Tequila Rose (Tequila Rose #1) - Willow Winters Page 0,58

it, I suppose. Although if anyone asks, I’ll tell them it’s allergies. After all, the seasons are changing.

My phone pings from where it’s plugged in on the kitchen counter and after rinsing the spoon I used to stir in the creamer, I read my friend Autumn’s text about a playdate this weekend.

Playdate at the library? It’s 9 am on Saturday.

There’s a reading group where the kids play in their section and then Mrs. Harding reads classics to them while they sit cross-legged.

Yes, perfect. I’ll see you there.

Bridget loves Henry and Chase. The three of them are as thick as thieves although they’re two years older than her.

I stare at my phone, wondering who I can talk to about the one thing that’s been on my mind since I laid eyes on Brody. A paternity test. I don’t know a soul who’s ever needed one in this town … I don’t feel comfortable asking my doctor either. She’s Robert’s neighbor and I remember the look she gave me when I stared back at her in disbelief that I was pregnant.

There’s no way in hell I’d ask that woman for a paternity test. Patient confidentiality my ass; you can read what that woman is thinking with every expression she makes. The hmms of confirmation and raised eyebrows add to silent conversations I know she has.

I’m certain I can buy one online. You can get anything and everything online nowadays. Away from prying eyes.

Glancing down, I realize my texts are opened up to the ones between Robert and me. The last few are innocent messages. Telling me he knows the gala will be amazing. That he’s ordered specific champagne for the politicians he’s invited to the event so he can rub elbows with them.

With a numbing prick in my hand, I can’t text him that I’m going to get a test. The chill runs from the tip of my fingers all the way to my heart.

When I told him about the pregnancy years ago, he was happy. He was genuinely happy. Until I told him about Brody.

It’s complicated is … such an underused statement.

Picking at my nails I decide I’ll order the test, Brody will want to take it and that’s all I need really. With the realization that I’ll know definitively who the father is, I try to swallow but my throat is tight. Opening up the cabinet drawer, I take out the Advil, listening to the bottle rattle and take out three. I down them with my coffee before ordering the test on my phone once and for all.

I didn’t ask Brody to stay last night, but I also didn’t ask him to leave. And he stayed.

That is my plan in all of this, even if it feels like it’s tearing me up on the inside. I won’t ever ask a man to stay, but I can’t imagine ever asking either of the two of them to leave.

“Mommy, are you okay?” Bridget’s voice surprises me from behind and I’m quick to turn around and smile. Her little baby voice is full of worry until I boop her on her nose and tell her good morning.

“Mommy’s allergies are acting up this morning,” I say, lying to her and scrunch my nose.

She makes a sniffling sound while pulling at the hem of her Paw Patrol pink nightgown and climbing onto her seat for breakfast.

With my back to her, I pull myself together and get out a bowl and Cheerios before she even has a chance to tell me she wants cereal for breakfast. I already know she does. My girl loves her milk.

Me with my coffee and her with her cereal, we sit at the table like we do every morning, but today is so much different.

“Mommy loves you more than anyone, you know that, right?” I ask her and she doesn’t bother looking up as she slurps her milk and nods at the same time. I tell her, “More than anyone in the whole wide world, I love you the most.”

Brody

Charlie’s is never empty. That’s one thing I have learned about this small town. And the two roast beef sandwiches I’m waiting on are one of the many reasons why. I don’t know who Charlie is, but the restaurant in his name makes a damn good meal.

Even from the patio, I can faintly hear the sounds of power saws from down the street. That would be the granite counter being fitted for the bar tops. Griffin and I decided this morning that