Willa says nothing. Doesn’t answer. Doesn’t nod. She just walks around the counter toward me, the baby still in her arms.
I don’t have any experience with kids that little. Ronin had a nanny when he was really young, but once he hit preschool, my mom fired the nanny because she thought Keith was having an affair with her. That’s when Ronin and I started spending a lot more time together. Give me a three or four-year-old, and I’m all set. But kids this little? The not walking or talking kind? I’m lost.
I can’t even gauge how old she is, but her chubby little fingers are pulling on Willa’s hair. She’s tiny, but she’s got tons of dark hair—so much that it’s in a ponytail on top of her head. Willa’s standing in front of me, her pretty eyes blinking. The baby turns her head my way, brown eyes staring up at me.
No way.
No fucking way.
“Willa, whose baby is this?” I hear myself say the words.
“Knox, this is Rose.” Her voice is soft, calm, when I feel like my life is spinning out of control.
“Rose?”
“Rose,” she nods, “our daughter.”
I swear I black out for a second. My ears are ringing, and my vision blurs and I take a step back, nearly knocking a table over in the process. “What are you talking about?”
“This is Rose. Our little girl. She’s—”
“Our little girl? Why didn’t you tell me?” I can hear the panic in my voice, but I don’t stop it. I’m nearly losing my mind. How could she have my freaking kid and never tell me?
“What? Knox, I did tell you. You said—”
“No. No,” I shake my head and close my eyes, thinking that will make the madness go away. It doesn’t, of course. When I open my eyes again, Willa’s still staring at me in disbelief.
“I need to go,” I say, like a coward, and get the hell out of there. It’s not the right thing to do. It’s the wrong thing, no question, but panic has overtaken my body and everything in me is screaming to get the hell out of there. So that’s what I do. My head is spinning, and my hands are shaking, but I pull my phone out and send a text.
Knox: Get the hell home. And if you haven’t left, stay there.
Booker: What happened?
Whit: Everything ok?
Ty: I’m on my way.
Knox: I have a kid.
Chapter 12
Willa
I’m standingin the middle of the coffee shop, holding Rose and watching Knox walk away. I didn’t think my heart could break any more. I thought the pieces had already shattered beyond repair, but the sight of him retreating makes my chest ache.
Ian steps away from the counter and holds his hands out for Rose. She goes right to him, babbling and smiling, and I’m more grateful than ever to have him in our lives.
“You need to take the day? I can call Mel in—it’s no trouble. Or Theo and I can handle things. If you need to go talk to him, that’s fine.”
“Go talk to him? Are you crazy? He walked away.”
“I know. And it broke my heart to watch. But Willa, did you see the look on his face? Listen, like I told you last night, I’m not Knox Gallagher’s biggest fan, but the guy was in total shock. It was obvious he didn’t know about Rose.”
“How, Ian? How didn’t he know? I have the texts.” Rose is tugging on Ian’s glasses and dammit, tears are pooling in my eyes. Watching Knox leave was hard. It didn’t surprise me, but it hurt like hell.
I walk into the back room and shrug her into her little jacket and hat before buckling her into her car seat and snapping it into the stroller frame. I drape a blanket over her then pull on my own jacket before turning back to Ian. “I’m going to walk Rose over to the childcare center. Be back in fifteen, ok?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. Like, how can I go back to work, back to my normal routine after the scene that just occurred right here in Drip? But I have to. That’s how I’ve gotten this far. I just keep moving forward.
