Page 19 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

IwasangrywhenHaley told me she needed more time, but I understood. I didn’t get why she came over only a few hours later to talk. Whatever time she needed, I doubted it would have happened that fast.

“Okay,” I said as I led the way into the living room. I sank into the couch. Haley gave me a hesitant look before sitting in one of the armchairs.

She bounced her leg, looking around the room and taking it all in. The house had been furnished when I moved in, and while it wasn’t my style, it didn’t look bad. Just a little too mid-century for me.

“I didn’t picture you living in a home like this.”

“Well, options are limited in small towns. It will do me well enough until I figure out what I’m doing next.”

“Any ideas?” she asked, looking over at me and biting her bottom lip.

“That depends on a lot of other things, but whatever I do next, Trinity is my first priority.”

“She’s what I came here to talk to you about, actually,” Haley said. “Your lifestyle isn’t good for her.”

“How do you know what my lifestyle even is?” I asked, irritated immediately. I was tired of her judging me for something she didn’t know anything about.

“I see the pictures, Tyson.”

“No. What you see is a small fraction of my day when I was caught by a man with a camera. And then those shots were manipulated to fit whatever story they were writing about me that day.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed one leg over the other. “That’s the problem, though, isn’t it? You have all these cameras following you around because you made money in the modeling and entertainment industry. Because you’re seen with all these famous people, and your net worth is in the billions.”

“Don’t you dare project your issues with your mother and her modeling on me? Don’t even start with that shit, Haley. That has nothing to do with me or our daughter.”

Her mouth fell open as she glared at me. “You really think that this has something to do with my mother and not that your lifestyle puts my daughter at risk?”

“Our daughter,” I said through gritted teeth, my hands clenching into fists. “Our daughter, Haley. Not just yours. And yes. I do think that a lot of what you’re saying to me has to do with the shit you went through with your mother. Newsflash, I’m not her.”

“What makes you think you have any right to say that?”

“What makes you think you have any right to keep judging me based on the past? If this is going to work, you need to realize that my situation and your mother’s are not the same.”

“And you need to realize that while she may be your daughter, you have a long way to go.”

“What is it exactly that you think I need to do?” I asked, my head starting to ache.

“You need to stop flying all over the world and walking around with a different woman on your arm every week.”

I bit my tongue and hid my smirk at the jealous undertone in her voice. If I hadn’t known her as well as I do, I would have missed it.

“You’re the only woman I’ve been with in the last year. The ones you see in the pictures are clients of business owners or business owners themselves. Or dates to events, so I don’t have to listen to Camille talk about how I’m always alone.”

“Camille?”

“She runs PR for Crestwood Capital.”

Haley nodded and looked down at her hands. I could see the gears turning in her head as she thought about everything she considered to be a problem.

“It’s only fair that I tell you I spoke with a lawyer regarding what could be done if we don’t work out some sort of arrangement. I don’t want to make this messy, Haley, but I will take you to court if I need to.”

“You can’t take my daughter away from me.”

My heart tore in half at the broken look on her face. “I’m never going to take her away from you, but I would fight for partial custody.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Her eyes were glistening as she looked at me, and I hated that this even had to be an issue between us. I wanted to take her into my arms and put all the broken pieces back into place, but we had done too much damage to each other right now. We needed to decide if we could even fix what was broken between us before ever thinking about a future beyond sharing custody of Trinity.

“Look, I’m not telling you that she needs to know who I am right now. She’s young, and we need to ease into this and keep her routine as normal as possible,” I said. “All I’m asking is that you introduce her to me as a friend.”

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