Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Brooke was a decent cook, although frankly not as good as Stevie or me, but she was good at following directions and helping with the prep, chopping up vegetables, that sort of thing. We laughed and joked together as we got it all together.
When we finally sat down, Brooke had a million questions for Stevie. I wasn’t surprised.
At first the questions were just easy ones. Brooke wanted to know all about her other job, and what it had been like, and what had made her decide to leave. Stevie explained how much she’d hated the job and how she had leapt at the chance to return once I assured her that the restaurant was doing well under her new menu.
“I felt so guilty,” she explained. “I thought that I’d ruined everything. And even once you told me that I hadn’t, I still wasn’t sure. I felt like after leaving as suddenly as I did, I didn’t have a right to come back. Michael was really kind and explained to me that I was more than welcome back and that you all missed me.”
Brooke didn’t seem to object to or even notice that Stevie was calling me by my first name instead of ‘your dad’ or ‘Mr. Madison’. Of course, I had always encouraged her to call me by my first name and we were coworkers now, so it would make sense for her to call me Michael, but… I hoped that it meant Brooke was all right with seeing Stevie and me in a more casual relationship. A more intimate one.
But then Brooke got onto the more awkward questions.
“What about the baby?” she asked. “What about Cameron?”
Oh, shit.
Stevie looked like a deer in the headlights. The temptation to reach over and take her hand, to reassure her, was so strong that I almost gave into it. I clenched my hand around my knee instead, digging my nails in.
“If you go back to work at the restaurant he’s definitely going to find out that you’re pregnant,” Brooke explained. “And he’ll have to know he’s the father.”
That little problem could easily be solved by my firing him. I was happy to do it, but I suspected that Stevie wouldn’t appreciate my attempting to solve her problem that way. Besides, it wouldn’t actually be fair to Cameron. An outrageous flirt he might be, but he hadn’t actually knocked her up. I had. I couldn’t punish him just to carry on a lie.
“There’s no reason for him to know,” Stevie replied. “I could’ve hooked up with someone in Sacramento. I’m not really showing yet. And it’s none of his business.”
She sounded like her usual self, full of conviction. I wished that it was as easy for me to lie. I kept biting my tongue, my jaw clenched so tightly that it was aching by the time dinner was finished.
I couldn’t keep this up. I just couldn’t. I wasn’t going to keep lying to my daughter and I wasn’t going to deal with the absolute mess that was her thinking Cameron was the father. Brooke could never leave well enough alone…if she saw Cameron and Stevie interacting at the restaurant, she’d consider it her duty to go to Cameron and tell him herself. Then he’d tell her that he and Stevie had never slept together, and it would all blow up in our faces.
That night, after Brooke went to bed, I snuck into the spare room. I had to talk to Stevie, we had to deal with this.
Stevie gave a sharp gasp of surprise as I entered, closing the door quietly behind me. “You can’t fucking sneak in here!” she whispered.
I couldn’t help but feel a rush of heat as I saw her, wearing nothing but soft flannel pajama shorts and an oversized shirt that slipped down off her shoulder. “We need to talk.”
“Well we can do that without…this, what if we got fucking caught?”
“Good, then. I hope we do.” I went and sat down on the bed. “I already hate the lying. This is my daughter. Your best friend. I know that you don’t like it any more than I do.”
“Of course I don’t like it, but it’s not exactly lying, and…”
“You’re splitting hairs. It’s obscuring the truth. By omission, or whatever, it doesn’t matter. Brooke doesn’t know the truth and she needs to.”
“I’m not going to dump it on her and ruin my friendship with her.” Stevie put her hands on her hips, which really shouldn’t have been as adorable as it was.
“I’m not willing to let this lie stand forever. The longer it goes on, the more hurt she’s going to be when she finds out the truth. Then your friendship will be ruined whether you like it or not and so will my relationship with her.” I sighed. “This baby is going to be Brooke’s little sibling. I want her to know that and she will know, one way or another.”