“Hey, sorry, it’s me again,” he says, and he sounds like he’s out of breath.
“Yes,” I reply, not sure why he’s calling me again.
“I’m going to tell my parents.” He comes right out and says it as a declaration. I almost laugh because he sounds so serious and nervous all at the same time.
“I figured.” I can’t help but chuckle now.
“I kind of have to tell them before Matty lets it slip.” He lets out a big exhale. My hands get sweaty realizing that Matty knows. I figured he would know because of Sofia, but knowing he knows is just cementing that this is actually happening and it’s not all in my head. “If I don’t tell my mother, and she finds out from Matty, she’s likely to castrate me.”
I can’t help but laugh out nervously. “Might as well tell them, then.” I put my hand on my stomach as it decides that it’s going to go straight up to my throat like a wave in the middle of the ocean.
“I’m sorry you went through all that alone,” he says to me, his voice going soft, and I close my eyes again, and I breathe out through my mouth softly. “I don’t know how, but I’m going to make it up to you.”
I shake my head. “There isn’t anything to make up for.” I open my eyes and look over to the doorframe where she just stood not too long ago, her small hands rubbing her eyes. All I can do is smile. “I would do it all over again for her.” My voice trembles. The silent tear escapes. “She’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Hands down, the best thing that I’ve ever done.”
“Thank you.” His voice sends shivers down my body, which is crazy since the last time I felt like this was the first time he leaned over and kissed me. There in the middle of the diner, with people coming and going, no one paying attention to the two people in the corner. No one knowing that night would change everything.
“For?” I ask him, not sure what he’s thanking me for.
I know I’m also not ready for what is to come. I’m not ready for his words to come out. There is nothing that can prepare me for what comes next. “Being the best mother to our kid,” he says with a chuckle. I picture him smiling with a smirk that I’ve seen for the past four years growing on our daughter, always mesmerized she got it, even though she never met him. It was a piece of him she got without knowing. “She’s the best, and it’s because of you.”
stefano
. . .
I know I should tread lightly and go at it slowly, but I don’t know what it is about Addison that just makes me forget everything I have instilled in me. Every single rule I have in place is just suddenly erased and there are no rules when it comes to her. No one-night stands, that was crossed off the list. No strings attached, keep things at arm’s length. But again, with her that night all I could do was push all those little nagging comments to the back of my head. All I wanted was to kiss her. There in the middle of the worst diner food I had ever had, all I wanted to do was hold her face and kiss her.
I kept ordering food only to drag out the time we spent together. I kept ordering the food until I finally got the courage to ask her what I was dying to ask her the second she bumped into me and looked into my eyes. I honestly think the world stayed still for that moment. “She really is the best kid,” Addison agrees, and I can even hear the smile in her voice.
“Okay, I should call my parents and get it over with.” I take a deep inhale. “Wish me luck.”
“Hope it turns out better than it did with mine,” she says. I know she’s trying to make a joke out of it, but my hands clench into fists. From the little she told me, my blood is boiling, and I know I want to sit down with her and for her to tell me exactly what happened. However, couch surfing for two months was enough to make me see red or black or whatever color someone sees when they are about to lose their shit.
“See you tomorrow,” I say and quickly disconnect her. As soon as I hang up with her and go to search for my father’s name, I quickly go back and add her number to my favorite list so that no matter what happens, she can always get through to me.
I then go back and press the camera button for my father. The sounds of ringing fill the room as my face fills the screen. It takes three more rings for the little circle to spin and connect in the middle of the screen. It takes a minute before my full face is now pushed to the corner and my father’s face fills the screen. “Look who it is,” he greets me, leaning back on the couch. He’s wearing a basic gray shirt and most likely sweatpants, his black hair pushed back, and his beard a little bit longer than it was three days ago when I saw him.