Eliza Starts a Rumor(60)

Had she known what it would take to pack up a baby for a whole day and drive into the city, she might have walked around handing trophies to new mothers who did so. As she pulled into the parking garage on East Sixty-Eighth Street, she had never felt more accomplished.

She met Marc at the Central Park Zoo as planned. He was practically dressed for a deposition in a sports jacket and khakis. It made her laugh to think that this was his casual Sunday look. She realized he wouldn’t be the kind of dad that would play ball with Zach, if she were to welcome him that way. But that would be OK. She had a pretty good arm for throwing a baseball. Maybe Marc could teach him how to play chess and squash. She had no idea if he played either, but if she were to guess . . .

He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and Zach with an awkward pat on his head. They walked around the whole zoo as if they had a curious toddler with them, not a clueless baby.

“I’m embarrassed to say this,” Marc admitted, “but I haven’t been here since I was a kid. I’ve hardly visited any of the city’s tourist spots in years. I’m always working.”

“One good thing about having a kid: You get to see things anew through their eyes.”

“That’s true. I remember loving the top of the Empire State Building when I was young. Maybe I can take Zach there when he’s old enough.”

Alison was happy to hear, for Zachary’s sake, that Marc was thinking past today. She was glad that his words elicited a positive reaction in her, as opposed to more panic over losing control. Though it all felt simple while they were walking around the zoo, she knew it could easily become quite complicated. She wasn’t committing to anything.

They returned to the seals for feeding time, along with just about every person at the zoo that day. She imagined that since Gus, the famous neurotic polar bear, had passed away, the seals and the penguins had been duking it out for top billing. She was clearly right.

Alison pulled out her phone and took a selfie of her, Zach, and Marc with a seal perched up on the side of the glass enclosure photobombing them. It was a great shot of a seemingly happy family. If today was all there was of the story of Zachary Le and Marc Sugarman, then at least she could give him this picture one day. This is your father. He just didn’t have it in him. It is not a reflection on you.

“Can you send me that?” Marc asked. As she forwarded him the picture, she thought back on all of the time they had been together. There had never been any need for photographic evidence or a desire for some memento of their relationship. It’s funny how a baby changes everything.

By the time they reached the petting zoo, which neither had any interest in, it was time for Zach’s bottle. They walked uptown a few blocks and settled in under the shade of an oak tree overlooking the Seventy-Second Street playground. Alison handed the baby to Marc while she mixed the bottle. He held him so awkwardly that it made her think about how she had felt when Jack took him in his arms. She shook herself mentally. Why was she hung up on this guy she’d been on two dates with? So what if he didn’t turn out to be who she thought he was? It’s not like that hadn’t happened before. She looked at Marc, who was holding Zach with the ease of a vegan holding a piece of raw chicken, and laughed.

“Let me show you how it’s done.”

“Please.”

When she finally got the baby situated, she asked Marc if he wanted to feed Zach the bottle.

“I’ll try,” he responded nervously. Zach was extra hungry and really sucked the bottle down, which made it easy in some ways, but harder in others. She sat back so as not to hover over them. She was being careful to appear to be a good mother. She wondered why, wondered if it was the lawyer in her building her case—“the defendant is an excellent mother, even the plaintiff would testify to that.” They were having a surprisingly nice day, but she was suddenly eager to hear the bottom line. What did he want?

When it was time to burp him, Alison took over, in more ways than one.

“You did good,” she said kindly. Zach let out a power burp, and Marc beamed.

“Wow! That was some burp!”

A feeling of pride came over him that until then had only been reserved for court or a winning squash set. It surprised him.

Alison knew his facial expressions well enough to notice something was up. She couldn’t wait any longer.

“Marc? What’s going on?”

He paused. “We’ve always been honest with each other, right?”

She nodded her head. “Absolutely.”

After the Jackie fiasco it seemed even more important.

“I came to see you the other day because I’ve been approached to run for mayor. The candidate they were exploring before me was Reed Coakly, so needless to say he’s out.”

Like the rest of the free world, Alison knew that Reed Coakly had just been exposed in a sexting scandal similar to Anthony Weiner’s. “Exposed” being the key word. Marc continued, “They put a lot into him, both time and money, and they can’t risk another mistake. It turns out that fathering a baby who I have nothing to do with is considered a mistake.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised that this whole reunion of sorts was so calculated; everything Marc Sugarman did was calculated. But she was. Both surprised and hurt. It showed on her face, and he immediately addressed it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mention this on Thursday night, but when I got to your house my underlying motives suddenly felt irrelevant.”