Yet… I’m curious as hell.
“How do you know she doesn’t have a boyfriend? She’s got a baby.”
“Yes.” Seth clasps his hands together. “She does have a baby. That is true. But there’s no boyfriend.”
“So, she made that bit up? Why would she do that?”
It doesn’t make me feel any better. Jodie’s so repulsed by me that she invented a boyfriend to get rid of me.
“Don’t worry about the boyfriend or lack thereof.” Seth leans forward and talks slowly as if he’s trying to explain something to a five-year-old.
“The key here is the baby.”
I don’t know what he’s getting at. The fact that Jodie is a solo mum doesn’t make me feel much better.
Some scumbag has left her alone, left her by herself to raise their kid.
At least I can step up for her. I can be the man she needs, the father to her baby, and the man to take care of both of them. If she’ll have me.
“I don’t mind raising someone else’s kid if that’s what Jodie needs from me.”
Seth gives me a look like I’m stupid. Maybe I am, but hell, I’ll do anything for that woman.
“The baby is nine months old.”
He says it slowly and deliberately like there’s some significance in that. But the lasting alcohol in my brain can’t quite piece it together.
So, she had a kid nine months ago. That would have been about nine months after our weekend together…
Holy shit.
The realization hits me like a bowling ball to the stomach, and I’m suddenly stone-cold sober.
“It’s mine, isn’t it?”
I know as soon as the words leave my mouth that it’s the truth.
My baby. Mine and Jodie’s. I’m the scumbag that left her to have a baby on her own, to raise it on her own. She probably came looking for me when she found out she was pregnant, but I was deployed.
No wonder she hates me.
Seth nods slowly, probably relieved to see his dumb-ass friend finally figured it out. “I can’t be a hundred percent sure because she didn’t put a name on the birth certificate, but the dates add up.”
“Fuck.”
I push the chair back and pace the room.
Seth’s watching me carefully, probably worried I’m going to freak out and bust his house up or something stupid.
But all I can think about is the fact that I’m a father. I’m a father with the woman I love.
“This is fucking awesome.”
Seth visibly relaxes.
“It might not be yours, but the dates check out.”
“Oh, it’s mine.”