Page 44 of His Surrender

“I know.” He doesn’t even look at me. “You look significantly less sleep-deprived than you did last week.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”

Aubrey smiles, glancing between us. “I’ll let you guys catch up.”

She reaches over and gently rubs one finger across Liana’s tiny hand. “I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” I say.

After she disappears down the hallway, Sawyer watches her for another second before turning back to me.

“She seems nice.”

“She is,” I answer immediately.

His eyebrows rise. “Okay …”

“What?”

“I’ve known you for sixteen years.”

“So?”

“You answered that a little too fast.”

“I stated a fact.”

Sawyer smirks. “I’m just making observations.”

I sigh. “Can we focus on the part where I have a daughter?”

His grin disappears. “Right.”

He looks at Liana curled against my chest. “Start from the beginning.”

After I spend twenty minutes answering all of Sawyer’s questions, he seems content with what I’ve shared enough to lean back against the couch.

“When are you going to tell the rest of the gang?”

My body tenses when I think about it. Our four other buddies that we met in college still don’t know.

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“Wrong answer. You’re telling them this weekend.”

“Uh, what makes you say that?”

His eyebrows turn down. “Dean, are you embarrassed about her or something?”

The question hits me hard in the chest. “Fuck off. Of course not.” I look down at Liana, who is smiling up at the dog on her mat. “It’s just … a lot of questions to answer. And I don’t want anyone judging us.”

“Us?”

“The situation. The fact that I didn’t know she existed. That her mom …” I trail off, shaking my head. “People always have opinions when they don’t know the whole story.”

“They do,” Sawyer agrees. “But the people you’re talking about aren’t random people.”