“Do you really think she’s the love of my life?”

“You’re the only one that can answer that, brother bear. All I know is…everyone and their mother tried to separate you two. You’ve had the weight of the world stacked against you both since the very beginning. Yet here you are, living in the same town, both parents to the same little girl. I don’t know of a bigger, brighter arrow than that.”

“Do you think we can overcome this?”

“Overcome what? The massive amounts of miscommunication between you both? Sounds like you’re already wading through it, finding out the truth behind it all. And it’s only been a week.”

“What do you think Mom and Dad will say?”

She laughed and gave me a sympathetic smile. “They’re totally gonna kick your ass. You told them you never slept with her. Kinda hard to explain that one now, huh?”

“Yeah…” I ran my hands through my hair, feeling completely deflated.

“Any way she’s not yours?”

Her question caused my head to snap up, and I glared at her. “Maybe. I don’t know. I have zero doubt, if that’s what you’re asking. But I didn’t ask for a paternity test or anything. She doesn’t exactly look just like me, but if you take me and Bree, smash us together and shrink it…you have Ayla. Her skin is a little lighter than mine, but a little darker than Bree’s. Her eyes are bluish-green, like if you’d mix my color with hers. I mean, she’s such an even mix that without looking, you wouldn’t be able to tell who she belongs to. But if you pick her features apart, you can clearly see where they come from. And I swear, she has some of my mannerisms that I thought was odd when I saw them, but never thought to question it.”

“Like what?”

“We were sitting in the hall one day, and she had her legs crossed like me. I thought she was just mimicking me, but now that I look back, I doubt she even knew what she was doing.”

“I’m going to ask a very personal question, and I only want the straight answer. No details. Got it?” she asked, and I nodded even though I knew what she was going to say. “Did you wrap it up with her?”

“Yes. I swear it. That’s the reason why I never really thought Ayla was mine. I mean, I know condoms aren’t foolproof, but I at least assumed I would’ve known if there was an issue with it.”

“I said no details. But thanks,” she said sarcastically, turning her back to me so she could start cleaning the dishes she had used for prepping dinner. “But keep in mind, Axel, all it takes is one tiny hole in the rubber to make it ineffective.”

I knew she’d gone to the sink to keep her back to me for this conversation, which I was totally fine with. I didn’t necessarily want to look her in the eye while talking about sex, either. “But wouldn’t I know? I mean, I certainly didn’t stab my condoms with a pin.”

“No…and I would hope you wouldn’t do that. But if you carried them in your wallet, imagine all the things that could’ve poked it. Not to mention, they do expire. Maybe it was old and you didn’t know. Maybe while putting it on, it got snagged on your zipper or something.” She spun around with wide eyes. “Okay, enough talking about this. All you need to know is that there are plenty of reasons why it could’ve failed. You slept with her—probably not the best idea given she was a minor and your student—and now you have to live with the consequences of what happened. And what happened after that was she got pregnant and had to raise the kid for the last five years all on her own. And you can’t fault her for not confessing that to you the second you popped back up in her life. Now…are you staying for dinner or not?”

Tracii had a special way of making it known when she was done with a conversation. It wasn’t always subtle. In fact, it was rarely subtle. But despite her borderline rude attitude, she was genuinely a good person. And that was why I ended up at her house when I was too lost to know where to go.

For the remainder of the week, I struggled with my emotions. I’d be fine, going about my day like normal, and then get an urge to call Bree. I didn’t know what I wanted to tell her, or why I even wanted to call, but I’d literally have to make myself do something else to keep my fingers from dialing her number.

Ayla had come to class every day, clearly oblivious to our connection. I didn’t even have to ask to know that her mother hadn’t told her anything about me. And that only made me want to reach out more, asking Bree if she had given it any thought at all. I wanted to believe that she had, and that her decision would be in my favor, but I couldn’t help the worry that possessed me at the thought of her keeping Ayla from me.

By Friday, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. But instead of calling Bree, knowing that wouldn’t end well, I decided to call my parents. They lived four hours away, so I couldn’t very well just stop in and talk to them face to face. A phone call was my only option.

My mom answered the phone, giving me her usual update on life and the happenings around them, but once she finished filling me in, I asked that she get Dad on the phone, as well. That’s when she turned quiet, and I knew she could tell something big was about to happen.

“I just want to start off by saying I’m fine. My job is going good and no one is dying,” I said after my dad picked up the line, hoping to calm some of their worry. “But I do have some big news I wanted to share with you guys, and I don’t know how you’re going to take it. Bree—the student from years ago that I had the relationship with—lives here. Before you say anything, I had no idea before I moved here. In fact, we’ve been living in the same town for six months, and we never realized it until two weeks ago.”

“Just spit it out, Axel,” my dad said harshly, not one to deal with stalling.

“Well, we ran into each other, and it turns out I’m subbing for her daughter’s class. I didn’t know she had a daughter until then.” I paused, finding my courage to continue with what I had to say. “I know I told you guys that we were never intimate, but I was too scared to tell you the truth.”

Silence filled my ear.

“I found out that she’s also my daughter. Bree and I have a child together,” I said through a tight throat, nearly choking on my words.

“So you slept with a student? Your student?” my mom asked angrily.

“It wasn’t like that. We shared a connection…a life-altering connection. We were only intimate one time, at the very end. And it was real, for both of us. It’s not like we snuck around all the time or that I took advantage of her. It was a very personal moment for us both.”

“A very personal moment that probably destroyed the poor girl’s life. A very personal moment that nearly destroyed your life. Or have you already forgotten that? Have you already forgotten that your moment of weakness, and her betrayal, caused you to lose your job with the high school? That it caused you to drown yourself in bottle after bottle of alcohol?”

Luckily, my dad interrupted and urged my mom to calm down. He didn’t speak into the phone, but I could hear his even mumble through the line, and knew what he’d done. He’d given me a moment to compose myself, and offered my mom a chance to breathe properly.

“No, Mom. I didn’t destroy her life. As strange as it sounds, it actually played a really big part in saving her life. It got her away from her mother, and back into her father’s life. She’s very different now than she was back then. And she says it’s because of Ayla.”

“Ayla? That’s her name?” My mom’s voice sounded broken, heavy with emotion at the mention of her granddaughter’s name. “Is she a Taylor?”

“Her name is McKayla, but no, she’s not a Taylor. Bree didn’t give her my last name out of fear I’d get in trouble. But I’m working on that. If I have my way, she will be a Taylor.”