Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Talk,” she said, as she grabbed a corkscrew from a kitchen drawer and opened a pinot noir. “What’s this emergency and whose dad did you bang?”
“You have to promise not to judge,” I said, taking three glasses down from a shelf and placing them on the counter by Winnie. “And Winifred, so help me God, you cannot breathe a word of this to anyone.”
“I won’t,” she said, offering me her pinkie. “Pinkie swear.”
I hooked my little finger to hers and looked her right in the eye. “Thank you. This cannot get out.”
Felicity switched my oven on and spun to face me. “I’m dying, Mills! What did you do?”
I backed up to the kitchen table and flattened my palms on its edge, bracing myself. “Okay. The guy I slept with in New York last month? The hot mysterious stranger who spanked me?”
“Yes?” Felicity and Winnie chorused, looking at me intently.
“Turns out, he’s Mason’s biological dad.”
Winnie’s jaw fell open.
Felicity’s eyes blinked behind her glasses. “What?”
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Winnie waved her hands in the air, as if she was erasing the words I’d just spoken. “Hot spanking stranger is Mason’s . . . dad?”
“Yes! Remember how I told you he never knew who his biological father was? Evidently—and I just found this out today—his mom wrote down the guy’s name in a letter that Mason discovered last summer while finally going through her things. He reached out.”
“Holy balls!” Winnie shrieked. “Talk about a plot twist!”
“How does he have a son that old?” Felicity asked.
I told them what I knew about the fateful few days Zach had spent in Frankenmuth.
“Frankenmuth,” Winnie tittered. “Who knew it was such a hotbed of sexual scandal?”
I glared at her. “Anyway, the girl—Mason’s mom, Andi—never told Zach she got pregnant. But it’s true.”
“Paternity test confirmed it?” Felicity asked.
I nodded. “Yep.”
“So when did you finally put it together?” Winnie wondered.
“Today at Mason and Lori’s rehearsal, when I walked into the lobby and Mason introduced me to him. I almost passed out.”
Both of them were silent a moment, and then Winnie turned around and poured three glasses of wine. Handing one to me, she said, “Here. You’ve earned this.”
“Thanks.” I took a hefty swallow. “It was so weird, you guys.”
“What happened next? Did you let on?” Felicity asked as she pulled a baguette from her bag and took out a cutting board.
“No. We covered.” I recounted the G-rated version of the story we’d told about how we met. “And I thought we did a good enough job, but later, after everyone else had gone on to dinner, Zach came into the bar—where I was applying vodka to the wound—and told me that Mason asked him if anything had happened between us.”
Winnie gasped. “How did he answer?”
“He said no! What could he say?” I tapped my chin in jest. “‘Hmm, actually, now that I think of it, I did bone your ex-girlfriend a few times at that hotel.’” I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “It’s just so weird.”
“But you didn’t know,” Felicity pointed out, slicing the baguette. “So it’s not like you did anything to be ashamed of.”
“I guess not.” I looked into my wine. “You guys, I need to get something out, but you can’t judge me.”
“No judging,” Winnie promised.
“He’s so hot,” I moaned, stretching out the word hot like melting mozzarella. “Like, so unbelievably hot. I don’t care whose dad he is, that man is smoking. Seeing him today was just like—” I searched for words to describe the feeling. “A punch in the gut. Or maybe in the lady bits. I have such a huge crush on him.”
“Why not invite him over?” Winnie asked.
I gaped at her. “I can’t do that!”
“Why not? You’re two single, consenting adults.” She paused. “Wait, he’s single, right?”
“As far as I know.”
“There, see?” She lifted her shoulders. “And what Mason doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Call him up.”
“No,” I said again, even though my body was begging for yes. “Zach doesn’t want to start building their relationship with a lie, and I don’t blame him. We had the one night together, and that’s all it will ever be.”
“But Millie,” Winnie pressed. “For once, you found a guy who’s not a lost puppy! What if this is it?”
My neck stretched forward. “Are you listening to yourself, Winifred? Are you picturing me sitting at the Thanksgiving table with two men I’ve slept with, and they’re father and son? Are you imagining the way everyone will be staring at me, wondering what happened to my sense of decency? Does Mason say, ‘Hey Mom, can you pass the turkey?’”
Both my sisters burst out laughing. “Yeah, I guess that won’t work,” Winnie admitted.
Felicity took a sip of her wine, then began brushing the slices of baguette with olive oil. “It’s just a bummer you had so much fun with him, and he’s here for the weekend and probably wishing he could see you again too.”