“I do.”
“Then doesn’t she deserve the truth and a chance to make the decision with you?”
“No. Sometimes lies save people a lot of pain. You knew, and it made it harder for you t
o move on. What if I told her and let her be part of the decision, and she convinced me to get tested. What if it’s positive and she won’t leave me, and then she has to watch me suffer and die at forty?”
“What if it’s negative and you’ve missed a lifetime with Natalia?”
I blew out a deep breath. “It’s too big a chance to take. She’s got history. You don’t understand. Every man has let her down in her life. I can’t do that to her—be another man who disappoints her.”
She caught my eyes. “Sounds like you already are, Hunter.”
***
The car was waiting again when we returned to Jayce’s grave almost a half hour later. Summer motioned to her husband to let him know everything was okay and held up two fingers.
“I gotta go. We have a doctor’s appointment in a little while. But I’m really glad I ran into you.” She gave me a hug and took two steps toward her car before turning to walk backwards. “Truth or dare. Come on, one last time.”
I shook my head. “I’m not giving your pregnant ass a chance to pick dare.”
“Fine,” she said. “But only because I’m pregnant. Not because I’ve lost my balls. I’ll pick truth.”
I chuckled and thought of a question. “Do you want a boy or a girl? And you can’t say you want a healthy baby, because we’re playing a serious game here.”
Summer rubbed her belly. “If I could pick the sex, I’d pick a girl. But I’ll take a healthy baby of any sex.”
“That’s fair.”
“Your turn. Truth or dare?”
“Since you picked truth, you know I have to pick dare.”
It dawned on me that this had been her plan all along.
“Go after the woman you love, let her be part of your life, and actually live for a change.”
***
“You look like shit.”
“That’s a nice way to answer the door.” I brushed past Derek and plopped down on his couch. We’d made plans to play racquetball tonight, yet he was still in a suit. “I didn’t realize there was a dress code.”
“Wasn’t talking about your clothes. You look like hell. Have you slept lately?”
I hadn’t, because the world was out to get me. In the last few days, I’d met Summer at my brother’s grave where I’d gotten a lecture. Then I’d flipped on the news to be slapped in the face by a story about the upcoming early release of Natalia’s asshole ex-husband, and finally, this afternoon I went to throw on some jeans that were back from the laundry and found a lacy red G-string of Natalia’s in the laundry bag.
I’d forgotten I’d found it under the bed when I double-checked the sublet before I left. I’d stuffed it into my suitcase while I was packing and then scooped the contents of my suitcase into a laundry bag when I returned home. The panty find had brought me a momentary rush of excitement, until I realized I’d washed them and could no longer smell her, no matter how hard I tried.
“Just busy at work,” I lied.
Derek shook his head. “So full of shit. Whatever. You can try to fool everyone around you, but you can’t fool yourself, jackass. I’m going to get changed.”
While he was changing, Anna came in the front door with the baby. She held her finger to her lips, motioning for me to keep quiet as she tiptoed past with the baby sleeping in her arms. She disappeared into Caroline’s room and came out with a monitor a minute later.
“Sorry. She was a little fussy, so I took her for a walk and just got her to go down for a nap. I didn’t want to wake her.”
“How’s my little peanut doing?”