Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“No, it’s not.”
I waited for further clarification, but none came.
“What?” I repeated, looking at the photo again.
“That’s my birth mother.”
“Lily isn’t your birth mother?” I asked skeptically as I moved toward him.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Why hadn’t I known that? Now I understood why the woman in the photo looked so familiar. She looked like Gray.
“Ma was still in high school when I was born,” he said as I leaned against the fridge at his elbow.
“Holy shit. Why didn’t I know that?”
“Not a secret.”
“But—” Thoughts whirled. “Where’s your mom?”
“Died when I was two,” Gray said, glancing my way.
“How?”
“Car accident,” he said, cracking eggs one-handed into the hot pan. “Some old man had a heart attack and T-boned Grandpa Casper when he was drivin’ her home one night.”
“Wait, back up.” I held up my hand. “Lily’s dad Casper was driving your birth mother around?”
Gray’s lips tipped up.
“So, your parents—Lily and Leo got together after you were born? I never would’ve guessed that.”
“Ma was off at school—”
“She went to Yale, right?”
Gray nodded. “When she heard Grandpa was in the hospital, she flew home. While she was here, she and my dad hooked back up.”
“Hooked back up?”
“They’d had something before my pop found out that I was on the way. Innocent, from the way they tell it, but everyone assumed once she was grown up, they’d be together. Sit.” He set a plate full of eggs and bacon at the dinette, then leaned down and pulled the box of random tools out from under it and set it out of the way.
“Thank you, this looks good.”
“Welcome,” he replied.
“Okay, back to your family history…”
Gray chuckled and cracked more eggs into the pan.
“Dad insisted that Ma go back and finish her degree. Ma refused. Unenrolled from school and moved back home to be with us. She finished at U of O.” He looked at me over his shoulder. “She always says that when she saw me, it was love at first sight. Couldn’t stand to be away.”
Ugh. My heart.
“I love that.” I took a bite of my bacon. “Quick turnover for your dad though.”
Gray choked.
“I mean, no judgment, but whew.”
“My dad and my birth mother weren’t together when she found out she was pregnant. They never got back together.”
“Oh,” I mused as he sat down across from me, his knees bracketing mine beneath the small table. “What was her name?”
“Ashley Phillips.”
“Ashley Phillips,” I murmured. “Cian’s aunt is named Ashley, too.”
“Pretty common name.”
“You were so little.”
“Don’t remember much about her,” he said as he dug into his food. “Certain smells remind me of her though.”
“Like what?”
“Tide laundry detergent. Fried chicken. A certain perfume. I don’t know the name of it, but every once in a while, I’ll walk past someone wearing it.”
“That sucks, Gray. I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is. Wish I could’ve known her better, but that wasn’t how it played out.”
“I’m still a little gobsmacked that Lily isn’t your mother.”
“She is in all the ways that count. She raised me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”
Gray waved it off.
“But, hey, you had two mothers who adored you. I didn’t even have one.”
“No?” he asked, his head tilting to the side in question.
“My mom took off when I was just a baby.” I shrugged. “Me and Dad did all right without her.”
“You ever try to find her?”
“She died when I was nine,” I replied. “Overdose, I think. I’m not actually sure. I just remember my dad sitting me down and letting me know. They never got divorced, so he was notified.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“Can’t miss something you never had.”
“Sure you can.”
“It is what it is,” I said, copying his words.
“Still shitty,” he said, leaning back in his seat. The inside of his thighs rubbed against the outside of mine as he shifted his legs. “My parents were real big on keeping Ashley’s memory alive. Kept pictures of her on the walls. Told stories. You have that?”
“Uh, no,” I replied uncomfortably. My dad hadn’t talked shit about my mom, he’d just never mentioned her at all. “I don’t think it was an amicable breakup, her leaving him with an infant and all.”
“That’s too bad. If he married her, there had to be shit about her that he’d loved at some point.”
“I think that was probably the issue.” I set my fork down carefully on my empty plate. “I think he probably always loved her, so that’s why he didn’t want to talk about her.”
Gray nodded. His phone vibrated on the counter, and he leaned across the walkway to grab it. After looking at it for a moment, his head lifted to look at me. “You tell anyone where you are?
“No, why?”
“Just got a text from Bas sayin’ they’re goin’ out lookin’ for you because you’re not answerin’ your phone, and your Tahoe’s been parked at the house all day.”