Begin Again by Evan Grace Read Free Book Online

or never.
    “Hey , y’all. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
    “What is it , honey? Is everything okay? You’re not sick, are you?” Leave it to his mom to think worst case scenario.
    “I’m fine, Mom. I’m not sick. I’m just going to start from the beginning. When you guys sent me to Florida for those two weeks when I first got home, I met someone. We spent the entire two weeks together. She was funny, smart, and so damn beautiful, but she was also eleven years younger than me. Anyhow, the night we met I was attracted to her, but for all I knew, she could’ve been a psycho, so I gave her a false last name.”
    “Oh , Dylan.” His mom definitely didn’t like that.
    “I know, and it didn’t take long to realize she wasn’t one, but it was too late. I already lied, and was worried she wouldn’t see me again if she knew the truth, so I didn’t tell her. Well, my last night there I swear things were changing between us. I felt a strong connection to her and then I heard her whisper that she loved me when she was falling asleep. I panicked but didn’t leave. The day I left I told her I’d take her to lunch before I went to the airport. I didn’t go back to get her; I just left and went right to the airport.
    “ By the time Dustin picked me up I already felt guilty about it. I told him about her and he told me to call her, but I didn’t have her cell phone number. I called where she worked, but the girl who answered told me that she’d come in that day and quit. She told the girl she was moving.”
    It killed him to see the look of disgust on his mom, sister , and sister-in-law’s faces. He knew this part was going to be worse.
    “I tried to find her, but never knew her last name. Eventually I gave up, but she showed up with Zach at the reception last night. I wasn’t very nice to her, but then she dropped a bombshell on me. She said she’d been trying to find me and knew I lived in the area, so she moved here. She wanted me to know that we have a son. I have a boy as old as Violet.”
    His heart was pounding in his chest . It wasn’t easy admitting that you had fucked up royally. Everyone was silent. Dylan wiped his hands on his thighs.
    “Are you sure she’s telling the truth, son?” His dad’s look was hard as he asked.
    He pulled his wallet out and pulled out the little boy’s picture . “See for yourself.” Handing the picture to his dad, he waited for him to look at it. When what felt like a few minutes had passed, his dad handed the picture to his mom, who put a hand over her mouth.
    “Oh my gosh! He looks just like you. My god, she’s been around here and we didn’t know it?”
    “Mom, I know. She left her number on the picture. I’m going to call her, okay? You’ll get to meet him, but I need to meet him first. He doesn’t know me. I promise you I’m going to fix this.”
    The evening ended promptly after his announcement. His mom was unusually quiet, so Bellamy and Stacy were sticking close to her. He helped his dad, Luke, and Dustin load up the back of Dustin and Stacy’s Jeep with all of their wedding gifts. Their silence was unnerving. Did they all think he was an asshole now? Hell, he was an asshole, and he wasn’t sure how to make it right.
    When they finished , his dad slapped him on the back. “Make it right with this girl. You don’t want to miss out on any more of that boy’s life. Your momma is going to be chomping at the bit to meet him.”
    “I’ll do my best , old man.” His dad walked ahead of him to catch up with Dustin
    “You want to talk about it?” Luke hung back. They’d been best friends since they were in diapers. When Dylan had learned about Luke and Bellamy three years ago, he handled it badly. He couldn’t even be mad at him when he found out what happened over eight years ago. His baby sister had gotten pregnant and hid it from them all. She ended up losing their daughter at 32 weeks. Luke understandably had been upset and