Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club #3) - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,18
nodded absently, but his eyes had a far-off look to them. “I guess that makes sense, then.”
Alexis tugged her eyebrows together. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I dug up his wedding announcement in an online newspaper archive.” Without meeting her gaze, he powered up his computer, hit a few keys, and then turned the computer around for her to see. On the screen was a black-and-white photo of a beaming bride and groom with their cheeks pressed together and their hands clasped at the chest.
The room spun in her peripheral vision as her eyes focused on the man. Was that him? Was that her father? The man her mother would never talk about, the man who’d never cared to know his own daughter, who’d abandoned her mother to raise a child all on her own? The image was too blurry for her to study the eyes enough to see if they were truly a match to her own, so instead Alexis tore her gaze to the words beneath the picture.
SAMMONS-VANDERPOOL
Andrew and Ellen Sammons of Redlands are proud to announce the wedding of their daughter, Lauren, to Elliott James Vanderpool of Santa Barbara on March 23. The couple were married at St. Francis Cathedral in Redlands followed by a reception at the historic Mission Inn in Riverside. The bride and groom met as students at UC Santa Barbara, where the groom earned his doctorate in aeronautical engineering and the bride earned a bachelor’s degree in education. The groom is employed as an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the bride is a kindergarten teacher. The couple honeymooned in Tuscany, Italy, and will reside in Pasadena.
She read it twice quickly and then a third time, pausing at key words and phrases that painted a picture in her mind. A picture of prosperity and privilege. Of security and stability. Of health and comfort.
Resentment churned in her stomach. Growing up, Alexis had never, not once, wished for more than she had. And even when she began to realize that they lived differently than other people, her mother had been enough.
But what if her mom hadn’t had to work so hard? What if she hadn’t had to go into debt so Alexis could go to college for a better life? What if they’d had adequate health insurance and her mother hadn’t been forced to spend her last few months worrying about leaving Alexis with unpaid bills?
A sour taste burned her tongue as she pushed the computer away. “I knew he was married. I don’t understand what this—”
“Look at the date, Lexa.”
Her eyes zeroed in on the date at the top of the page. April 3, 1989.
At first it meant nothing.
Until it meant everything.
That couldn’t be right. Alexis was born in April 1989.
Her gaze snapped back to Noah’s as an inexplicable emotion clogged her throat. “He’s not my father.”
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that.”
“Of course it does. How could he be my father? My mom would’ve had to have gotten pregnant while he was engaged.”
Noah gave her a look that managed to make her feel both naive and stupid. She shook her head. “No. My mom wouldn’t have had an affair with a man who was engaged to someone else. Not unless . . .”
“Unless what?”
“Maybe she didn’t know he was engaged. Maybe . . . maybe he was cheating on his fiancée and my mom didn’t know and when she told him she was pregnant, he broke up with her.” Her words tumbled out in a desperate rush of justifications. Anything to make this all make sense. Anything to answer the loudest question screaming in the back of her mind. Why?
Noah shut his laptop and leaned forward. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” His voice was calm, soothing. “The easiest way to find out if he’s truly your father is to get a blood test.”
He was right. Alexis nodded and looked at the twisted knot of her hands in her lap.
“Or . . . ,” Noah said.
“Or what?”
“Or you do nothing and tell them all to leave you alone.”
Her head snapped up. “I can’t do nothing!”
“You are under no obligation to get involved.”
“He’s dying, Noah.”
“Which you didn’t even know until yesterday. You didn’t even know about him until yesterday.”
“But now I do know.”
Noah sat up and shoved his fingers into his mop of curly hair to shove it back from his face. A vein pulsed at his temple, as if unspoken words were literally pounding to get out.