Love on the Lake (Lakeside 2)

She’s not angry. That much I can tell. It would be so much easier if she were. But the hurt that’s etched itself across her beautiful face makes me want to kick myself in the nuts.

Teagan has been nothing but patient and understanding. It’s been me putting labels on us, me pulling her closer and then taking a step back when it gets to be too much. She’s never pushed for more, for an explanation. Until now.

And she has every right to be upset and hurt. Because I’m the one who’s been holding back.

“It’s not what you think.”

“He looks exactly like you, Aaron.” It’s not an accusation. Just a simple statement of fact.

“I know.” I close my eyes and nod. When I open them again, I see her wary mistrust, and all I want to do is erase it. And my history. I want to be less messed up. I want to be the kind of guy she thinks I am, instead of the one I am. I open the door and step aside. “Come in and I’ll explain.”

It’s days like these that I wish I still drank, because I could sure use a stiff one now.

Teagan is careful not to make contact as she brushes by me. Jamie’s bin of crayons and his drawings are still on the kitchen table, which is exactly where Teagan’s eyes go. There’s no point in hiding them anymore, not now that I have to explain.

She takes a seat on the far end of the couch, and I give her the space she seems to need by sitting on the opposite end. The giant LEGO fighter plane Jamie and I built over the weekend is still sitting on the coffee table. I tried to convince him to take it home with him, but he was adamant that it stay here, with me.

“Jamie isn’t my son, he’s my nephew.” Might as well lay the truth out there. This is the easy part, anyway.

Her brow furrows. “I thought you were an only child. That’s what you led me to believe.”

I nod. She’s not wrong. I did lead her to believe that, and for all but a handful of years, I also believed it to be true. “I’m sure you’ve heard some stories about how my mom raised me on her own.”

“Dillion may have said something about that, yes.”

“My mom had an affair with a married man.”

“From the other side of the lake?” she asks.

“Yeah. She used to clean the houses over there. I guess she got all starry eyed over him, and she was a bit of a sad story. Young woman from a poor family, trying to find a way to make ends meet. Man in an unhappy marriage. You see where this is going.”

“She ended up pregnant.”

“Exactly. The story I got was that she told him she wanted to keep the baby and he ended up staying with his wife.”

“But that wasn’t the truth?”

“It was and wasn’t. There are always two sides.” I lift my ball cap and flip it between my hands to give me something else to focus on while I get the story out. “When I was applying to colleges, my counsellor suggested I try Notre Dame because I had a 4.0 GPA and got a high SAT score and they have a great football team, so maybe I’d get a scholarship or something. I figured it was worth a shot.”

“You got in.”

“I did. But tuition was expensive. I’d been working since I was fourteen, and even with my savings and scholarships, I could barely afford one year, let alone four. But my mom, oh man, she was determined to make that dream a reality. She wanted me to have all the opportunities she didn’t.”

“Did she contact your dad?”

“Yup. He was a doctor. Is still a doctor. Makes lots of money and could afford to help out, but I didn’t just want his money, I wanted to meet him. And tell him he was an asshole for bailing on us and leaving my mom to do it all on her own.”

Her expression softens as the puzzle of my past starts to come together for her. “And did you get to do that?”

“Oh yeah, and I made a huge ass out of myself, because I found out that he’d wanted to have a role in my life the entire time, but my mom cut him out.” Not that I blame my mom. She was scared and alone, and he had money and a family. “I also found out that his wife had gotten pregnant a few months before my mom did, so not only did I have a dad who wanted to be part of my life, but I also had a half brother. At first I didn’t believe him—I mean, why should I take his word over my mom’s, right? I figured I’d be fine with taking his money and telling him to fuck the hell off.”