Eliza Starts a Rumor(51)
Zach’s “father.” I think he wants back in. I just don’t know how far in to let him.
They looked at each other.
“Now what?” Lee asked.
“I have no idea.”
“We have to write something. How’s this?”
No one can tell you what to do with this but you.
“No way. Tell her what to do. Jackie can’t compete with the father of her baby.”
“We don’t know that.”
Jackie let out a weird-sounding snore, like a snort confirming their fears. Skip grabbed back the phone, deleted Lee’s post, and wrote:
You owe it to yourself to go out with the guy from the train again.
“Don’t send that. It’s ridiculous.”
Lee grabbed back the phone, deleted it, and wrote:
Follow your heart.
Jackie stirred. He added “GTG,” pressed Send, and slipped the phone back onto Jackie’s lap.
“Yeah. That was a bad idea,” Skip admitted.
“No shit.”
* * *
—
There were two unanswered texts on Alison’s phone. One from Jack:
Last night was fun. Hope we can do it again soon.
And one from Marc:
Sorry to have barged in on you. When is a good time for us to talk?
She thought about Jackie’s simple advice, Follow your heart. At first it seemed a bit lame, especially since she was always one to follow her head, but maybe not. She followed her heart.
Hi Jack! It was so much fun, thank you again. I’m free this weekend if you are.
She thought it over. It was perhaps a little bold to suggest the weekend, but she sensed that with him there was no need to play games. His quick response affirmed it.
Great! Want to go to the fall fair in town on Saturday?
She had seen the flyers and pictured herself walking around with Zach in his stroller. She’d wondered if it would feel lonely. She didn’t usually feel lonely with Zach; mostly she felt solid, like they were a family unit of their own. But she imagined the fair would be teeming with traditional families.
Would it be OK if I bring Zach?
Of course. I figured you would.
She was glad that she didn’t have to worry about when was the right time to introduce her son to a guy, for now at least, although introducing him to Marc would be a much bigger deal than to Jack, for sure. Still, she couldn’t exactly justify keeping a child from his father. She didn’t think Marc would be an every-other-weekend kind of dad. She couldn’t imagine him even wanting to be alone with Zach. She called Andie to discuss. An hour later, and with a list of worries like, What if he gets married and they want to spend more time with Zach?, she texted Marc back. Suddenly she felt she needed to know what he was thinking.
Anytime works for me. Let me know what’s good.
The answer came back quickly.
How about now?
Zach was sleeping. She was awake. Now was as good a time as any. She called his cell.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
There was a pause, which she purposefully did not try to fill. He asked to talk; she was not going to be first chair.
“I just want to say again that I’m sorry. I’m really embarrassed about how I behaved and reacted to your pregnancy. I’d like to discuss having some part in Zachary’s life, if you would allow it.”
Even though his mayoral-vetting committee was directing his every move, there was truth to his words. Seeing his son in person had shifted something in him—something he wasn’t all that comfortable with. He’d reached out to the committee after visiting Alison and explained that he was confident he could repair things with the baby’s mother, to the benefit of his candidacy. In his heart he knew it was for his own benefit as well.
“How far would you like it to go?” he’d asked.
They knew Marc Sugarman’s drawback: He was not a very amiable guy. But the public is fickle. To see an extremely handsome, Ivy League–educated man with a stellar record standing next to his fiancée and baby boy would surely induce visions of Camelot in Gracie Mansion. What was originally thought of as his cross to bear could actually nail down his win. They’d answered, “As far as you are willing to take it.”
“Would you consider coming into the city this weekend? We can take the baby to the Central Park Zoo.”
She wanted to fully understand what Marc wanted from them, and from experience she knew that he was much easier to read in person. Plus, the zoo did sound nice, and she was free on Sunday.
“How about Sunday? Meet by the seals at eleven o’clock,” she suggested.
“That would be great. Thank you for considering my appeal.”
She wasn’t sure if he meant it to be a joke, but she laughed all the same.
CHAPTER 30
Amanda
Mr. Barr had texted Amanda the night of their first meeting and suggested they get coffee at the Café Karma Sutra over the weekend to come up with a game plan. She knew it was ridiculous, but she was so nervous that she tried on three different outfits, running back and forth across the street for Eliza to give her her opinion. By the third time, her hair was starting to frizz.