Page 42 of Eligible Best Friend

“That was unfortunate,” Mom says between laughs. “Every time I grabbed a pair of scissors for years after that, he ran.”

Lia points to a picture of three scrawny kids, dripping wet, with popsicles in their hands. “Look at Ryan and Karoline. That’s a nice picture of all of you.”

“I know you don’t remember them, but there were happy times,” Mom says quietly.

Like the day that picture was taken. Mom set up the sprinklers and we played for hours. She showered us with snacks and sunscreen, and we watched movies all night, falling asleep on the floor.

Yeah. There were some happy times. A beat of longing goes through me. I wasn’t an only child those years after Mom married, but I look back on that time like I was.

Lia opens a new album, this one full of photos of me around Jayden’s age. “Aww, look how much you look alike.”

Pride swells in me. Jayden has my hair color and gets his eye color from Cass. But his cheeky grin is all mine.

I reach over and point out the baby photos to a sleepy Jayden. He’s about to pass out against Mom’s chest. “We should go before he falls asleep and then stays awake all night on Cass.”

“There’s only one album left,” Mom says, and Lia sets the old one down, picking up the new one.

“How much older can we get than when I was a baby?”

Mom chuckles and shifts Jayden to the other knee. He leans over the table to grab at the pages. “No, honey,” Mom whispers and twists her body so he can’t reach. “I found this one when I was cleaning boxes out the other day.”

Lia flips a page. There’s Mom with my grandparents. She doesn’t talk about them much. Other than getting a Christmas card every year, I don’t talk to them either. Another page and there’s a picture of Mom hugging a familiar man.

My stomach drops. My dad. He’s grinning, his arm possessively around Mom’s waist. He’s leaning against a red Mustang, wearing black slacks and a white business shirt.

“That’s a nice car. Did you drive it?” Lia asks Mom.

“No. That was Nathaniel’s. Ford’s dad.” Before uncomfortable silence can descend over the room, Mom adds with a chuckle, “You can guess where he got his name.”

Lia snickers. “Oh my God, you never told me.”

The dark moment is lost on Mom and Lia. There he is, my birth father, hugging my mom like she means something. And Mom named me Ford as if that’d bring my dad back into her life. She must’ve waited for him so long, hoping the entire time.

Is that what Lia thinks Cass is doing? Waiting for me? Does that mean that no matter how much I try to be different, to be there for my son, I’m still like Nathaniel?

No, I’m better than that, better than him. I can’t force myself to be in love with Cass, but I can stick around and show her that I can be there for our son.

Lia turns the page and there my dad is again. A stethoscope around his neck, wearing a lab coat.

“He was a doctor?” she asks, her incredulous gaze shifting to mine.

“Didn’t Ford tell you? Nathanial is a pediatrician in Baltimore.”

Lia’s gaze doesn’t leave mine. “A pediatrician?”

“Johns Hopkins,” I say woodenly before pushing back from the table. “If I can’t be a better pediatrician than him, at least I’m a better father.”

“You’re a wonderful father, Ford.” Mom kisses the top of Jayden’s head. “Grandma’s going to miss you.”

She hands him off and Lia helps me gather all of his stuff and pack it.

We load Jayden up and when Mom goes back inside, I turn to Lia. “Would you mind driving so I can entertain Jayden and keep him awake for Cass?”

“No problem.” She takes the keys and looks back at the house. “Your dad is a pediatrician at a world-renowned children’s hospital.”

“He was nothing but a sperm donor.”

“Seems like he had more influence than that.”

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