When Mia, a world-famous pop star, turns up on Tyler Sullivan's door to announce she's pregnant from a one-night stand, they agree to hide the pregnancy so Tyler can raise the baby alone.
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Despite fame and fortune, Mia...
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Mia's car sped off out of the plaza, and Tyler let the door click shut. Before turning to face Danai, he gathered his thoughts. He couldn't meet her kids tonight if he was going to keep that appointment with Mia tomorrow.
"I'm going to have to cancel tonight," he said as he turned around.
"Oh." Danai's face puckered with concern. "An emergency?"
"Yeah, family. I'm really sorry."
Danai waved him off. "No, no. You gotta take care of your family first. Your mom, or Maggie, or Emily?"
Tyler wandered behind the store's counter, hoping something other than a lie would pop into his mind. He couldn't tell her about Mia for more reasons than Mia's privacy. Already he was second guessing going along with her plan without asking more questions.
Pregnant. With his child.
Of course, he'd been in enough long-term relationships to think about having kids. With a few of those women, he would have been happy if they'd come to him pregnant from a birth control malfunction. But Mia being pregnant? So young, so different from the women he normally dated? This pregnancy didn't feel like a happy accident but instead a dreadful consequence from thinking with his dick instead of his brain.
"Emily," he said when he realized Danai was still waiting for a response. "It's just a lot, you know, with Omar and now my dad." Inside, he cringed. She'd kill him for using her to lie to Danai. Especially since he couldn't tell her why he'd lied. But he couldn't have them meeting in passing and Danai mentioning this conversation.
"I can't even imagine." Danai rubbed Tyler's shoulder. "We can do it another night. Don't even give it a second thought. I hadn't told my kids, anyway."
He nodded but couldn't meet her concerned gaze.
"I just stopped by to say hi and to say I was looking forward to tonight." She laughed and checked her watch. "I have a class in half an hour. Maybe we can get together tomorrow night instead? The kids are with their dad."
"Yeah," Tyler agreed. He wasn't sure how he'd feel tomorrow. Right now, his mind was a spiraling buffering or a failed to load notification flashing across his consciousness. The encounter with Mia wasn't processing properly. He didn't think tomorrow's events were likely to change that feeling.
His phone buzzed in his hand. With a frown, he read Mia's message. Jesus. Already it was a fucking drama-fest.
Don't come. You seem happy. I'll be fine. You're not getting the clinic info.
He pushed his phone into his back pocket, his jaw clenched. Why didn't he ask what hotel she was staying at? If she was still in Little Falls, the list was pretty short. But if she was on her way to NY City, there was no way he'd find her.
"Everything okay?" Danai asked.
"I need to get going." He grabbed his coat off the rack behind the counter. "I'll walk you out."
