Page 20 of Best Kept Secret
You only think you know me, he wanted to say. That might cause an argument, though, which was the last thing he wanted.
“How’d you meet her?”
“You really want to know?”
She nodded. “If this woman is going to be spending time with my daughter and buying her things, I’d like to know a little bit about her. I deserve that, don’t you think?”
He sighed and suppressed the urge to say our daughter. “Her name is Kelsey, and she’s my roommate’s sister.”
She furrowed her brow. “Your best friend’s sister. Isn’t that against the rules or something?”
He almost laughed, but he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. She already held a less-than-stellar opinion of him, and he didn’t want to add to it. “We’re just friends.”
“Yeah, right. I can’t imagine you being friends with any woman.”
“Just because you and I didn’t start out that way, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”
“Are you telling me you’ve changed?”
Yes. No. Maybe? “My top priority is Annie. I’m not thinking about much else right now.”
“I always thought Jared was handsome. I bet Kelsey’s pretty.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because, like it or not, you and I are always going to be connected. We need to make a concerted effort to get along for Annie’s sake.”
“We never had a problem getting along.”
“Not until you questioned whether Annie was really yours.”
He winced at the reminder. They’d already broken up when she’d told him she was pregnant and had been seeing someone else—Alex—the guy she was still with.
“Kelsey is an attractive woman, and we get along really well. But like I said, she’s Jared’s sister, which means she’s off limits.”
“Since when do you follow the rules?”
“Since I found out I’m a father.”
They stared at each other for a few beats, and he wondered what was going on behind her striking blue eyes, the same eyes that Annie had inherited.
“Well, I’d like to meet her sometime. At least to thank her for the gift.”
“I’ll pass that along,” he said. He had no intention of introducing them in the foreseeable future, especially since Kelsey didn’t even know Sonia existed. Suddenly he felt like he was in way over his head, and he wasn’t officially dating Kelsey yet.
He turned to leave but then paused. “When can I see Annie again?” It felt strange asking for permission to see his own daughter, but he was still trying to navigate this strange world of co-parenting.
“Alex and I have a work event on Wednesday night. How about then?”
“Works for me. Should I pick her up here?”
“We’ll bring her to you since we have to drive by anyway.”
“Okay. I’ll see her then.”
He’d already stepped off the porch when she called out to him. “Hudson.”
“Yeah.”
