Why did he have to be so damned impossible though? Most people were embarrassed by their shortcomings, but Lee just wanted to push all his issues off on other people. He needed to face facts, he really did need some sort of treatment. I wished I could figure out a way to get him the help he so desperately needed.
—
By lunch break, I had finished Lee’s damage control and was looking forward to grabbing a bite to eat with Adrienne. I’d offered to take her to lunch for keeping Lucas overnight.
Adrienne was quickly becoming a dear friend. I would have never expected when Lucas and I used to watch her on the big screen as Dr. Falconi that I would be sharing lunch, let alone secrets with the beautiful brunette actress. As tough as this job was with all of Lee’s antics, I was so grateful for all of the wonderful people it had brought into my life.
We grabbed some salads from the hotel's kiosk and went to sit by the hotel’s pool. The entire East wing had been reserved for the press junket and we were thrilled to find that we had the entire pool to ourselves.
“I guess they’re too busy filing stories to come out and appreciate this beautiful LA day,” I remarked.
“Good more privacy for us,” Adrienne replied. “Let’s go stick our fit in.”
“How was Lucas last night?” I asked as we munched away at our salads.
“He did great. He’s such a good kid and surprisingly good with babies. Addie adores him.”
“Oh good. He really is good with babies. My best friend Katie has a daughter around Addie’s age, so he’s had a lot of practice.” I said.
“How was your night?” Adrienne asked slyly.
“Amazing,” I replied. “I mean I’m still getting used to the idea of these men. I can’t believe that I found one good guy, let alone four.”
“That was hard for me too. It’s such a different dynamic than what you hear about in everyday life, but if it works and you’re all happy, you have to make a run at it,” she returned.
“I think I had the misconception that it was one-sided, that I was the only one receiving any sort of benefit. But from the sounds of it they are starting to see us as some sort of family. And I really like the sound of that.” I said.
“Speaking of family,” Adrienne said, changing the subject. “Can we talk about Lucas?”
“Yes, I’ve been meaning to circle back to our conversation from the other night. Your suspicions about Ryan are correct. He is Lucas’ father,” I confessed, I moved my feet around the cool pool water feeling both my confession and the water wiping me clean.
“Wow,” Adrienne said gently. “Thank you for sharing with me, but where, how?”
“I don’t know if you knew this or not, but I’ve known Kai and Ryan since high school. We didn’t really run in the same circles all the time, but we were close enough.”
“When we got to college, we were all on fairly different paths, I was dead set on PR, Kai was working a lot behind the scenes and making a name for himself in stage management and production, and Ryan was a natural born actor.
“I never really hung out with the theater crowd, but I was trying really hard to get this internship one year at a PR firm in Chicago and a professor suggested I handle the PR and marketing for the next theater production to get some good experience.”
“The show was amazing and at the afterparty for the cast and crew Ryan and I reconnected,” I told Adrienne. “My high school boyfriend and I had just broken up and I thought a hook up with Ryan would be a good way to get some revenge.
“The thing was though Adrienne, once we started talking and hanging out, it was so much more than a hookup. We connected on so many levels. I could talk to him about things I’d never felt comfortable speaking about with anyone. I ended up losing my virginity to him.”
“Holy cow, I knew there was some history there, but I had no idea it was this intense,” Adrienne said.
“The next morning, I had an early class, so I took off, but I left him my number. He never called me Adrienne,” I said, a sob suddenly catching in my throat.
“What?” she gasped.
“I know. If I saw him on campus, he ignored me. For him it was like it never happened. The semester ended a few weeks later and I did get the internship and I went home for the summer so I could really focus on my job at the PR firm and not get caught up in school and partying.
“A few weeks before I should have gone back to school, I realized I was pregnant. I hadn’t been with anyone else. I knew it was Ryan’s.” I finished.
“That was the summer he got the part in that teen angsty romance, right?” she asked.
“Exactly. He got his break. He was a bit of an asshole for doing what he did, but he still deserved a shot. And as for me, the firm liked what I did so much over the summer that they asked me to stay on. I finished college online while working for the PR firm. They were super understanding about Lucas. It was like we both managed to live our dreams, I just had a baby in tow.”
“But why not tell him?” Adrienne questioned.