Page 62 of The Voices are Back

There was just so much health I could take before I decided being fucked up was better than unhappy.

“Aodhan actually went to get me breakfast.” I paused and looked at Danyetta. “And take Bowie to school.”

Danyetta flushed with embarrassment. “I needed him gone so I could talk to you.”

I took a seat on the edge of the couch, sensing I would need to be seated for this conversation.

“Okay.” I nodded. “Hit me.”

She looked nervous for a few seconds, bouncing her gaze from me to Folsom and back, before she nodded as if she saw what she needed to see.

“You know, he told me when we got together that if one day you called, he was gone.”

My mouth fell open. “He did not.”

“He did,” she said softly. “And we never slept together.”

My mouth all but fell off its hinges.

“What?”

Surely I’d misheard her.

Surely she hadn’t said what I thought she might’ve just said.

“We did this the medical way.” She grimaced. “Don’t ever tell Bowie this, but when I married Aodhan, it was with one very real thing in mind. To have a baby with Aodhan. But only in the ‘the doctor will implant his sperm into my egg’ kind of way. Not the ‘we’ll have sex’ kind of way.’”

I shook my head as if to completely clear it of its shocked cobweb state.

“I…” I was relieved. I was so relieved it wasn’t even funny.

The thought of him being with someone else…that had literally torn me up so completely that I wasn’t willing to admit how badly it hurt.

“I wanted Bowie to be legitimate.” She scrunched her nose up as if disgusted by her actions. “I know that sounds super-duper stupid when I put it like that. I married a man that I didn’t want, that didn’t want me back, just so I could have a kid with him and he could be legitimate.”

I blinked owlishly at her.

“Aodhan said something when he was dropping Bowie off last night, and I wanted to address it with you. To make sure you know that what we have wasn’t based on love, or lust. It was a mutual agreement that it would last as long as it lasted, and the moment we found what we were looking for, things would go a different way.”

“That’s…” I said. “I don’t know what that is. That’s crazy.”

So eloquent.

To be blindsided by her words, even after trying to convince myself that we could be together despite what I perceived as faults—i.e., him moving on so quickly after leaving me—was still a shock.

“I’d also like to be friends,” she said. “You mean a lot to him. I could see that the day that you fainted at the coffee shop. Actually, I saw it before that. You came out of the back room, your head downcast, and I swear to God. I saw him light up for the first time in years.”

That actually made me extremely happy.

To know that I still meant that much to him to affect his moods was everything.

“Oh,” I said softly, turning to Folsom.

Was I dreaming?

“No,” Folsom snorted. “You’re not dreaming. I hope you’re being really truthful here. This could make or break her. Them.”

Danyetta nodded with complete certainty on her face. “He doesn’t think he’s good enough for you. He never has.”

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