Page 78 of Heartache & Playdates
“She is. She is okay.”
“But she didn’t want to come with you?” I could see the vulnerability in her large brown eyes. “She didn’t want to meet me?”
“No!” I quickly rushed to assure her. “She doesn’t know…I haven’t told her that I found you.”
“Why not?”
“I wanted to talk to you first. Just to make sure…” I didn’t want to tell her my reservations, which all seemed ridiculous now.
“To make sure I wasn’t crazy?” she chuckled.
“No, I knew you weren’t crazy. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t mad or upset or…” I knew this wasn’t coming out right. “I mean, that’s fine. If you are, I totally understand.”
“Are you kidding?” she asked as if it was ludicrous to even suggest that. “No. I’m not mad or upset at all. Just curious. I always knew I was adopted. It was never a big talk or anything; my mom and dad just had a ton of books that they read to me, from the day they got me, that talked about it. I always felt…special…that they chose me. That’s how they framed it. I just wanted to meet you and my birth mom to know, you know, where I come from.”
I nodded as gratitude and relief warmed my chest. I knew firsthand how hard life was out there without parents, and the fact that my daughter had been raised to feel special and chosen was the best I could hope for.
“Okay, so I have to know, if you just found out I existed last night, how did you figure out I was the baby that she had?”
“Your birthdate. When Peyton—"
“Her name is Peyton?”
Oh shit. That’s right. She didn’t know anything about her.
“Yes, your birth mom’s name is Peyton Anne Russo.”
She repeated, almost reverently, “Peyton Anne Russo.”
I felt myself welling up, but I blinked away the emotion. “Peyton told me that you were born November eleventh, which is a significant number to us. When we were younger, she always used to stop everything and have us close our eyes and make a wish whenever the time was eleven, eleven.”
“Are you kidding?!” she asked, I was pretty sure rhetorically, as a wide smile spread on her face. “That’s crazy! What did you wish for?”
I sighed. “I wished that Peyton and I would get married, have kids. I wished for you.”
32
PEYTON
I checkedmy phone for the fiftieth time in the past two hours since school ended, and the kids went home. This was the second day that Maddox had been on total radio silence. The second day that Hannah’s mom had done both drop-off and pickup. Maybe I’d misjudged his reaction.
Or maybe, the more he thought about and processed what I’d done, the less forgiving he’d felt.
He had every right to be upset at me. I just wished he would tell me if he was. If I didn’t hear from him by tomorrow, I was going to text and ask how he was doing. I’d just check in casually and hope for the best.
The door to my classroom opened and my heart jumped, thinking it might be him.
When I looked up, my heart sank in disappointment.
Bianca stood in the doorway; her long hair pulled up in a messy bun that looked effortless, yet I’d never been able to pull off. “Hey, girl, we’re doing drinks Friday after work. You in?”
Friday. I mentally scrolled through the calendar in my brain. Nonna had mentioned she was going to be at Bay View Senior Center for an art class on Friday night. And no matter how the rest of the week went, I wasdefinitelygoing to need a drink.
“Yeah, sounds great!” My phone buzzed and hope sprang in my chest that the message was from Maddox.
“Cool beans! See ya!” Bianca waved and shut the door.
When the door shut, I grabbed my phone from my purse and saw the message was from Leo. After telling Nonna last night, I’d texted Leo to see if he was still awake since there is a three-hour time difference. He was just getting off a double and called me immediately. With a glass of wine in hand, I told him everything.
