Page 44 of The Layover

“I found a woman about my age, who was only a few doors down. Daria still couldn’t leave until the roads had been plowed, but fortunately that didn’t take long. At the emergency room, I found out that my appendix had burst, and they implied I was lucky I got there when I did.”

I didn’t want to ask, and add to the bad memories, but I had to know. “What about Curtis?”

“Daria kept calling him—this woman I didn’t know at all—until he finally picked up. He said he’d been waiting at work for the roads to clear and didn’t think it would matter because I should’ve been asleep. He apologized profusely when he got to the hospital, but he also made sure they released me as soon as they could, and expected me to be back on my feet the next day.

“Megan came to stay with me for the next few weeks, to take care of me. She and Curtis fought all the time.” Carly sighed. “I know it wasn’t the storm’s fault, but I hate to be away from home during any storm that shuts down an entire city.”

“You never have to worry about that with us.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I needed Carly to know she was safe when she was around. The compulsion was so potent, it nearly overwhelmed me.

16

Raul

Carly’s story broke my heart and infuriated me on her behalf. I didn’t need more reasons to dislike Curtis, but I’d certainly found them. And when Diego reassured her that she was never alone with us, I couldn’t agree more.

Her smile and her, “Thank you,” were the bright spot of the story. “I feel a little exposed after that.”

“We’ve seen you naked.” I could’ve been more reassuring, couldn’t I?

But her grin was brighter than it had been. “This is different, and I’ve seen you naked too.”

“Do you want to hear our story?” Diego asked.

What was he doing? I didn’t want to get into that. I didn’t have issues with the Diego part of things, or where we were now, with Eloise, but there were parts of our origin story that I never liked reliving.

“As an overall question? Of course. I love a good story,” Carly said. “In response to me spilling my guts about a night that scarred me”—her hand fell to her right side again—“both physically and emotionally? Possibly not.”

“We don’t know which of us is Eloise’s father.” Why did I say that? I shouldn’t have said that.

Carly tilted her head to the side and studied me. “Both of you.” There was no hesitation in her response. “I’ve seen you with her. There’s no question that you’re both Dad.”

I liked her. From the start regardless, but I swore almost every time Carly opened her mouth, I liked something new about her. “When we met her mother, Isabella, it was pretty close to love at first sight.”

“For me.” Diego had almost always worn his heart on his sleeve. “Raul needed convincing.”

A shadow passed over Carly’s face. “Ah. Okay.”

I had no idea what that meant, and I didn’t know how to ask. “All three of us did the whole courtship thing. Dated. Fell in love. Talked about the three of us starting a family. You know, standard stuff.” This was usually where people said except for the three people falling in love thing, sure.

Carly just said, “Sure. I get that.” Her tone was unreadable.

“You do?” This time I couldn’t hide my surprise.

She shrugged. “My brother and sister are both in triad relationships. And both happier than I’ve ever seen them. So, yeah, I get that.”

I was almost positive I just heard Diego get a heart-on. I was telling a story, though. “We all agreed we wanted to start a family. We had so many conversations around it, because it was important to us we didn’t bring a life into this world who wouldn’t be loved.” My family was everything to me, but Diego’s blood relatives hadn’t left him with great memories. Those were his stories to tell, though.

“I can tell you succeeded.” Whatever had clouded Carly’s mood had lifted again. “It’s clear watching the two of you with Eloise…”

“Except, it was a problem with Isabella.” I hated this part of the story, but Carly had exposed herself and it felt fair to do the same. Besides, I wanted—needed—her to know. What Bella did to us… No one else would ever have that chance to hurt Eloise that way.

Diego squeezed my knee. “We don’t know if it was postpartum depression or if Isabella had lied about wanting a kid or if she just changed her mind.”

How could someone do this to their own baby? To our Eloise? How could someone leave such a perfect soul behind? It haunted me that I didn’t have an answer. “She left in the middle of the night. Her note said she wanted other things in life, and we never heard from her again.”

“I’m so sorry.” Carly sounded somber.

“And now we’re naked in front of you, too,” Diego said.

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