Snake (a Stepbrother Romance)(51)

He probably told Andrea, I considered… my stepmother. Andrea and Dad were close, shared everything, and I couldn’t picture him holding such a big secret from her. I had to know for sure, do some damage control if he had, and reached for my cell without really thinking it through. Andrea and I didn’t speak much, but she’d always been nice to me.

I called her on my cell phone and she answered in a few rings.

“Why hello, Mila! This is… unexpected.” Her voice had an edge, she sounded surprised and a little distant. I furrowed my brows as I said my hello.

“Just wanted to say hi and see how you and Dad were doing,” I said, wincing at the silly excuse. I should’ve thought this through before calling, I thought.

We spoke for a little while and it seemed like we were just stalling, dancing around what was really going on. I felt like Andrea knew exactly why I was calling, and it was getting more and more awkward.

“So… I heard about Devan and Monique’s divorce,” I finally said, my voice breaking a little over the words as my tongue tripped over Devan’s name.

“Yes, finally finalised,” Andrea said curtly and an uncomfortable silence lay between us. I toyed with George’s blanket as he fidgeted in the pram.

“And where is Devan these days?” I blurted, blushing as I asked the question.

“Oh, Devan is out of town. In your city this week, in fact,” Andrea said nonchalantly, and my heart sped up. “Didn’t your father tell you?”

“No, he didn’t say a word,” I said through gritted teeth, making a mental note to yell at my dad later. “So is he here on business?”

“I really wouldn’t know dear,” Andrea said dismissively and I fought the urge to scream at her. I needed to know, but I didn’t want to be too obvious. “On another subject, Mila, I would like to see my grandchild sometime soon.”

My heart froze in my chest.

And I let my fear fill the silence.

She knew. I’d been right; my dad had told her. Another minus point for him.

Fuck. Did that mean Devan knew?

“Mila? Are you still there?”

I closed my eyes and took a cleansing breath. “Yes. Erm, we’ll arrange something soon. I promise,” I replied awkwardly. What the hell was I supposed to say? I wasn’t comfortable discussing the child she wasn’t supposed to know existed.

“You know, Mila,” she continued thoughtfully. “You really should talk to Devan.”

“And why exactly is that?” I asked roughly, unable to hide the edge in my voice.

Andrea ignored it and went on pretending as if everything was perfectly normal. “He tried to turn his life around, move on, but he’s hurting. He’s a ghost.”

With my heart thumping in my chest I bit my tongue, trying to hold back my anger, my hurt.

“Well, that’s not really my problem,” I replied in a high-pitched voice.

I could hear the sigh on the other end of the line. “He’s pining for you, Mila. It’s been a year, and he hasn’t seen anyone else. You really need to talk to him.”

“I can’t…” I replied, the tears threatening to overcome me. And before Andrea could say something back to try and convince me, I cut the line and stuffed the phone in my pocket.

I focused on my son and pulled the hood of the stroller back down to shade his face. But my mind was still stuck on the conversation I’d just had.

All of a sudden, the mirage from before flashed in my mind. Andrea mentioned he was in the same city… Could it really have been him, on my street, walking away from me?

My heart was beating wildly as my eyes widened, trying to remember the whole scene. I turned towards the direction of the house, only a little way away from the park.

My blood froze in my veins as I thought everything through.

Fuck, no.

Carl had been with us, George and me, as we came out of the house. He had only been running a business errand, but if Devan had come to see me, he wouldn’t have known that, would he?

If it really was him and he saw me with another man… Oh, no. I groaned and clutched my mouth.

Devan was probably convinced I’d moved on, when in fact that was so far from the truth. How could I have been so stupid?

I felt the first tears prickling my eyes as I realised we’d been stuck in a misunderstanding. With no idea what to do, I took my baby in my arms and held him close, wiping my tears with his blanket.

This time, I was the one who had messed up, and I had no idea how to fix it.





28





Devan





Days later, I was alone and miserable at home. So, nothing new, then. I felt like I had no purpose or direction in life; work, come home, sleep, then repeat it all over again with nothing in between to make the heartache go away.