Page 20 of Heartache & Playdates
“When was the last serious relationship you’ve had?”
“Twenty years ago.”
She tilted her head to the left. “Very funny.”
“I’m serious.” I held her gaze. She was the first and only serious relationship I’d had.
Her brows dipped causing a cute crease above her turned up nose. “You haven’t hadanyserious relationships in all that time?”
I knew that this was the time to tell her about Lizzy. She would probably read more into it than there was, but I needed to be honest with her.
“I have a daughter.”
Her eyes widened and, if I wasn’t mistaken, the color drained out of her skin.
“You do?”
Even if she’d read articles about me, or had checked my social media, she wouldn’t have known about Hannah. Lizzy and I agreed to do our best to keep her out of the press so she could have as normal a childhood as possible. Or as Lizzy liked to say, as normal a childhood as possible with a millionaire tech genius for a father.
I nodded. “She’s five. Hannah.”
She exhaled some of the color came back. “Oh.”
“Her mom, Lizzy, and I were casually dating for a few years. She got pregnant and wasn’t sure if it was mine or not. It was between me and another guy. Her plan was to take a DNA test after Hannah was born. I decided I didn’t want to miss out on any of it, just in case I was the dad. I’ve always wanted to be a dad.”
“I know.” She looked away from me, lifted her glass to her lips and drained it. “I remember.”
“Right.” I wasn’t sure if she was offended that I’d reminded her, but it was twenty years ago and I didn’t want to assume that. “Anyway, I took Lizzy to all her appointments, got her food that she was craving, and generally drove her crazy trying to make her stay off her feet and rest.”
Peyton smiled and I noticed that her eyes were watering, but she quickly sniffed back the emotion. “That’s…sweet.”
Was she crying because she was upset I had a child with someone else? No. That’s crazy.
I quickly dismissed that thought and continued, “When Hannah was born, we did a DNA test and it came back in my favor. I was the dad. It was one of the best days of my life. Lizzy and I are great friends, and kickass co-parents.”
“You two aren’t…together?”
“No. Strangely enough, once we found out she was pregnant, we never hooked up again. She reunited with her college sweetheart when Hannah was around a year old and the two of them got married six months later. I actually walked her down the aisle. Ryan’s a great guy. He’s a firefighter and was just in one of those calendars, you know the fundraiser ones. He loves Hannah and Lizzy. I never have to worry about them when he’s around.”
Peyton was smiling, and I could see that she was trying to be happy, but in her eyes there was sadness. “Do you have a picture of her? Of Hannah?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Her brow furrowed again. “Oh.”
“I’m kidding. I have like a thousand.” I pulled out my phone and opened the photos app.
I handed it to Peyton and watched as she scrolled through them. She gushed about how cute, adorable, sweet, and beautiful my little Peanut was. I might be biased but I wholeheartedly agreed.
There were a few videos in there. One was from Hannah’s fifth birthday of Ryan, Lizzy, and I all standing around Hannah singing.
“Is that Lizzy and…”
“Ryan, yeah.”
“She’s beautiful. And he’s really, really…good looking.”
I grabbed the phone. “That’s enough.”
