Warrior (First to Fight #1)(12)

“Must have been pretty potent,” she quips.

“I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get ahold of him until he gets back. What am I supposed to do? Welcome him with an armful of baby and say, ‘Welcome back. By the way, you’re a dad?’” I groan. “This is such a mess.”

“Ben isn’t a bad guy. Sure, it’s not the best timing—”

“Uh, yeah.”

“But,” she continues, “we’ll just have to make the best of it. If Ben gives you shit, you’ll just have to take me up on my lesbian lover offer.”

We share a laugh and finish off our scones and coffee. As we’re leaving the café I turn to her and say, “I think I’m going to try to find my bio family.”

Her eyes widen and she pulls me off the sidewalk to a bench. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with them. From what you told me they sounded horrible. Why would you want to find them?”

I shrug as I watch the cars zooming by on the highway in front of us. “I think it’s time. I think I’ve always known I would go looking for them eventually. I kind of want to know where I’m from if I’m going to know where I’m going. Logan said he’d help me out.”

The look on her face tells me she doesn’t quite understand, but she gives me a hug anyway and I realize how lucky I am to have such a great friend.

I can only hope my dad will take the news as well as she did.

I don’t even want to think about how Jack is going to react.




I bought the small two story bungalow when I thought I’d have years to fix it up just the way I wanted it. As I stand in the living room surrounded by evidence of a small demolition a.k.a renovation, I wonder how a baby will ever fit into this mess. I see nails on the floor and chemicals that can burn your nose right off. Can you even bring a baby into a recently painted room? Surely the smell was toxic to their little lungs. I think of my art room and the paints I have there. My stomach clenches. Moms-to-be should know these things. Moms-to-be should know a lot of things.

Moms-to-be should, at the very least, have dads-to-be by their side as they wait to break the news to their family.

Or at least be on the same continent.

The kitchen timer dings and shakes me from my thoughts. I check on the pot roast I’d thrown together in the slow-cooker and wince when my stomach roils unpleasantly. Morning sickness—not a fan. Pot roast is my dad’s favorite meal, though, and I made it a point to make it occasionally since my mom died a year ago from cancer. I couldn’t quite get it as good as hers, but it always puts my dad in a good mood.

I know he’s going to be supportive about the pregnancy; he always has been for anything I do. But I don’t know how he’s going to take the news of my wanting to find my biological family. He’s been a little touchy about the subject since Mom passed.

The knock at the door sends my stomach into my throat. I take a sip of water and walk to the door, my heartbeat thudding in my ears. I paste a smile on my face and open the door, but my smile falters when I see my dad on the stoop with a woman by his side.

There’s a beat of awkwardness and I shake it off. “Dad!” I give him a one-armed hug. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Livvie-Lou, you look beautiful, as usual.” He smiles and turns to the woman. “This is Melissa. She’s just been dying to meet you.”

As Melissa and I exchange pleasantries and I invite them in to the dining room, I try to cover up my shock. Not that Melissa isn’t a good-looking woman, in fact, she seems almost familiar. She looks to be mid-fifties with coarse black hair and friendly brown eyes. I just can’t get around the fact that my father must be dating again.

I guess we both have big news to share tonight.

Dad and Melissa settle at the dining room table and I thank my lucky stars I at least got the dining room renovations done. I serve bowls of steaming hot pot roast complete with potatoes, baby carrots and a side roll.

“Anything to drink?” I ask them, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

“Water’s fine for me,” Melissa says with a kind smile.

“Come sit down, girl. You look famished.” Dad takes a big bite of the pot roast and groans. “Delicious, as always.”

I do as he asks, but I can’t stomach a bite and instead sift through the pot roast as they eat and make small talk. I learn that Melissa is a secretary at the Marin County School Board, which is probably why she looks familiar. She has an easy smile and my dad clearly adores her, so I choose to be happy for them.

“How did you two meet?” I ask. I manage to nibble on my roll, which is just about the only thing I can stomach these days.

“Melissa bought the cabin next to mine a few weeks ago.”

“He came over to help fix my front stoop when the boards started rotting out.”

They share a smile.

As we clean up the dinner dishes I pull my dad aside. He smiles, his weather-worn cheeks dimpling and the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “What’s going on, Livvie-Lou? You’ve been twitchy as a lighting bug all night. I hope you didn’t mind that I brought Melissa over.”

I shake my head. “No, no of course not. I’m glad you’ve started seeing someone. Mom wouldn’t have wanted you to be lonely.”

Melissa excuses herself under the guise of freshening up and I send her a grateful smile. Dad guides me to the porch swing he’d installed for me a few months earlier.