How could I not? I look at him and see my mini twin. His ice blue eyes, smirky little smile.
“Ain’t that some shit, hey big bro?” Billy says as we ride back to the job site. I honestly have no idea how I am going to concentrate to close out the day. This is when accidents happen, when people aren’t paying attention. It’s a bad idea for me to go back to work right now, but I can’t figure out what else to do.
“Do you want to go get shitfaced?”
I throw a side eye at my little brother who’s watching me with a shit eating grin. “What is wrong with you? Haven’t you learned that lesson?”
He shrugs as I place my eyes back on the road, coming around thecorner of Dew Drop, our job site. Though, getting shitfaced does sound good right now.
“I mean, if I just found out I’d be paying child support for the next eighteen years, I’d need a drink.”
I pull up and slam on the brakes a little too hard, jerking the truck to a shocking halt. I turn in my seat to stare at him.
“Child support? What the fuck does that mean?”
“You can do a paternity test, but it’s clear he’s?—”
“No. Why would I pay child support? Is she leaving? Is she taking him away from me?”
He undoes his seat belt and slowly opens the door. I probably look like a wild animal, ready to pounce and he’s just taking precautions.
Smart man.
He slides out of the truck and so do I, rounding the hood and stopping at the walkway. “I don’t know what she’s planning. Relax, bro, I was just trying to make a joke.”
“Now is not the time for jokes, Billy. This is fucking serious. She’s been keeping him from me! I have a son!”
“She’s been keeping him from all of us, Adam.” He grows serious which makes me pause for a moment and listen to him, Billy is hardly ever serious. “You’re not the only one this affects. I have a nephew. I’m anunclenow. Mom and Dad? Fucking grandparents.” He grabs ahold of my shoulder giving me a shake, stepping a little closer. “Grand-par-ents.” He spits out every syllable as its own word. “Mom is going to have a stroke when she finds out about him. So, you see, big brother, you’re not the only one living this crazy dream right now.”
He's right. This affects us all. Chelsea running, hiding Dominic, then popping back up, has just changed every one of our lives.
I slump against the truck. “What am I supposed to do now?”
“First thing you should do is go get a car seat and tint your windows. You won’t be able to pick up women with a car seat in view.” He jumps out of my reach as I take a half-hearted swing at him. “Right now, we go back to work. We handle the day and when it’s quitting time, you’re going to go straight home and I’m going to follow with pizza and beer and the rest of the guys. We’ll get our heads wrappedaround this and then get drunk and second guess every decision we just made.”
He shows off that Casanova smirk as he throws his arm around my shoulders, pushing me to walk to the bed of the truck and start grabbing the boxes of tile.
“I think that’s the most sense you’ve ever made.”
He laughs. “I have my moments. Now come on, Big Daddy, let’s get back to work.”
I went back to work because what else could I do? But my mind wasn’t on the job. For the first time in I don’t know how long, burying myself in my work just didn’t kill the memory.
