One Kiss (One Kiss Book 1)

41. Past

Drew

The smell that greeted us inside the apartment was a mix of smelly feet and expired food. I resisted the urge to close my nostrils with my fingers. Can someone open the window at least? I have a feeling the window has not been opened in years.

We sit down on a patched, brown couch. Ashley and Haley look around the room, taking in our surrounding, just like I did.

Raymond looks at Haley. "I'm sorry about your mother. I really am."

Haley snaps her head toward him. "What happened? Between you and my mother?" She does not beat around the bush. "The truth."

He nods before he replies. "We had an argument and it was nota light one. I borrowed some money and I couldn't repay that money. Iris was furious when she found out. The men I borrowed money from were looking for me and, for your safety, I decided it was best to fake my own death and leave for good."

"Did mom know about the fake death?"

"No, she did not."

"And you never thought of visiting for me after all these years?" Haley looks even more hurt by this.

"I thought you'd be safe as long as I kept my distance." He seems to be telling the truth. That was what Haley wanted. But the truth is hurting her.

"What about Mona? Did you know you had another daughter?"

"What?" He looks shocked at this news. "Who's Mona."

"She told me she's your daughter and that you were with her mother before you met mom."

"Emily had a daughter?" He almost whispers the words.

"So you didn't know?" Haley sounds surprised.

"No. We divorced ten months before I married your mother. We never spoke after the divorce and she never contacted me to tell me she had a daughter."

"Well, she had a daughter and she gave her your last name. She is the one who told me about you leaving her to start a new family with mom."

"I promise you I had no idea."

I step into the conversation. "Will you be willing to do a DNA test to confirm she's your daughter." This is why we are really here after all. I know Haley wanted to meet him but the DNA test is very important.

"Yes, of course."

That was easy.

"Under one condition though." He pauses and worries his bottom lip between his teeth. He looks at Haley. "I will not go back to Denver or anywhere else. I have to stay in Portland. To be exact, I have to stay in my apartment." He pulls up the hem of his jeans to show us his ankle bracelet. This means only one thing - he is under house arrest.

My mother speaks for the first time since we got here. "What did you do?" She looks worried. I am too but I do my best to disguise it.

Raymond sighs before he replies. "I was broke - still am actually. I needed money desperately. So  I started stealing. I couldn't pay my rent and the landlord almost got me evicted. Honestly, I wouldn't mind going to jail because at least I'll have a roof over my head and food to eat. The only thing that scares me is the other prisoners. No one sticks up for anybody in there. Thankfully my lawyer was good enough that I got house arrest for two months instead of six months in prison. Last time I went to prison I got beaten up pretty bad. I even considered suicide to get out of that place."

I glance at Haley to find tears running down her cheeks. My mother looks skeptical. I have no idea what to believe. He seems to be telling the truth and he does not have a reason to lie to us.

"Why didn't you try to get a job like everyone else?" I ask him.

"No one wanted to employ me with my criminal history. Once you're labeled as a criminal no one will want to employ you."

"I'm really sorry," Haley says in a broken voice.

Haley asks him how he gets food if he cannot leave the apartment and he says his neighbor helps him out a lot. After that we make a plan to have a cheek swab at his apartment and we will go back to him with the results. He agrees. Well, he does not have much choice. My mother offers our phone number in case he needs anything but he declines because he does not own a phone. This man is definitely broke. I can imagine how Haley must be feeling right now to see her father - whom she believed was dead - in such a miserable state. My heart cracks and I feel the aching result. She stays silent the whole way back home.