Page 30 of The Biggest Secret
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” A wave of fire runs through my body and my palms begin to sweat as I feel the room become charged. “So, what’sup?” I inhale and let it out, trying to break the tension and calm my raging hormones.
Adam steels his gaze towards me now. “We should talk. Can we go outside real quick?”
I nod as he places Dom on his feet. “Ad, keep an eye on D please? We’re just going to step out back.”
“You got it!”
Adam is already out the door, so I follow, and we sit at the small bistro table.
“I want to tell my parents,” he blurts out. His eyes dart to me, then all around the yard. He looks nervous.
“Um, ok. I mean, yes of course. When?”
“The sooner the better. I’d rather they hear it from me than gossip through town.”
“I agree.” I pause. “How do you think they’ll take it?”
“They’re going to love him. My mom is going to cry. Dad too, probably.” He leans back in the chair and a small smile crosses his face.
I’m quiet. “And me? They’re going to hate me, if they don’t already.”
He sighs. “They don’t hate you. They hated the situation that I was left in. You know they loved you like their own, Chelsea.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Which is what makes this even more difficult for me to grasp. Thewhyof it all.”
He’s not really asking a question, but all the excuses I’ve used for years run through my head on autopilot anyway. I’ve always needed him in ways I couldn’t explain. My days were dark and my nights long. Adam came into my life at just the right time, and it changed the definition of who I am.
But old habits die hard.
“We also need to come up with a plan, like visitation,” he clears his throat. “I want to see him, get to know him, let him get to know me. But I don’t want to intrude, I don’t really know what to do here so I figured we should plan a schedule. It's why I haven’t been here, I didn’t know, after our last talk, if I should just stop by.”
Hearing the word visitation makes my pulse race. I search his eyesand only see vulnerability. Maybe a little fear. This is not the dominant Adam that I know.
He’s not going to take him from you, Chelsea.
“Adam, you’re welcome to come over anytime.”
“I don’t kno?—”
“No. This is your house, even though Francesca thinks otherwise,” that earns a small eye roll, “and he is your son. I want you to see him, know him. So yes, anytime.”
He’s looking at me, eyes pleading for an answer. Some type of help or explanation of where we go from here. I can see it. I can see the despair on his face and the uncertainty of this situation. Adam always had a plan of how things should go and if he didn’t have one, he quickly figured it out. But this? Me? I can see he doesn’t have a clue and it’s making me realize how much damage I’ve actually done to this man.
“I don’t know how to navigate this. Us. Him. Are we enemies Chelsea? Like, what the fuck happened to us? How did it get so bad that you left? And took him?”
He’s getting agitated again and when I remain silent, he takes a long breath, and lets it out slowly. Then, a determined look comes across his face, like he’s just decided something and now it’s going to happen.
“I want to know him. I want to see him. So, you’re going to stay here, in this house so I can get to know my son.” He glances toward the house, then back to me again. His phone goes off, but he doesn’t check it. “Right now? We’re going to head over to Mom and Dad’s. Give them the surprise of their life. They can’t be kept in the dark anymore.”
And just like that, a plan comes into place.
‘Take Charge Adam’ is back.
Chapter Twenty
ADAM
We pull up in front of my parents’ house and I watch in the rear-view mirror as Chelsea gets out then dips into the back seat to pull Dominic from his car seat. My phone dings with another text and I know exactly who it is.
Grace: Just checking in again, you didn’t text me back.
