Chapter 5

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COLTON

Thursday

He was pretty sure he was dreaming when he peered through the peephole of the front door and saw Eris standing there, sopping wet, in the middle of a thunderstorm. She had something wadded up and bundled on her shoulders, and he fully expected her to say, ‘Here – you forgot this!' and shove it at him before leaving him once again.

What he never expected was to see his own eyes staring back at him. He had a son – and she never told him. That much he was able to piece together but everything else in his brain was a scattered mess.

If someone was able to take a peek inside his head, they would be shocked. It had to be every single coherent thought was now its own little minion in his head, screaming frantically and running around with their hands up in the air. Oh, and the imaginary floor in his mind was swallowing them whole like a bad case of hungry, hungry hippos. Every time they took a bite – then they were on fire… while spitting fire. There was item after item, thought after thought, popping up in his brain randomly… like little flames dancing. Yeah, every thought in his head was literally screaming… with lots of mental fires to put out.

Not. Good.

"So… hey," Colton said numbly as they stood there looking at each other, shutting the front door. "You've got a kid now." He could practically see her face shutter in that second as she took a deep breath and started to crumble before him. "I didn't mean anything bad, but rather, I'm acknowledging there is a short male version of… um, yeah… well, me, right there in your arms."

"His name is Zane."

"Zannnneee…?" he drawled expectantly, waving his hand. "Zane what?"

"Zane Fischer Landry…" she whispered, looking away.

"Oh."

He nearly doubled over at the immense cramp that hit his gut at that moment as he realized she didn't put him on the birth certificate. Did she hate him so very much? If so, then why was she here?

"Who's… ah," he cleared his throat and hesitated. "I bet you're cold and him, too. Um, do you want to borrow a shirt, or do you have stuff in your car that you need me to get?"

"Colton, my apartment burned to the ground yesterday," she began in a warbling voice that told him she was really close to bawling hysterically.

He nodded, stepping forward awkwardly, and hugged her lightly. It was like hugging a corpse – cold and stiff because neither ended things on good terms. It wasn't like she was running here to resolve things. She'd just had her life turned upside down and had nowhere to turn to – and flinched again.

He was convenient.

She was desperate.

"Sorry," he apologized immediately and looked at Zane, unsure what to say or do around a kid. "How old…?"

"Three."

He nodded. Yep. That was his child because it would be four years since she broke his heart on April 1st. He'd been the biggest fool, and that was a reminder every single year.

"Let me get you a T-shirt and some running pants. Um, can I get him a shirt or something… I mean, he's gonna be swimming in it," Colton chuckled nervously, looking at the boy.

"Please," she whispered.

"Do you want something to drink or eat? Is he hungry?"

"I think we're just exhausted, and I really don't need my sunroof dripping on me when I sleep," she said quietly. "Look, if I'm bothering you – I could just borrow your dryer or…"

"You're not bothering me," he replied. "Make yourself at home and let me have your car keys. I'll pull it into the garage so you don't have a small lake inside your vehicle."

Surprisingly, she handed him her car keys and whispered, ‘thank you' before sitting down on the edge of the couch… and then standing up again nervously. She was antsy and he couldn't blame her either. She was about to have to deal with this one way or another - with him.

He disappeared into his bedroom and winced at the mess where he'd kicked his clothes near the hamper. His closet door was open, revealing his shoes just tossed inside. Grabbing two T-shirts and a pair of pants for her, he returned to the living room to see her yawning.

"Eris, go change…" he said quietly, pointing at the bedroom. "Go change and lie down with Zane."

"I'll take the couch," she replied nervously, glancing at him in surprise.

"I can take the couch if it bothers you, but we're adults, and it's nearly two in the morning. I'm exhausted. We've got a lot to talk about, and the world's best contraception is sleeping between us."

"That's why I didn't tell you," she snapped, frustration lacing her words and immediately protective.

"I'm talking about him watching," he hissed, reacting to her tone. "Quit assuming the worst about me. I just want to sleep for a bit and then guzzle a pot of coffee in the morning while we eat and talk. Okay?"

To his relief, Eris nodded and looked away, reaching for the clothing.

"Nothing is childproofed, so please watch him," he warned… "I'll be right back."

"Colton?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you – for everything."

He nodded and yanked open the front door, grimacing at the cold rain pelting down. There were soggy puddles in the yard that he could easily see with the flashes of lightning in the distance. What a miserable evening. A soggy bone-chilling downpour and a heck of a surprise, multiplied by two, he thought as he ran barefoot across the grass. Quickly darting into her little car, he winced as he sat in a very wet driver's seat that squished audibly under his butt cheek.

"Ughhh…"

Starting her car, he saw that her airbag light turned on, and she was almost out of gas. Flipping on the wipers, he couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh as the driver's side wiper arm moved but the passenger side didn't.

"Jeez, Eris… you seriously need someone to take care of you," he muttered and then surprisingly realized he was glad she'd turned to him. Yeah, it might not be the greatest hello or reunion, but at least there was a chance to talk about things.

"And I have a son?" he whispered aloud to himself, pulling into the driveway around his truck and into the garage before turning off the car. Yep. They were going to have a very long talk tomorrow – and he wanted that birth certificate corrected immediately.

"Zane Fischer… Fischer? She gave him my surname as his middle name? Yeahhhh, we've gotta fix that too," he chuckled, getting out of the car and pulling his sopping wet shorts from his cheek where they stuck to him.

Lots of things were about to get corrected.