I waved my arms and yelled, but Jason was already driving away. There was nothing else for it. I dashed back inside, grabbed my keys and my coat, and got in my car.
I needed to know why Zoey had a positive pregnancy test in her backpack, and I was going to get answers, no matter what. Fifteen minutes later, I was a few cars behind Jason on the highway, wondering where on earth he was going. I kept waiting for him to turn off.
Instead, he headed back into the city. I followed him into a quiet suburban neighborhood. When he parked outside a modest craftsman house, I parked a few yards back.
Jason opened Zoey’s door, and she stepped out with all the enthusiasm of someone heading to an execution. Jason said something and placed his hand on her shoulder, steering her toward the house. But Jason unlocked the front door and guided her inside.
None of this made sense. Who lived here? Why had Jason lied?
Why did Zoey look like she was being dragged somewhere against her will? And how did that pregnancy test fit into all of this? I couldn’t sit there and try to make sense of it by myself.
I got out of my car and jogged across the street. “Rachel? What the hell—”
“This,” I said, holding up the pregnancy test.
“It fell out of Zoey’s backpack when you lifted it. A positive test.”
Jason’s jaw dropped, and the blood drained from his face. He looked at Zoey, who glanced between us like a cornered animal.
I moved toward Zoey, gentler now, and sat her down on the couch. Her lips trembled, and she was losing the battle to keep her tears in, but she didn’t speak. “Zoey—”
“It’s mine.”
The voice came from behind me.
I turned around so fast that I almost fell. A woman stepped into the living room from what looked like the kitchen. She was barefoot, wearing yoga pants and an oversized shirt.
Jason cleared his throat. “This is Sara. My, um.
My girlfriend. I’ve been meaning to tell you. It’s, um.
It’s still kind of new. Still figuring things out.”
I felt the anger start in my stomach and work its way up. “But you’ve been bringing Zoey here?
You didn’t think to mention that she’d be spending time with your girlfriend?”
“I wanted to wait until I knew it was serious,” Jason said. Jason’s attention snapped back to Sara. “I didn’t know… You’re really pregnant?”
Sara smiled, stepping closer to him.
“Really pregnant. Isn’t it great? You’re going to be a Dad.”
Jason smiled back, and he pulled her toward him, wrapping his arms around her.
That’s when Zoey stood up. “You’re already a Dad!” She yelled, her hands balling into fists. “Or do I not matter anymore?”
Jason moved to follow, but Sara’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm.
“Let her go.” She gestured to me. “Her mother should handle it. You need to start thinking about us: me and the baby.”
Jason pulled back like she’d burned him.
“She’s my daughter.”
“But you’re soon going to have another child,” Sara said, her voice a little sharper now. “You can’t keep living in your ex-wife’s back pocket. Or your daughter’s.
This is your real life now. You need to be here. With me.”
“Being pregnant doesn’t give you the right to pretend Jason only has one child,” I told Jason’s “not serious, yet pregnant” girlfriend.
“And it definitely doesn’t give you permission to push the other one out.”
Sara’s arms crossed over her chest. “Why don’t you go see what your child’s issue is and stay out of our business. I won’t tolerate an interfering ex, got it?”
I walked outside without another word.
Zoey was curled up on the porch steps, her arms wrapped around her knees. I sat down next to her, close enough to be reassuring but not so close that she might feel trapped. “Hey,” I said softly.
“You okay?”
I tried a different angle. “It must be scary, huh? Knowing that you’re going to be a big sister?”
My stomach twisted into a knot.
“Who said that?”
“Sara.” Zoey still wasn’t looking at me. “Dad left us alone to bond, or something. But she told me we didn’t need to get to know each other.
That she was starting her own family, and they’d move away soon.”
I felt the anger come back, hotter this time. “She said that to you?”
Zoey nodded. I wrapped my arm around her.
She leaned in immediately, like she’d been waiting for permission. Her whole body was shaking. “You should have told me what she said.”
“Sara said nobody would believe me,” Zoey said.
“She said that if I said anything to anyone, she’d just say I was lying. She said nobody will believe a child over an adult, and I’d just get in trouble for being bad.”
We both turned. Jason was standing on the porch, his face pale.
“Did she really say those things?” He edged closer, like he was afraid of startling Zoey. “And you didn’t tell me… because you thought you’d get in trouble for lying…”
Zoey shrugged, tears spilling down her cheeks. She couldn’t seem to stop them.
Jason’s face crumpled. He looked from Zoey to me, crushed under the weight of what Sara had done to his daughter. I didn’t soften.
“Well, she showed you who she really is now, Jason. It’s on you to do something about it.”
He kneeled beside Zoey. “You’re my daughter,” he said.
“No one — no one — can replace you. Never. I’m not going anywhere, and I wouldn’t give up my time with you for anything in the world, okay?”
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