Unrequited(66)

"She mentioned that."

"We got in my truck. We drank. I passed out. She passed out. When I woke up, it was after midnight. I called Adam because I knew I shouldn't drive. He came and got us, and Ivy had us take her to some place north of the city."

"Tanya's," Winter murmured absently.

"Yeah.” The name rang a bell. “A small girl, not much bigger than you. Run down place."

"Gnomes in the yard?"

I thought back to that night. It was such a blur. "Maybe? Anyway, I went home and didn't think about it. Not even when I saw you because it had been such an unimportant night. I felt guilty, yes, because I knew you'd be disappointed that I allowed her to drink alcohol with me, and I swear to you at any other time, it wouldn't have happened."

"Are you…did you…" She couldn't bring herself to say the words.

"No!" I nearly shouted the word. "I swear to you. When I woke up, my pants were zipped. All her clothes were on. You can ask Adam, who found us. We were totally on opposite sides of the truck. Front bucket seats." I jerked a finger behind me as if the truck itself could back me up.

She looked over my shoulder at the passenger side and shivered. She was envisioning two people having sex up there, and it wasn't the two of us.

"Stop. Don't think that way." I fumbled with my phone and dialed Adam. "Here talk to him."

"No, I don't want to." She turned away, but I needed her to hear this.

"Adam," I barked into the phone. "Tell Winter how you found me and Ivy. Everything. Don't leave a word out."

He answered immediately. "They were piss drunk. Ivy was passed out. They were both completely clothed. The truck smelled like alcohol and that's it. Ivy woke up, and I drove her to the north side to some chick's house that had a lot of garden gnomes in the front. Freaking scary if you ask me. I took Finn back to the house and poured him into bed."

She didn't respond, and the silence went on so long Adam thought we'd hung up on him.

"Hello? You still there?" he asked.

"You know the difference between men and women, Adam?"

"I know some differences, but I'm guessing my answers aren't the right one."

She continued as if he hadn't even said a word. Her dark eyes were glued to me. "A woman is out all night and comes home. Her boyfriend asks her where she’s been. She says with friends. Boyfriend calls the ten girlfriends on her favorites list. All of them deny going out with the woman. The man is out all night and returns home in the morning. Girlfriend demands his phone. She calls the ten male friends on his recent call list. Eight of them say that he slept over, and two say that he was still there."

Adam didn't respond right away. "I promise he's not with me, but he did sleep here last night."

I laughed because it was too fucking pitiful not to laugh. Either that or cry.

"Thanks, man," I said.

"No problem. Finn's a good guy and cares a lot about you, Winter," Adam said. "Don't let anyone else tell you differently. I've known this fucker for twenty years. Hell, we probably ate each other's snot in kindergarten, but dude wouldn't lie about this. He doesn't have to, and if you think about it, just for a minute, you'll realize that."

He hung up, and I was left with Winter, her doubts, and her deceitful but broken sister upstairs.

"Do you believe me?" I asked the important question.

She looked up to the stars as if the constellations held clues as to how her universe worked.

"Why does she say it's you?"

"Convenience? Coincidence." I shook my head. "I don't know if she knows who the father is."

"But she's told you she thinks you're the father."

"She's thrown it in my face, yes, but again not seriously."

She still didn't look at me. I wanted to grab her chin and force her to look me in the eyes and tell me to my face that she didn’t believe me and that she didn’t love me.

"Do you want to be the father?"

"No, but not because I don't want to be a father. I do. But not with Ivy. Not with her."

She ducked her head, and it broke my fucking heart that she couldn't look me in the eyes. That she no longer believed me "Winter." I reached for her, but she flinched away.

“Maybe you aren’t the father. Say I believe you. We still can’t be together. Ivy is a mess. She’s a fucking disaster up there. I can’t hold you and her at the same time.”

I shook my head. “This is what she wants you to believe. She’s manipulating you. How long are you going to pay for her mistakes?”

She choked back a sob but stepped away before I could reach her. “It’s not just Ivy I have to worry about now. It’s her baby. Fetal alcohol syndrome is terrible. I’ve got to keep her dry.”