Page 25 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

“I have a daughter.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a few moments, I pulled my phone away from my ear to make sure the call was still connected.

“You have a what?” Mom asked, disbelief clear in her voice.

“I have a daughter. She’s four.”

“How’s that possible?” Mom asked. “None of us even knew that you got a woman pregnant.”

“Well, funnily enough, I didn’t know I did either.”

“You need to start from the beginning and tell me everything. I’m putting you on speakerphone so your dad can hear too.”

I started walking in the direction of my home, telling her what had happened four years ago. I caught her and my dad up on everything that had happened, telling her everything I could. By the time I got to my house, I was filling her in on the current events.

As I sat down on my couch, I finished my story, waiting as they processed everything.

“So, what are you going to do about all of this?” Mom asked.

“I have no clue. What do you think I should do?”

“To be honest, honey, I don’t think there’s anything more you can do. You’re agreeing to meet all her terms and help her with anything she needs.”

“Do you think the lawyer is a good idea?”

“I think if she isn’t willing to work with you to bring Trinity into your life, then you have to take matters into your own hands. I’ll be honest with you; it will likely ruin your relationship with Haley.”

Before I could say anything, my doorbell started ringing. After I ignored it the first time, about to respond to my mom, it started ringing over and over again.

“I’ll call you again later, Mom. Apparently, there’s somebody who wants my attention.”

“Love you, Tyson. I’m sure you’ll figure out how to make this work.”

“Love you too, Mom. Try to get some rest.”

I ended the call and walked to the door, the bell still ringing. When I yanked the door open, prepared to rip whoever was ringing the bell a new one, Leigh marched into my house as if it was her own. She kicked off her shoes and set her purse down before heading straight for the couch.

“Nice to see you too, brat,” I said teasingly as I closed the door and followed her to the couch. “What’re you doing here?”

“Well, I just finished spending time with Haley and Trinity.”

My mouth nearly dropped open. “You were doing what?”

“I just spent the morning and part of the afternoon with Haley and Trinity,” Leigh said again.

“Why would you do that? I don’t want you ruining anything between us. I’m working hard here, Leigh. Did you think a surprise visit where you barge into their lives might ruin things between us?”

“Well, considering I stayed there for a few hours with them and got to know both of them better, I would say it went pretty well.”

Haley wouldn’t even let me say hello to my daughter—as her friend—but she had let Leigh into her home for hours. She had let her meet Trinity and get to know her.

I wanted to be angry about it, but I was just happy that progress was being made. If she let Leigh into her life, she had to be thinking about letting me into it as well.

“Trinity only knows that I’m Haley’s friend, so don’t think that this means everything is changing,” Leigh said.

“I don’t, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Leigh leaned back into the cushions, crossing her legs and kicking her feet on the coffee table. “With how upset you were when you called me the other night, I thought a trip here to see what was going on for myself might be some sort of help.”

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