Straight Up Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #2)(82)

“I can’t lie to her about this.” I won’t. I’ve already fucked up enough.

“Why not? You went years without telling her how you feel and then years without mentioning our drunken mistake.”

“Things are different now. Ava and I—”

“I don’t want to know, Jake. Please. You live your life. You enjoy it, but don’t make me listen to details about how special the two of you are together. Just don’t.” Her voice cracks, and I feel it in my chest. I know that ache she’s feeling and wish I’d never done anything to make it worse.

“You can’t keep a child a secret. The father has a right to know.”

“You’re full of assumptions, and I’m done with this conversation. I’m asking you as politely as I know how to forget about this. If I need to find another job, I will.”

And leave her alone and jobless to raise the child? “I didn’t say that. You have to admit that, given the timing, I have a right to ask questions.”

There’s a scrape in the lock. The door swings open and Ava walks in, her face drawn tight. She was so happy when she left here this morning. So was I.

She looks at me and then the phone in my hand.

Molly exhales heavily. “I need to go. I’m not going to talk about this anymore.”

I open my mouth to object, but the call ends before I can say a word. I take the phone from my ear and stare at it.

“Who was that?” Ava asks.

The anger in her eyes feels like a punch in the gut. “Molly.”

She nods and turns away, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “So have you known all this time about her kid, or was it a surprise to you, too?”

I toss my phone onto the coffee table. That call was supposed to give me answers and make me feel better. It did neither. “I found out when you did.”

She rubs her arms. “I should have realized something was going on when I saw how much the news affected you.” She laughs. “I thought you just felt sorry for me. Poor Ava has such a screwed-up relationship with her sister that she didn’t even know she had a nephew.” She tosses her purse on the couch and paces between the front door and the kitchen. “But the joke’s on me, because you fucked my sister nine months before she had this secret baby.”

Everything inside me feels like it locks up at those words. “Who told you that?”

“Harrison.” She stops pacing, her back to me, and releases a sardonic laugh. “God, you’d think I’d get to learn something like that from someone other than my ex-husband, but no. What fun would that be?” She turns slowly and meets my eyes. “And you can’t deny it, can you?”

I swallow, but the lump in my throat refuses to budge. Standing, I cross to Ava and take her hands in mine. “I was upset that you’d rejected me. I was drinking, and she was there and . . . it was one night.”

She tugs her hands away. “One night is all it takes. One night was all it took for Harrison to ruin our marriage, and one night was all it took for you to give Molly a baby.”

“Don’t compare me to him. I was with Molly after you shut me down and sent me away. I would never cheat on you. I wouldn’t betray you like that.”

“And yet you’ve had five years to tell me that you slept with my stepsister, and you’ve never said a word.”

“I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t know about Noah. Molly never told me she was pregnant or that she had a kid.” I turn up my palms. “I still don’t know anything, honestly. She didn’t want to talk about it. She said he wasn’t mine, but . . .” But she wasn’t very convincing. “Ava, we’ll figure this out together. I promise.”

She wraps her arms around herself. “Do you know why I realized I couldn’t let you give me a baby?”

My jaw hardens. “I like to think it was because you loved me and wanted more than my sperm.”

She shakes her head. “No. That’s not why.”

“Why?” The word is raw, just like every inch of my heart.

“Because I know you, Jake. I know that you do the right thing. If I’d gotten pregnant, you would have been right there by my side, helping, and fathering, whether that was the life you wanted or not. I know you’ll do the same now for Molly and Noah.”

“She said he’s not mine.” I’m desperate. Panic and confusion twist inside me like snapping fuses creeping toward an ugly explosion.

“Do you believe her? She’s kept this child a secret from everyone for four years, and you’re going to believe he’s not yours just because she said so on the phone?” She studies me, and her expression falters. “You don’t believe it. I see it in your eyes. You think she was lying to you.”

I close my eyes. A few days ago, the only child on the horizon was the one I might make with Ava, and now I’m contemplating the logistics of making Molly do a paternity test on her son. “I don’t know what to think.”

“I can’t see you anymore.”

At first, I’m not sure I heard her right, and then once the words register, they hit me like a sledgehammer right to the chest. It’s a wonder I’m still standing. “Don’t say that.”

“I can’t work at the bar anymore either. I can’t do any of it. You have shit to figure out, and so do I.”