Chapter 39: Thirty-Nine

Sydney

“Celine, I kind of have a three year old child…”

“Oh, I’m sorry? You think this is inappropriate? Sydney can you hear yourself? You just casually mentioned that you have a child!” She screamed, something clattering on her end. “When did this happen? How? Sydney the last time we spoke you were… and oh God! How?”

I shrugged, trying to keep my voice calm. “We adopted him.” My hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel mostly because I knew Celine had this same reaction in the past and I had not listened to her. “Eric had been looking into adoption. We went to meet Miles today and…” I trailed off. How the hell does anyone explain something like this? “Well, here we are.”

“Here you are?” Celine balked.

“Yes.”

“Sydney…” I heard the sound of a door closing. “Syd, this is insane. Eric is insane. Did you do the background checks on the child? When were the home studies? How long have you been planning this?”

I let out a sigh and took the exit towards Manhattan. “Relax, Celine. I know how adoption is supposed to work and we’ve done all that’s required.”

The lie came out a little too smoothly but it didn’t matter because Celine would keep losing her shit anyway.

“Syd, I swear, you know that Eric is manipulating you. I know he’s pressured you into this but for peace’s sake…”

My chest tightened and I zoned out for a moment. In my first life, Celine had seen through Eric from the beginning. She’d warned me and we even had a huge fight about it three months before Dad died.

She had done it this same way and told me Eric was just using me. Of course, I thought she was being unrealistic and just didn’t understand Eric.

By the time I realized she had been right, it was too late. I was about to die and we weren’t good friends anymore. How the hell do I let her know that I know what I’m doing this time?

“He didn’t pressure me.” I sighed which was technically true. I mean he had manipulated everything but at the end of the day, I was the one who made the final decision. “I made the choice, Celine.”

“You made the choice.” She repeated sarcastically. “The same way you made the choice to let his family treat you like garbage every freaking time?”

My jaw clenched. “Celine, that’s not fair…”

“Isn’t it?” She balked, her voice rising. “The last time we spoke, you said you were done Syd! That you were going to divorce him and you’ve finally seen him for the jerk he was! And now you’re adopting a child with him? How the hell does that make any sense?”

My fingers tightened on the wheel. “Celine, the truth is, I still need more to get Eric and I’m just playing along…”

“You’re playing house with him Syd!” She screamed. “You’re bringing another innocent child into whatever this is and that’s exactly what he wants. He wants to trap you and give you a child and you’ll forget about the divorce.”

I scoffed. If only she knew. “I know what I’m doing. Trust me.”

“That’s what you said when I first told you he was a psycho.”

The words felt like a slap. I let out a breath my hands shaking slightly. I glanced at the rearview mirror and Miles was almost done with his cube. He didn’t deserve to be a pawn in this game.

“I’m handling it, okay? Just trust me” I sighed in exhaustion. “Why’d you call?”

She paused and finally let out a sigh. “I just don’t want him to hurt you Syd, that’s all.”

“He won’t.” I took a deep breath.

Things were different now. I was different now.

“I hope so.” Her voice softened. “I closed a major client. I was celebrating and wanted to ask if you’d want to hang out tonight but now that you have a kid….” She trailed off.

I glanced at Miles. He didn’t even seem like he was paying attention to whatever shit I was saying. I might as well have been negotiating his return to the orphanage and he wouldn’t care.

“Nonsense.” I smiled, turning to the road.

“What?”

“I’ll be there. Eric left me to go do some work. He said he’d be home in time for dinner. I’ll hand over the kid and come to you.”

She went silent for another minute and I couldn’t help chuckling. “Told you, I was fine.”

I adjusted my dress, scanning the restaurant. It was a fancy place. Chandeliers were hanging from the ceilings, art on the walls, and velvet covered chairs and tables. My phone beeped and I pulled it from my gold bag.

Eric.

Syd. I’ll need you to really focus on our family. We need to talk when you get back.

I scoffed, shoving it back into my purse. I had given Miles some food and the minute Eric walked through the door, I told him I was leaving to hang out with Celine.

He did his usual moaning. He whined about how he’d just gotten home and we should have had dinner together as a family and when that didn’t work, he tried to guilt trip me about how tired he was and how I could handle putting Miles to bed.

That didn’t work either. I left him yapping, grabbed my coat and bag, and drove off. If he thought he could spin me into some sort of housewife, he was in for the shock of his life.

Celine was sitting at a corner booth. She was wearing some sort of orange dress that flaunted her boobs from this angle and chunky turquoise jewelry that only led right to the line between her breasts.

She had her auburn curls piled up at the top of her head, some strands framing her face. Her head snapped up, her brown eyes lighting up as she saw me.

She stood up, a huge smile on her face.

“You crazy woman. I can’t believe you actually left the kid with Eric.” She pulled me into a hug, filling my nose with her jasmine scented perfume. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

I chuckled, hugging her back, feeling a little at ease for the first time all day. “Eric needed to learn to take care of his own child.”

She pulled back, raising an eyebrow. “His own child? Not our child?”

My heart skipped a beat.