She Has Your Eyes by Elisa Lorello Read Free Book Online Page A

it.”
    “Ya think?” said Maggie, as if I’d downplayed it. After a beat she added, “I can’t believe
you
’re so calm about it.”
    “That’s what he said.”
    “I mean really, Andi. You waited four days to tell me. And you’re sitting here over muffins and whatnot. How are you not going apeshit over this?”
    “Apeshit” had been one of Sam’s favorite words.
    “I honestly don’t know,” I replied. “I can’t explain it. Believe me, I’m just as in shock as you and David. And scared too. But… I can’t put my finger on it. It’s like a long-lost puzzle piece that’s been found or something. Crazy, I know.”
    “Wow. You’ve mellowed out,” said Maggie. “So what happens now?”
    I shrugged my shoulders. “David has to make a decision about whether he’s going to get tested. I advised him to talk to a lawyer.”
    “What if he does—get tested, I mean—and it turns out to be positive?”
    A knot tightened in my stomach. “I have no idea.”

    Later that afternoon in the den, I was leaning my back against the arm of the sofa, my legs stretched out before me, with my laptop open when I decided to Google “Wylie Baker.” Not much came up other than her Facebook page (her profile photo consisted of her dressed in a hot pink tank top and retro Ray-Bans as she flashed the heavy metal devil sign with her right thumb and pinkie. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, grateful that there’d been no such thing as Facebook, or the Internet, for that matter, during the eighties. There was also a reportabout a regional swim meet (Wylie placed second) and a student art exhibit in what I guessed to be her school district.
    She paints!
    I sucked in a breath, and perhaps for the first time felt a wave of honest-to-god panic wash over me.
    I heard the front door open and close, followed by David calling my name.
    “In here!” I called back, closing the Google window and opening the NU online course management site. He followed the sound of my voice and entered the den, looking slightly frazzled.
    “Hey,” he said, and leaned down to kiss the top of my head.
    “Hey,” I echoed, comforted by his presence.
    “What’re you up to?”
    “Just some lesson planning,” I lied, closing my laptop and placing it on the end table. “What would you like for dinner?”
    He removed his messenger bag from across his shoulder and dropped it by the side of the sofa. He then lifted my legs and sat, pulling them back across his lap.
    “You OK?” I asked.
    “Talked to my attorney today.”
    My entire body stiffened. “And?”
    “And I’m going to get tested. You’re right. It’s important that we know for sure. For our sake and Wylie’s.”
    I repositioned myself so that I was sitting next to him and offered my hand. He took it into his own.
    “And if it turns out…,” I started, the rest of the words stuck in my throat.
    “Then we have a lot to talk about. All of us.”
    We sat in silence for several minutes.
    “Dev?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Gut feeling: Do you think she’s your daughter?”
    He took at least ten seconds to respond. Stared straight ahead, his eyes dark and distant, gone to an undisclosed location in the recesses of his mind and memory.
    “I do,” he said softly.
    I waited another ten seconds before I asked my next question.
    “Do you want her to be?”
    He dipped his head, and I tilted mine in an attempt to read his expression. All I could see was sadness, and I wondered if he was thinking about his own father, who, at one time, David was certain that if someone had posed the same question to him about David, would’ve said no.
    “I think so,” he said.
    “Me too,” I whispered back, our hands clasped. My answer surprised me.

chapter nine
    I didn’t go with David to the lab. The test was neither a slow nor painful procedure, and I suppose he wanted to go it alone.
    “We should at least call to let her know you got tested,” I said, taking out Wylie’s phone number.
    “It’s a