Chapter 29
When I looked at Ryan, I didn’t see my face. He looks like a male version of Marcia, which could mean
anything. I’m praying that Marcia is ying one of her dumb games, but if Jack put her up to this, I can
see that we’re not going to have his blessing when we get married.
I’vee inside of Cami unprotected. She could have my baby inside of her right now. I think about
having a family with her, maybe two or three kids running around my house. Kids with her hair and her
smile…
And none of that will happen if Marcia’s telling the truth. I know that Cami would stand by me and try
to take care of Ryan, but I can’t ask her to be a stepmother when she’s a little less than six years older
than him. Touching her proved that I am a selfish bastard, but I know that she deserves the carefree life
of a teenager, not the craziness that raising Ryan would bring.
Now I’m at theb. My heart is beating double time. With two cheek swabs, we can see which path my
life will go down. Happiness with Cami, a ring on her finger, a bunch of kids. Or taking care of a son I
never knew I had and losing Cami forever.
I take a deep breath, then I get out of the car. Time to face the music.
Lab Test
Lincoln
Dr. Mike is hanging around in the lobby. I know that his daily schedule is jam-packed, so it means a lot
to me that he’s here.
“You okay?”
I nod. I gesture towards Marcia and Ryan. Ryan is still ying his game. “They’re with me.”
I can see Dr. Mike’s eyes trail over Marcia. She’s a beautiful woman. Having a kid didn’t diminish her
physical attractiveness. But she’s like non-alcoholic beer for me now — theoretically, it could be good.
But it’s not. I watch him turn towards Ryan.
“He’s older than a lot of the kids we see in here.”
This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.
I shrug. “It’s a long story.”
“Come with me, please.” He brings us into a small room. There are two stic baggies with things that
look like long Q-tips in small stic vials. “Bal swabs are rtively painless. I’m just going to swab
the inside of your cheeks and then give the samples to theb. Link, you want to go first?”
“Yeah.” I sit down on a chair and open my mouth. He swabs the inside of my cheek and drops the long
Q-tip into the stic vial.
“One sample down, one sample to go.”
“Ryan, open your mouth.”
Without raising his eyes from his game, Ryan opens his mouth. It takes a second or two for Dr. Mike to
get the swab inside. He swabs the inside of Ryan’s cheek.
“Ow!”
“My apologies,” Dr. Mike says smoothly, putting the second sample in a clearly marked bag. “But it’s
over now.”
“It better be.” The anger in Ryan’s voice surprises me. The cheek swab wasn’t all that invasive, but
Ryan is acting like he had to get a shot or something. The game music is driving me crazy. At his age, I
yed some video games, but I also looked at doctors who were taking samples from me. Ryan is
supremely uninterested in anything around him, which concerns me. I’ll take care of it if he’s my kid.
“Could youe back in two hours? I’ll have the results then.”
“Sure.” I look at Marcia. “Do you want to get some ice cream?”
“Frozen yogurt.”
“There’s a ce across the street. It also serves coffee.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Something feels unsettled in the pit of my stomach. Marcia is trying to behave normally, but she’s
touching the back of her neck. Is this kid really mine or did Jack pay her to show up? Her story is a little
wild, but it is in line with what I know about her.
We walk across the street to the frozen yogurt café. There aren’t too many people there at this time of
day. Ryan finally pauses his game to get double chocte frozen yogurt. He dumps a ton of chocte
chips and Hershey’s chocte syrup on top. I get a little bit of strawberry frozen yogurt. Marcia gets
coconut surprise, whatever that is, with little bits of shaved coconut on top. I pay for the three of us.
As soon as we sit down, Ryan whips out his game. He’s ying one-handed as he shovels the
chocte monstrosity that he got into his mouth. Marcia and I are left to make awkward conversation.
“Why don’t you tell me about Ryan?”