Page 89 of Heartache & Playdates
I looked down at the evidence on my finger and in my hands.
Had he given me flowers again?
How many times did I have to tell him I wasn’t a flowers girl?
I knew that I should go after him and give the ring back, but my feet weren’t moving. I blinked and Bianca was in front of me. “Who was that?”
“Um…”
“Let me see the ring!” Bianca pulled my hand as the table exploded with questions.
I was going to answer them all, but first I announced, “I need another drink.”
37
MADDOX
“Are you sure about this?”Lina asked beside me as we drove to Lizzy and Ryan’s house.
I’d told Lizzy about Lina last night when I dropped Hannah off, and she felt that even though there’d been a lot of news for our daughter it was not something we should keep from her and we should tell her right away.
So we did.
The first thing Hannah said was that she wanted to meet her. So, I texted Lina and asked if that was something she’d be interested in. She’d immediately texted me back "yes," but now it seemed she was feeling uncertain.
“I am, are you?” I threw the question back to her.
“Are you kidding? I’msoexcited! I’ve always wanted a little sister.”
Hearing Lina call Hannah her sister was a stick of love dynamite that caused my heart to explode.
Lina turned toward me. “Wait, she does know that I’m your…”
“Daughter, yes. She knows.”
“How did she take it?”
“She’s so excited! She was a little confused about why I didn’t know about you before, so Lizzy and I explained adoption and being a biological parent. Luckily, Kenny, a boy in her class, was adopted and had brought a book for show and tell, so she was familiar with the concept. Although, she keeps calling me your bionic dad, which Lizzy finds hilarious.”
Lina chuckled. “That is pretty cute.”
“How did dinner go with Peyton?”
I hadn’t messaged Peyton to ask because I wanted to give her space and not make her feel like I had to be involved in her relationship with Lina. I was trying to respect her boundaries. When Alex pointed out that this had been just hers for so long and now it wasn’t, I realized I needed to tread carefully.
“Great!” Lina beamed. “She’s not at all what I’d pictured her being like, but she’s so sweet.”
That’s so funny. That’s the same thing that Lizzy had said about Peyton.
“What did you picture her being like?”
“I don’t know. My mom said that the adoption agency had told her that she was the daughter of some big shot guy in the government who was rich and powerful and so I guess I thought she would be…I don’t know, not so down to earth.”
“Did you ever wonder what I was like?”
Her eyes widened and she pushed her glasses up on her face. “Are you kidding me? All the time.”
“And?” I asked as we made our way across the city in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
