4. Jett

Chapter 4

I have officially gone into game time mode. It is essentially the only mode I can function in right now to not actively lose my fucking mind. A daughter. Who's four. With Wyla. And apparently, has been living in the same town as my sister this whole time, and none of us knew.

It took one look—one look at the little girl to be transported back to Anna as a kid. They look identical with the bright, curly blonde hair, the Ellison blue eyes, and freckles galore on her face. The only thing setting her apart are those dimples she got from her mother.

And damn it, if one of the main regrets of today's events is that I didn't get to see Wyla's. I've thought of her smile countless times. The way her dimples show and how she scrunches her nose—it's fucking adorable.

I head out the front door and text Anna to meet me back at the car. Walking out the door was fucking hard. I have a million and one thoughts bouncing around in my head, but right now, I'm repeating, I have a daughter. Who's four. With Wyla.

Wyla. The girl I've been hung up on for years. The girl I've been dreaming about finding, and now I have… with my daughter. My brain is fucking reeling.

Anna hops in the driver's seat and doesn't hesitate. "Explain what the hell just happened right now, Jett Ellison."

I don't want to sit here in their driveway hashing this out with my sister. "Just drive, Anna. I'll explain when we get back to your house."

"No, I want to know—"

"Damn it, Anna. I said I would explain later," I snap. I sigh when I realize how harsh that came off. "I'm sorry. Please, just let me have a few minutes to process this, and we can talk about it at your house."

Anna grumbles something under her breath, but I don't catch it, nor do I care.

I have a daughter. With Wyla.

Once we reach Anna's house we walk inside, and I immediately raid her fridge for anything that has any sort of percentage of alcohol. With this being Anna, my choices are Angry Orchard or White Claws, so I opt for the cider.

"Alright, we're here. Talk. Is she yours?" Anna asks bluntly. How have we not pieced this together before ?

"Yeah, she's mine," I say, and take a big swig of the hard cider.

Anna's mouth drops, then she goes to the fridge to pull out a White Claw and pops the tab of her seltzer.

I chug the rest of mine and set it down on the counter to grab another. "I have a daughter and she's four. We just left her fucking birthday party."

"Yeah, which I don't understand, by the way. Why did we leave? You better not be trying to skip out on her. Jett, I swear on all—"

"Hey, don't jump on my ass. How do you know Wyla didn't ask me to leave?" I swallow another swig, and I can feel it go all the way down.

"Because I know her," Anna huffs. "I know that whole family. I know for a fact Wyla wouldn't do that. So tell me why we left the party."

My anger is starting to bubble over at her accusations. Like I truly wanted to leave that party. No, but what was I supposed to do? I've been actively looking for this girl for years. Wanted her for just as long. And then add in the bomb that she's also the mother of my child… yeah, there was no way I was going to be able to keep my shit together the whole time. Kissing her on the forehead was a risk in itself, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to kiss her again the moment I saw her .

"If you know them so well, then how have you never connected the dots? The girl looks like your damn twin at that age."

"They never said your name, ever! What was I supposed to say, ‘Hey, this little girl has blonde hair like me. Is her dad named Jett by chance?' No, I assumed that she—like many other girls in the world—just happens to have curly blonde hair and blue eyes."

I groan and run my hands over my face. "I believe her, I do… but I have to ask, do you think there's any chance she's not mine?" I hate even asking that question, but it felt stupid not to.

"No," Anna says immediately, and I can't help but feel relieved. "If Wyla says she's yours, then I believe her. It's pretty common knowledge that she didn't know the father, and while Waverley never said your name, they were all confident it was the guy she met in Nashville. Plus, she never dates. Even before Stevie, I never knew of her to have a boyfriend at that time."

"And now? Does she date now?" This should not be my first question, but it is.

"No, not that I'm aware of. It's a pretty small town that likes to gossip, so I'm sure I would have heard about it." Anna takes a drink of her seltzer .

"What about some blonde-haired guy? Lanky? Something like Mack, or something with an M?" I really wasn't listening when Wyla introduced him to me, but I didn't miss the way he looked at her.

"Matt? Nah, they just work together." Anna shrugs, but it doesn't make me feel any better. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Fuck if I know. I told Wyla I would get her number from you and text her so she could call me once Stevie's party was over." I drain the last of the second cider and decide it's best to stop here. I'll need a clear head to talk.

Talk. Damn it. "What am I supposed to say to her?"

There are a million things I thought I'd say to Wyla if I found her again, but I did not expect this to be the situation.

"Well, what do you want out of this, J? I mean, you're only here for two weeks, and you're supposed to go back to Washington. Are you planning on playing again next season? I don't think Wyla would move away from her family, so would you just travel back and forth? If you needed to get some form of legal custody, we would have to call a lawyer—"

"Let's not talk about court and lawyers right now. I don't think my brain can process that. "

Anna sighs. "Jett, you have to think about this, I mean seriously think about it. I'm not saying court is the first and only option, but I'm saying it's a possibility. Do I think you and Wyla can come to a reasonable agreement that benefits Stevie? Yes, but you have to think it through. How are your agents, your coaches, your teammates going to respond to this? Are they going to support your extra travel? What if something happens and you need to leave in the middle of practice? Hell, a game! What—"

"Fuck, Anna. I don't know!"

Anna sighs and takes out her phone and in a second, my phone vibrates in my pocket. "I texted you Wyla's number. I'm gonna go grab us some lunch, and we can talk when I get back if you want, or you can stew over it yourself, but I'm starving."

"Here, take my card." I pull out my wallet and hand over my credit card.

"Gladly." She plucks the card from my hand and gives me a sorry-ass smile. "We'll figure it out," she says then walks out.

While Anna's gone, I draft and erase at least twenty messages to Wyla. Damn it, just send a message.

Hey, this is Jett. Call me when you can. I'm at Anna's, but I can meet you wherever.

After the nauseating feeling from hitting send, I start to pace in the kitchen. What am I going to say? How are we going to make this work? I want to see my daughter. Hell, I want Wyla and to be a part of both of their lives. But how do we do that? I live in quite possibly the furthest part of the country from here.

I constantly check my phone for responses from Wyla. Anna comes back after a half hour with takeout boxes in a bag. "I'm sure what I got from Ling's Palace isn't on your meal plan, but I think this situation calls for some Chinese food."

I check my phone again. Nothing. Fucking hell, this is torture. I don't know what time the party was supposed to end, so I really shouldn't panic yet. She'll call, she said she would.

Fuck, I feel like a teenager waiting for response from their crush.

I force myself to eat some of the food. The sweet and sour chicken looked too good to pass up. Anna tries to talk about anything else, but it's like a giant elephant in the room. It can't be ignored forever.

"So, thought about what you want to say?" Anna asks, closing up her empty box of food.

"I have had a million and one thoughts racing through my brain in the past hour and a half. I don't know exactly what to say, but I know I want to be a part of her life." I don't specify the her because it's both, but I don't want to get into all of that with Anna.

"Well, that's a good start. Just talk to Wyla. She's a good mom, J. You guys can figure something out." Anna gets up and takes the boxes to the trash.

"Yeah, if she would just call me…" I stop mid-sentence because my phone starts to ring, and Wyla's name flashes across the screen. "Fuck, it's her."

Anna nods and walks back to her room.

"Hey," I answer.

"Hey," she responds, and I can't help the tug at my lips at her voice. "I, um… we're finishing up here. Stevie is going to stay here at my parent's house for a couple of hours. Would you like to talk at my place?"

I frown. "Stevie's not going to be there?"

"Well, no. I kind of thought we could talk first, make somewhat of a plan. Talking while a four-year-old is around isn't exactly easy."

Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

Wyla sighs. "I'm sorry, Jett. I promise I'll introduce you two officially. I just thought we could make a plan first. I don't exactly know how to navigate this. So I may be doing this all wrong, but I'm— "

The pain in her voice kills me. "Wy, it's okay, I understand. What time?"

"Give me about half an hour and I'll be home. I'll text you my address."

"Okay, see you soon."

There's a pause on the other end. "Yeah, see you soon."

Exactly thirty minutes later, I'm standing outside of Wyla's house. It's a smaller than her parent's place. Based on the outside, I'd say there couldn't be more than two bedrooms inside. There's a small patio for a porch with a wooden swing hanging off to the side. The outside of the house is a light cream color, and the door is painted a burnt orange.

I stand staring at the door, trying to get the strength to knock. Images of the blonde little girl jumping into Wyla's arms flash into my head, and it sends my arm into action.

The minute it takes for Wyla to open the door feels like hours, but when she does, relief floods me. Wyla presses her lips together. "Come on in."

I step into her small living room, as she closes the door behind me. The room is a sea of pink. There are pink baskets full of babies, Barbies, and stuffed animals, a big doll house that looks homemade, and a mini pink princess chair. There's pink blankets and pillows on the couch, and a pink rug on the floor.

The inside seems to fit the thoughts I had from the outside. It's small but seems well lived in, and it's clean… it's a lot of pink. As I take it all in, I feel something wet on my hand. I look down as a German Shepherd licks my hand again.

"Oh, Poppy, go lay down. Go on, dog bed." Wyla snaps her fingers, and the dog follows her command walking over to the, you guessed it, pink dog bed. "Sorry, she's super friendly. If anything, she'll lick you to death."

"It's alright." I look at Wyla. I mean, really look at her. It's been years since I've seen her, and time has done nothing to diminish her beauty. Honestly, she's even more beautiful than I remember. She's still this petite brunette, but her hair is shorter. I remember having that hair wrapped around my fist for the majority of the night, but I think I like her short hair better. It's just above her shoulders, but still long enough I could still grab ahold of it.

Oh, bad thought, we aren't here for that. Despite how fucking awesome sex with her was, that's out of the picture right now. I need to focus on the having a daughter part first. Getting Wyla back is the immediate second part though.

Wyla clears her throat. "Want to sit?" I nod and follow her to the couch. "So, I'm sure you have a thousand questions. Why don't we start there?"

Thousand is low balling, I don't even really know where to start. "So, today's her birthday? Four, right?"

"Technically, it was Wednesday. She was born April 15th, but yes, she's four." Wyla's voice is steady, but she fidgets with the rings on her fingers.

April 15th. After double checking quick math in my head, that seems about right. "And all was good… when she was born?"

"Yeah, both of us were good. She came about a week early, but she was healthy, no big complications."

I just nod. I can't even begin to wrap my head around childbirth, but I know I hate the fact that I wasn't there for it. "I wish I could've been there," I whisper.

"Yeah… me too." Wyla stares down at her hands, as she continues to twist her rings. "Jett, I swear, I tried to find you. I begged the hotel to give me any information they had on you, but they said there weren't any Jetts in their system for that weekend. I went back to the bar we met at and waited for hours, staring at the door, praying you'd walk in. I didn't even know if you lived in Nashville, but I walked that city multiple times looking for you."

If she only knew how many times I'd done the same. "Yeah, I live in Seattle, technically." I sigh. She tried to find me. I believe she did, but I still feel like I've been betrayed. "Why'd you sneak out? That morning… why?"

She practically winces at the question. I want to take it back immediately, but I need to know.

"I don't know, I panicked. I don't do stuff like that. I don't do reckless or irresponsible things. Normal Wyla would have made you work for it and definitely would have gotten your full name and number first… but that night, I didn't want to be Normal Wyla. I wanted to be in the moment and have fun, but when the sun came up, the old me came back. We both agreed on it being a one-night stand. I assumed you would have been relieved to find me gone in the morning."

"Well, you know what they say about assuming." I don't know why I say it, but I guess my pride is hurt, because I did want her number the next morning. I wanted a lot more than her number. I still do.

"Jett." Wyla takes a deep breath, like she wants to say more but shakes her head. "It doesn't matter now. We can fight about what-ifs all day. It doesn't change the fact that we are here now. "

She's right, it won't change what happened.

"I get this is hard, but she's pretty amazing." Wyla smiles genuinely for the first time today. That nose scrunch smile will be the death of me, I'm sure. "I mean this in the nicest way, Jett, but what are you wanting?"

Isn't that the million-dollar question. Really, I want all of it. I'd love nothing more than to start seeing Wyla and see where the relationship would go, but I also know we don't really have the luxury of figuring this out light heartedly.

"I honestly don't know." I run my hands over my face. "I know I want to be a part of her life. I want some custody of her…" Panic erases her beautiful smile at the C word. "Hey, listen, I'm not taking her from you. We won't rush this. I'm going to be in Aster Creek for the next two weeks. I want to spend time with her, and then we can talk about how we want to move forward at the end. I also mean this as nice as possible, but she's mine too, Wyla."

"Okay, so, um… tomorrow. Why don't you meet us at my sister's coffee shop for breakfast, then we can spend the day together… take her to the park and do some things she likes to do." She swallows down her emotions the best she can, but a tear still manages to slip out .

My thumb swipes across her cheek without thinking about it, and she gives me a tight smile. "Do we tell her who I am?"

"Yeah." Wyla nods. "We can do that at breakfast. I can't say she'll call you dad, or know how she will react, but she deserves to know who you are just as much as you do."

A whole new level of anxiety takes over. Dad. I'm her dad. How is she going to take this?

"What have you told her about me?"

"Not much. She's asked about having a dad before, but she's also four. The first time she asked, I made this big thing about how you couldn't be here and stressed that you loved her no matter what, and she just shrugged and continued to play with her babies. She hasn't really asked since."

I nod, staring off at the ground. "Okay, so tomorrow, what time?"

"Nine-thirty. The store is in town, it's pretty easy to find since the town is small, but I'll text you the address."

I reach out and take her hand in mine. An emotion crosses her face that I can't quite decipher, but she doesn't pull away.

I look at Wyla's face. So much seems to be unsaid, but I don't want to push her too much.

"Okay… Wyla, I'm sorry I didn't tell you my full name or give you my number. I'm sorry you did this alone."

"I wasn't completely alone. I have a great family that helps a lot, but I appreciate that. I'm sorry I snuck out in the morning."

"It's okay." I admire Wyla so much in this moment. Family or not, I wasn't here, and I should have been. I know it's not her fault, but damn it, I would have been here had I known.

She breaks our gaze. "I should probably go get Stevie. We'll see you in the morning?"

"I'll be there."

Wyla walks me to the door, but she pauses before opening it. "Jett… I know we'll talk about the future more, but please don't let her get attached to you these next two weeks and disappear. I'm asking you if you show up tomorrow, you show up for the rest of her life. She deserves nothing less."

She looks off to the side, but I want her to look at me, and see that I'm serious when I say this. I cup her face, willing her to look at me. "I promise, Wy. I'll show up."