Her Dad’s Best Friend novel Chapter 29

When I looked at Ryan, I didn’t see my face. He looks like a male version of Marcia, which could mean anything. I’m praying that Marcia is playing one of her dumb games, but if Jack put her up to this, I can see that we’re not going to have his blessing when we get married.

I’ve come inside of Camilla unprotected. She could have my baby inside of her right now. I think about having a family with her, maybe two or three kids running around my house. Kids with her hair and her smile…

And none of that will happen if Marcia’s telling the truth. I know that Camilla would stand by me and try to take care of Ryan, but I can’t ask her to be a stepmother when she’s a little less than six years older than him. Touching her proved that I am a selfish bastard, but I know that she deserves the carefree life of a teenager, not the craziness that raising Ryan would bring.

Now I’m at the lab. My heart is beating double time. With two cheek swabs, we can see which path my life will go down. Happiness with Camilla, a ring on her finger, a bunch of kids. Or taking care of a son I never knew I had and losing Camilla forever.

I take a deep breath, then I get out of the car. Time to face the music.

Lab Test

Lincoln

Dr. Mike is hanging around in the lobby. I know that his daily schedule is jam-packed, so it means a lot to me that he’s here.

“You okay?”

I nod. I gesture towards Marcia and Ryan. Ryan is still playing his game. “They’re with me.”

I can see Dr. Mike’s eyes trail over Marcia. She’s a beautiful woman. Having a kid didn’t diminish her physical attractiveness. But she’s like non-alcoholic beer for me now — theoretically, it could be good. But it’s not. I watch him turn towards Ryan.

“He’s older than a lot of the kids we see in here.”

I shrug. “It’s a long story.”

“Come with me, please.” He brings us into a small room. There are two plastic baggies with things that look like long Q-tips in small plastic vials. “Buccal swabs are relatively painless. I’m just going to swab the inside of your cheeks and then give the samples to the lab. Link, you want to go first?”

“Yeah.” I sit down on a chair and open my mouth. He swabs the inside of my cheek and drops the long Q-tip into the plastic vial.