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The crafty smile on Mom’s face made it abundantly clear that she’d somehow gotten wind of the news.

Veronica! There was only one person who could’ve told her.

Mom clutched her purse eagerly, the excited expression on her face making her seem like she might burst where she stood.

I had to get her out of there, and fast. A quick check of my watch revealed that it was a little after four. I always made sure to keep the last hour of work open for whatever little things might come up. In this case, I was going to need to use that free time to get Mom away from my staff before she spilled the beans about Maddie.

“Nothing,” I said, keeping my voice nice and calm. “Mom, why don’t I take the rest of the day off and we can discuss whatever’s on your mind outside, hm?”

Mom pursed her lips hard, the eagerness on her face like nothing I'd ever seen before.

“Sure, sure. Of course.”

I turned to Olivia. “For the next hour, send any of my calls to my cell. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Disappointment flashed on her face. She wasn’t happy at all to be kept out of the loop.

“Oh, fine. Have a good day Dr. V. and you, too, Karen.”

Relief washed over me as we stepped out into the hallway, and then to the elevator. Thankfully, we were the only people inside, because Mom wasn’t going to be able to hold it in any longer.

“You’re a father!” Mom dropped her purse the instant the doors shut, throwing her arms around my shoulders and pulling me into a tight hug. “You’re a father!”

“Alright, alright.” I hugged her back, then let her go. “You know, when I told Veronica about this, I was very clear to point out that I didn’t know for sure. What if I would’ve found out that she wasn't mine?”

“That’s not the case, though, is it?” Mom said with an eager grin. “And I had a feeling. Moms always have feelings.” She let out a squeal, doing a little dance with her hands curled up into fists around her head. “I can’t believe it! I really, really can’t believe that my little boy is finally a dad!”

“I’m not happy about this, you know,” I said as the elevator went down. “This was supposed to be top-secret stuff until I’d found out for sure.”

“Oh, I'm sure you had your little plans. You’re just like your father, which means that you probably have some list at home written in very neat handwriting of all the things you need to do before you share news. Like I

have time for any of that when there’s a little girl out there waiting for me to dote on her.”

“You’re going to have to wait a little longer,” I said, leading Mom through the lobby of the downtown office building where my practice was located. “Because Piper and I haven’t even started talking about how this is all going to shake out.”

“Piper? That’s her name? Oh, that’s so cute.”

I placed my hand on the small of Mom’s back, opening one of the tall, glass doors that led out onto the bustling street. Relief washed over me as soon as we were outside, away from the gossip-hungry staff.

“Mom, I love you, but do I really need to tell you that it’s not OK to barge into my office and spill what might possibly be the biggest news of my life?”

“Oh, I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“You were thirty seconds, tops, away from telling Olivia at the front desk.”

“I was teasing. There’s a huge difference, you know.” “You wanted to tell her, that’s for damn sure.” “Maybe I did! Come on, Val, this is huge news!”

I stepped aside, leaning against the building. The sky was beginning to darken, appearing to promise summer showers.

“Alright. Is that all you came here for?”

Mom narrowed her brow and shook her head. “Now, now, is that any way to talk to the grandmother of your little girl? I wanted to share in the happiness with you, Val! Is that so wrong?” Before I had a chance to respond, she raised her finger. “Oh! I would like you to come out to dinner with your father and me tonight. You know, since you skipped out on dinner last night.”

“There was a reason for that, you know. I had dinner last night with Piper.”

“Yes, I know. But while I can keep a secret from those cute girls at your office, there’s no way I’m going to be able to hide it from your father, nor should I. He has a right to know, and if you don’t want to break the news to him tonight, I'm going to tell him.”

I sighed. “Dinner tonight? Yeah, I think I can manage that. Just need to get home and do a little planning for the rest of the week.”

“Wonderful. God, I can’t wait to see the look on your father’s face when

he hears the news. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to it, Val.” Mom opened her arms and pulled me into a tight hug. As miffed as I was that Mom had come by the office like that and almost blabbed the news, I knew there was no way I could stay upset with her. At the end of the day, she was a grandmother who was thrilled to meet her adorable little granddaughter.

“Love you, Mom.”

“Love you, too. Oh, I can’t wait to meet Maddie. And Piper!”

She planted a kiss on my cheek before heading off, waving at me one last time over her shoulder before melting into the crowd of pedestrians making their way down the sidewalk.

“Hey, Valentino!”

I didn’t get a chance to collect myself before I heard someone calling my name.

I turned to see a short, slender woman in her early thirties, with shoulder- length brown hair parted down the middle that framed a long, pretty face of plump red lips, big green eyes, and a tiny nose with a small curve to it. She was strikingly pretty, but I wasn’t concerned about any of that—her vague familiarity was of greater interest.

I watched as she walked toward me, pushing a baby stroller.

“Hey!” she waved once more, an extremely eager wave accompanied by an excited expression. “Val! It’s me!” As she raised her hand, I spotted something along her wrist—an intricate tattoo of a flower, the petals a dark purple.

It suddenly hit me who it was. Her name was Ashley, a woman who I'd gone on a few dates with a year or so ago. My stomach tensed as the memories came rushing back. We’d only seen each other a few times, eventually sleeping together.

I’d been fine with the sex at first. Ashley had seemed nice, after all, and we’d hit it off in a way that I hadn’t with a woman since Piper. Something changed after we’d slept together, however, like a switch had been flipped. She'd become strange, possessive and insistent. It wasn’t long after she’d shown her true colors that I'd broken it off with her, which was news she hadn’t taken well at all.

“Oh, hey!” I said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm despite already feeling on edge. “Ashley!”

Her eyes lit up at the sound of her name. “Oh my God! I’m surprised you remember me.”

“How could I not?”

She leaned in and grinned. “Well, we did have something, didn’t we?”

I forced a chuckle. My mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of Piper and Maddie that I had zero space left to think about anything else. Truth be told, I already wanted the conversation to be over.

“So, what’s up?” I asked. I craned my neck to get a glance at the kid. As awkward as the situation might’ve been, it was impossible not to notice that the little baby, looking around six months old, was as adorable as they came. He clearly took after his mom when it came to his green eyes. His hair was much darker than Ashley’s, however.

“You’re looking at him!” she said. “Valentino, meet Gage.” I chuckled. “Gage, cute name. Pretty adorable kid.”

Gage cooed, reaching out to me with tiny hands. “How old?” I asked.

“Just turned five months,” she said.

I took my eyes away from Gage and brought them back to Ashley. “Well, congrats.” I nearly said something about how we’d both recently become parents, but I kept that to myself. Something told me that it was a good idea to keep personal details like that hidden from her. “He’s a gorgeous kid.”

She beamed. “Thanks. My life’s been kind of crazy, but all it takes is one look in his eyes to know that not all my decisions were bad ones.”

I nodded politely.

“You’re looking good, Valentino,” she said with a smile. “Haven’t aged a day.”

“Yeah, same to you.”

The comment was intended to be perfunctory and polite, but you wouldn’t know that by the way she smiled.

“Thanks! Trying to work off that post-baby weight, doing Pilates and stuff, you know?”

I was beginning to get a tad uncomfortable. The longer the conversation went on, the more it seemed like there was something that Ashley was hiding, something she was waiting for the right moment to say.

Awkward silence fell between us. “Well, I was just seeing my mom off,” I said. “Better get back in there, you know?”

Disappointment flashed on her face for a quick second before the smile returned.

“Um, sure. It was good to see you!”

“Yeah, you too.” I looked down at the baby who stared up at me. “It was nice to meet you, handsome guy.”

Ashley seemed to like this. “He’s happy to meet you, too!”

I smiled, nodding politely before turning and heading back into the office. Ashley stood outside for a few moments longer, as if trying to figure out if she should follow me in.

It was strange.

Finally, she took hold of the stroller’s handles and pushed, vanishing into the crowd. I gave it a good ten minutes, wanting to make sure she was gone, before heading out and hurrying into the parking garage.

The encounter had left an odd taste in my mouth, along with the question of why this woman had found her way back into my life after so much time had passed.