Page 23 of Secret Baby With Daddys Best Friend

“Now, that would bequitethe turn of events,” he said. “But somehow I don’t think that’s going to be happening anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding and trying to play along. I tried to ignore the fact that if I looked at the mirror on the wall to my right, I could see the reflection of the bathroom, where the dark shape of Eric lurked behind the door.

“Well, don’t be late for his speech, anyway,” said Tom, still chuckling.

“Dad,” I said. The same way I’d been saying it for the past fifteen years. “I won’t. I was just having a problem with the water pressure in my shower.”

“Oh, I’ll have a look at it, if you like,” said Tom, stepping forwards.

“Uh, it’s fine!” I said. “Fine now. I just had to, uh, get it working again. But it’s all good.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” said Tom. “I’ll see you later, okay? Oh, by the way, do you know where Eric is?”

“Eric?” I said. “I think he went back to the yacht.”

“Oh, okay. Well, if you see him, send him by the bar. I haven’t had a chance to buy him a drink.”

“I think he’ll be stopping by shortly,” I said.

“All right,” my dad said. “Bye.”

“Bye!” I said and closed the door.

I repeated the same goddamn ritual as yesterday. I put my back on the wall and sank to the floor. Why did I always end up here? Curled up in the fetal position, wondering what to do with myself?

“I have to say,” said Eric, leaving the bathroom, “that was impressive. You almost gave yourself away, but…”

“But what?” I said, looking up at him. I wanted him to see just how much it had hurt me to have to lie to my dad. The most important person to me in the world, and I’d betrayed him and had to cover for Eric. All because we were here again, doing something we both knew was wrong. “It’s not exactly a win,” is it?

Eric narrowed his eyes. “So, you regret what we just did?”

“No, not regret. But it wasn’t right, Eric. And we were almost caught.”

“So what?” said Eric. “You know I feel a certain way about you.”

“And what way is that?” I asked him.

Eric was silent.

“Exactly,” I said.

He turned and put on his shorts. Then he went and got his shoes from where I’d thrown them in the closet.

“There’s no need to give me the cold shoulder,” I said. “I just think we both know where this is going.”

“And where is it going?” said Eric. He looked up at me, his strong chin thrust forward defensively. I didn’t want to hurt him or say anything I didn’t mean.

But the truth was more powerful than any lie. I’d learned that already.

I should have told him years ago that he was Cassie’s father.

“Let’s say this happens again,” I told him. “I can’t go back to Boston and not hear from you. I can’t do that again.”

“You don’t have to!” snapped Eric. His eyes were burning with rage now, and I could see him clenching and unclenching his enormous fist.

“Oh, so what?” I snapped back at him. “You’re gonna tell my dad? Fat chance. It wasn’t exactly like you could own up to what we did the first time.”

“I was protecting you.”

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