“Yeah.”
“Or the time the time all of us were walking through the mall and you pointed out a shirt you wanted to see her in, so she bought it off the damn rack and wore it to school the next day?”
“Yeah,” I said, sighing.
“Or the time she was sick but came to school anyway because it was your birthday and she wanted to bring you that cupcake from the grocery store up the road?”
“I get your point,” I said.
“If this is somehow your child, maybe it had nothing to do with trust. Maybe it was just another one of her sacrifices.”
“Hiding a damn child isn’t the same as wearing a shirt I liked in a window.”
“But it’s the same concept. Come on, you’re a lawyer. You argue on concepts. Think about it.”
I ordered a soda from the bartender and considered what he had just pointed out. It was true. Ana had always been the type of girl to set aside what she wanted or needed to give others what they wanted. I had no doubt in my mind that she was a wonderful mother, a sacrificial mother. But that did mean that she maybe withheld Brody’s existence from me because she had felt it would hold me back and keep me in the one place I didn’t want to be.
“It still gives her no right to hide my damn son from me—if he is my son.”
“And trust me, you’ll get no arguments from me on that front. You’d be a hell of a dad. We all know it. But it does give you a glimpse into her possible mindset, especially after the two of you had argued and you had said you were excited to be going all the way across the country.”
I groaned at the memory. Hurt pooled in my chest. I felt betrayed by the woman I loved and yet still responsible for the outcome of our situation. Me and my fucking high school temper.
It seemed as if those words haunted me everywhere I went.
“What the fuck am I going to do?” I asked.
“First, you’re going to talk to me about this contract. Then, you’re going to bounce some plans off me regarding Ana.”
“Plans?”
“You have to ask her. It’s obvious she isn’t going to come clean on her own. You can either use your lawyer pass to dig up information on Brody yourself, or you can go to the source, look her in the eye, and ask her yourself,” Brandon said.
“What if she lies to me?”
“One, you’ll know. You always do. And two, you can call her out on it before rolling into other questions, like why she doesn’t trust you and why she hid him from you in the first place. If this kid is your son.”
“Yes, if.”
“We don’t know if he is yet,” he said.
“Right. We don’t.”
But in the back of my mind, I knew. In the pit of my gut, I knew. When I had knelt down to shake his hand, I had looked into his eyes, right into the beautiful eyes of that eight-year-old boy.
Oh shit. I remembered his eye color.
“Green,” I said.
“What?” Brandon asked.
“Brody’s eye color is green.”
I felt my best friend’s stare on me before he drained the rest of his drink.
“Maybe we should start with your plan to confront Ana,” he said.
Ana
“Uno!” Brody exclaimed.
“I can’t believe you won again, you little sucker,” Kristi said as she winked at me.
“Told you I’d win again,” Brody said proudly.
“You came, you conquered, and now you get the spoils of your success,” I said.
“Ice cream?” Brody asked.
“Oh yes. We’ll even set the pint in your lap,” I said.
“Yeah!”
Kristi laughed as she clamored off the floor. Brody was on her heels as they made their way into the kitchen. I picked the cards off the floor and cleaned up our paper plates. Pizza and ice cream with card games was a tradition in my house on Friday nights. Usually my parents joined us as well, but they were gone for the weekend on one of their impromptu vacations, so it was just the three of us for the night.
“Ana?”
“Yeah, Kristi?”
“What do you want to drink with your ice cream?” she asked.
“No drink. We’ll pop open our stuff once Brody goes to bed.”
“You mean your Mom juice?” he asked.
Kristi giggled as she shook her head. Brody launched himself onto the couch as I smiled at him. He set himself up before ripping off the top his double-chocolate fudge ice cream and digging in with his spoon. I got off the floor and sank beside him, and Kristi sat down beside me. She opened our strawberry cheesecake ice cream before handing me a spoon, and we dug into our dessert for the night.
“So how were things at the store today?” I asked.
“Busy, as usual these days. This summer has been our best by far. Though I’m not sure if it’s because of our different advertising techniques or the new trends we’re trying out,” Kristi said.