We ended up avoiding any further serious conversation, and danced and laughed the rest of the night.
All the way up until we landed between the sheets . . . my legs twisted with Aston’s, his lips hard on mine, his tongue working its way inside my mouth. Our hearts beat a furious rhythm, in sync, like our hips as we moved together as one.
Later, when Aston snored softly into the pillow, I left. Ran with my tail tucked between my legs, back home to a hot shower and a sleepless night.
We hadn’t used protection. He must have assumed I was still on the pill, but I wasn’t. I’d had some weird hormonal surge recently, and my doctor had told me to take a break. Mostly, I was panicked over catching a disease. I was sure Aston had been sleeping around, and I didn’t need that kind of complication. I had a boyfriend.
After a few weeks of worrying, I went to the doctor for a round of STD tests and a checkup. I was ecstatic when the nurse called to say the results were clean, and I almost hung up as she was saying, “One more thing, though . . .”
It had been the same day Seth had asked me to move in with him, and I thought, I have two things to celebrate. Until I heard, “Good news, you’re pregnant.”
That’s when I committed my biggest sin and told Seth we were having a baby.
Being a nice guy back then, Seth asked me to marry him, and I said yes. He hadn’t been ready for kids. Or taking on a woman in love with someone else.
He tried, though.
Bexley
Present day
“Mom, who was that man we saw today? Aston?” Piper asked later when we were alone in the kitchen.
Good thing I was wearing long sleeves, despite the Nevada heat, because goose bumps broke out all over my arms, and probably red blotches too.
“I knew him when Milly and I worked at the country club. He lived on the golf course. Remember I told you I worked in the snack shack? We made a lot of money that summer.”
“Oh. He looked kind of familiar . . .”
Like every time you look in the mirror?
“I don’t know why. I haven’t seen him in a long time. Since Milly got married,” I said, trying as usual to be as honest as possible when it came to my kids.
“Hmm? Maybe at the club when we’ve gone with Aunt Milly?”
“Maybe that’s it.”
I tried to avoid going to the club, and on the few occasions Milly dragged me, she assured me Aston wouldn’t be there. Now that I knew he knew about Piper, I wasn’t so sure he hadn’t been lurking somewhere in the corner. If it were me, I would have been.
“I have to go read for English,” Piper said. “God, I can’t stand this book. Blah, blah. I wish we could read The Fault in Our Stars.”
And just like that, the conversation was over. Piper jumped down from the counter where she’d been sitting and grabbed an apple.
“Probably because I’m the only seventh-grade parent who would approve that book.”
“Oh, Mom, stop it.”
She walked out of the kitchen, and I finally took a moment alone with my phone.
aston: Text me as soon as you’re free and tell me what happened.
aston: Bexley, I’m not joking.
aston: Either text me back or I’m coming over.
The last text had come in fifteen minutes earlier, and I decided it was time to answer Aston before he stormed through my front door and tore apart my carefully constructed life.
bexley: Take a chill pill. My kids are older, they’re around. This is my first free moment. I’m fine. Nothing happened.
The little bubble filled with dots appeared, and I decided a glass of wine was in order. I wasn’t sure of too much, but there was no way Aston was letting me off scot-free tonight.
As I stuck the cork back in the bottle, my phone beeped again.
aston: Yeah, older. Let’s discuss that, shall we? Do you want to come clean?
bexley: For obvious reasons, I kept things to myself. I understand you’ve been snooping, so I don’t have to say much. You know.
I gulped my wine, not able to down it fast enough.
aston: I understand. But my understanding is over. I’ll have my lawyer draw up some papers for your ex, thanking him for what he did, but having him relinquish all ties.
Oh boy.
It didn’t take Seth long to figure out what had happened. As Piper got older, she looked exactly like Aston. Seth only had to see Aston once to assume, and the appendix surgery made it official. One look at our blood types, and it was clear we weren’t her biological parents. At least, Seth wasn’t.
Once again, being the bigger guy, he forgave me and never spoke of it again. When Tyler was born, I believed I’d redeemed myself. I’d given Seth a boy.
After the split, he stayed close with Piper. He knew he couldn’t be upset with her. She was an innocent party in all of this.
Picking up my phone, I walked out the back door and toward the carport.
Aston picked up on the first ring. “Don’t think you’re changing my mind on anything. I’ve been nice and stayed quiet. I let that ass raise my daughter because it was what you wanted or needed. Now I’m done. Especially after today.”
“Well, hello to you too, Aston.” Leaning my head back, I rolled my neck and closed my eyes.
“Cut it out, Bexley. I gave you plenty of latitude when it came to this. But she’s mine. Look at her . . . Christ. She’s mine, and I’ve missed all of it,” he growled through the line.
“You didn’t want me.” A tear rolled down my cheek, and I swiped it away while trying to keep my wineglass steady in my hand. “How could you want her if you didn’t want me? You had a plan, needed to get that business
