Chapter 35
Remington
My world is literally crashing down around me, and I don't know what to do. If aliens suddenly appeared in my office, I wouldn’t be shocked.
Such is the undeniable and almost unbelievable world I currently find myself in.
An acrid smell of burned buttery popcorn fills the air, and I remind myself to tell HR to ban staff from making popcorn in the office.
“That’s not going to fix your issues,” I mutter, as if giving myself a pep talk is going to help extricate me from the deep, dark trench I now find myself in.
I'm attempting to pretend that everything in my life is the same, but it’s not really working.
Even though I had Juniper send flowers to multiple random women, the joy was no longer there.
I’d even felt that my teasing and joking around with her had felt off.
Everything that has been constant in my life is changing, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
I open the email from DNA TESTS FOR ALL one more time and stare at the screen. The results were in. I was the father.
I am the father.
Fuck.
I am a father.
A daddy.
My sperm went swimming and jumped into a rocket.
"How on earth did this happen?" I mutter to myself as I shake my head. Quick flashes of hot sex cross my mind, and I groan. Okay, so I knew how it happened.
“I’m a dad.” I sound out the foreign words and shudder.
“I’m a dad to a seven-year-old girl. A seven-year-old.
I don’t even know anything about kids, and I certainly don't know how to be a dad to a seven-year-old who can talk, walk, eat, spit, and tell me that they hate me all at the same time.
" I take a deep breath and reach for my phone and call Kingston. I’m not sure who else to unburden myself on.
The gravity of the situation is hitting me like a ton of bricks.
“Hey, what’s going on?” He sounds casual, like he doesn't realize my world is ending.
“Everything and nothing.”
"Remy, what's going on? You okay?" he asks. “You sound weird.”
"Not much going on here. Just in the office, doing some work and going through some emails."
"Good, good. You want to tell me about a case, or what?"
No, dipshit.
"I'm the dad," I say, letting it out dramatically, like I was Shylock on a stage at the Globe.
"I see.” He pauses. “But you kind of knew that, right?"
"She said I was the dad, but I didn't officially know."
"But didn't you have..."
"Okay, so I did three other blood tests and all of them said I'm the dad. I guess now that I have another test, I have to face it. It’s super official. I’m a father.” A motherfucking father. It should be illegal.
“And that makes you excited, right?"
"Does it sound like it makes me excited? Does it sound like it makes me ecstatic and over the moon?"
"I mean, I wouldn't say that exactly, but you don’t know just—"
"What am I going to do? My whole life plan has centered around me being a bachelor for life. Now, I have a kid." I groan loudly. “A seven-year-old kid.”
"Your kid has a name," he says, sarcastically.
"I don't even want to think about the name. Right now, it's an it to me."
"But your daughter is not an it."
"But nothing, Kingston. If I think about the fact that I made a human being that is real, and it’s a little girl, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown."
"Did you have a nervous breakdown when you were having sex?" he says slyly. And I glare into the phone as he chuckles.
"I do not need your jokes right now, Kingston."
"I'm just saying that what's done is done, and now you need to step up as a man and take care of your little girl. By the way, Skye wanted me to tell you that she's open for babysitting anytime you need some help."
“That’s very generous of her. Tell her I said thank you," I say, closing my eyes. "Can she move in with me for a few months and be—”
“Very funny.” His voice is gruff. “Skye is being generous and sweet, but don’t start getting any ideas.”
“I’m not getting any ideas. Keep your panties on.
You know what? I’ve got to go. I'll talk to you later.
" I hang up before he can say anything else.
I jump up and pace back and forth in the office.
I stare at the legal files on my desk, the law books on the bookshelf next to the desk, my Harvard undergrad and law school diplomas, and I just shake my head.
I'm screwed, I think to myself. I am screwed. I have a little girl.
I pause as I say the words out loud. “I have a little girl.”
My stomach drops.
I have a daughter. I was the last person who should be a father to a little girl. A seven-year-old little girl named Canyon.
Canyon Parker. I lick my dry lips nervously as I think about meeting her.
Will she like me? Will I like her? I know absolutely nothing about kids. Do I need to buy her a bunch of Barbies? Or puppies?
My throat feels raw, and my face is hot. There’s a tenseness in my shoulders that I haven’t felt in years. I run my fingers back and forth across the table, allowing my fingertips to caress the grain of the solid wood.
“You have no more excuses, Remy,” I tell myself as I grab my phone and make the call I’ve been dreading for the last couple of weeks. Perspiration beads up on my forehead as I listen to it ringing. Maybe the number will be disconnected and all of this is a bad dream.
“Hello.” There’s a soft, stilted voice on the other end. “Remington?”
"Hey, Karen," I say and close my eyes. Darkness envelops me, and I can hear the sound of the desktop purring.
"I was wondering when you'd call."
"Sorry about the delay. I was just—"
"You were just freaking out because I told you you have a daughter?" she says, and I let out a deep sigh.
"You have to admit you just sprung this on me. You could have prepared me. You waited years to let me know."
"Really? I wasn't even going to tell you now, Remington. I knew how you would react. We had a one-night stand. I knew you didn't want anything serious and that you wouldn't want to know that you got me pregnant."
"You don't know that."
"You slept with my roommate the following week. You ended the longest friendship I’ve ever had."
"I didn't realize that she was your best—"
"Yes, you did. You met her at my apartment," she snaps.
“I’m sorry. That was a dick move.”
“Yep, it was. It really was.”
“So, how is Sunshine doing?" There's silence on the other side of the phone. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the ex best friend.
"Really, Remington?"
"Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have asked."
"Her name wasn't Sunshine. It was Sun Valley."
"Oh, yeah," I say. "Sorry." Like it really matters.
"It's fine. You only slept with her once, too."
"You know, I am not proud of the man that I was. I..."
"Are you saying you're a better man now?" she asks. “Are you saying that you’re engaged or married to a wonderful woman and you’re not playing the field anymore?”
I press my lips together to stop myself from scoffing.
“So, how do we want to navigate this?" I decide to change the subject. It’s quite obvious to me that Karen and I will not become best friends. “What is it you want exactly?”
“What does that mean, Remington? It’s not about me. It’s about your daughter. Which you know is yours, after all the tests…”
"Obviously, I'll pay child support. Do you need back child support? Is there an account I can transfer money into to catch up on—"
"I need you to take her for the next couple of months."
“What?” I shout.
“I said, I need you to take her for—”
“Karen, let’s be reasonable here. I can’t—”
“She’s your child. You haven’t even met her. You owe me, and you owe her.”
"Sorry, what?" That is not what I'd expected to hear. Is Karen crazy?
"I need you to take her for the next couple of months."
"Like every other weekend, you mean?" I clear my throat. “Maybe not this weekend, but the weekend after. Or if we could wait a few months and then—”
“No, I don’t think you understand. I need you to have full custody.” She has a no-nonsense tone, which is opposite to the happy squeals I remember from the night we met and fucked in the alleyway behind the bar we’d met in.
“But she’s never met me before. She can’t just live with me.”
“That is true, she hasn’t met you before.
However, as her father, she can live with you and get to know you.
I’ve had a detective do some research on you.
” She pauses. “He says you’re a good guy.
A workaholic and a bit of a ladies man, but no red flags.
You're her father, and she's been asking about you, and, well, an opportunity has come up, and I'd like to take it. "
"What opportunity has come up that would make you abandon your daughter?"
"You don't get to talk to me in that judgmental tone, Remington. I'm not abandoning her. It's a work opportunity."
"And what is this work opportunity?"
"I'm going to be a magician's assistant."
"What?" This has got to be a joke. "Did you just say a magician's assistant?" Disbelief drips from my tone. I had to be hallucinating. There was just no way I heard her correctly.
"Yes. His name is The Great Budini."
"Houdini, you mean?" If she’s working with a descendant of the great Houdini, I suppose I can respect that. I’d take off a few weeks of work to study under an illusionist related to the greatest that ever lived.
"No, obviously he's not Houdini. His name is Budini, but I think he's going to have to change it to Budino because people keep comparing him to—"
"Budini, hmm.” I cut her off, my tone impatient. No longer impressed. “And you’re his assistant?"
"Yes, I am. He just got some gigs in Southeast Asia, and he asked me to go with him. This could be a really great career opportunity for me. You do remember how much I said I wanted to get into the magic world." She pauses. "Who am I kidding? You obviously don't remember anything about me."