Page 56 of Acceptance
“Condoms are only ninety-eight percent effective.” She stares out the sliding door, unsure why she sounds like she’s reading a pamphlet they hand out at the free clinic. “How’d she get your DNA?”
His head turns to her. “What?”
“To do the test. How’d she get your DNA? Did you know she thought the kid could be yours and gave her a sample without telling me?”
“What? No! I… I don’t know how she got it.”
“So, maybe it’s fake?”
It’s dangerous to feel this hope. Every time Hailey hopes for anything, it disappears, but she can’t help it. If there’s even a small chance that Gavin isn’t having a baby with someone other than her, she has to cling to it.
“I’ll call her,” he says and puts his phone on speaker.
“Hello?”
“How’d you get my DNA to do the paternity test?” Gavin barks.
The waitress sighs into the phone. “I have a master key to your building. I used to sleep with one of the maintenance guys, and he gave me a copy because we’d hook up in empty apartments.”
“You broke into my apartment?”
“I swapped out your toothbrush to get your DNA.”
There’s really no reason for her to lie about this. Especially because she knows the locks will have to be changed on every apartment. The baby’s his.
“I want to do my own test,” he says. “I want to see the results myself.”
“I’ll call my doctor and set up an appointment.”
He hangs up, and Hailey can’t move. She knew better than to hope, but she couldn’t help it.
“Hailey—”
She holds a hand up. “I… Don’t.”
“I love you.” He stands and walks towards her. “I just got you. Really got you, and I don’t want to lose you.”
Tears sting her eyes, and she blinks. “Gavin…”
“Don’t tell me you’re leaving me. Hailey—”
“I need some time to process this. I have to go.”
“Baby, please,” he says, but she can’t look at him. The way his voice breaks hurts even more. She can tell he’s on the verge of tears himself, and if she sees him crying, she can’t hold hers back. “Please… I love you.”
Licking her lips, Hailey opens the apartment door. “I love you, too, but this… You’re having a baby with someone who isn’t me, Gavin.”
“At least tell me what you’re feeling right now. Mad? Pissed? Sick?”
“That last one. I don’t have a right to be angry.”
He reaches out and takes her hand as she steps into the hallway. “You do have a right to be mad.”
“No,” she says and shakes her head. “I don’t. I just need… time.”
“Promise me that you’ll talk to me when you’ve taken some time to process this. Please don’t just leave and never come back.”
His fear is more than warranted. “I promise I’m not running away. This is just… really big, and I don’t know exactly how I feel right now. You’re having a baby… with the waitress… and I’m finding it really difficult to breathe.”
