Page 94 of Playing the Game

“Actually you’re right,” Jonas said. “Maybe I’ll go alone. See you soon, Skipper.”

Adam screwed his eyes tightly shut. What the fuck was he going to do?

A couple of hours later. Olive had fallen asleep in his arms so Adam had curled up on the sofa and remained stock-still.

He wasn’t bad at this. Even if most of his muscles had gone stiff.

“Hey.”

Jen came through the doorway. She seemed much better for having some sleep.

“Can I get you anything?”

She shook her head and sat opposite him.

“She looks happy.”

He glanced down. Olive had snuggled into his side, her mouth slightly open. She was so vulnerable and pure. A lump caught in his throat.

My daughter.

“Do you want to talk now?”

Jen nodded. “Better get it in before she wakes up. Shit changes then.”

Adam smiled.

He and Jen had known each other for three years. Once upon a time they’d been each other’s worlds. How had it come to this?

“When we split up,” Jen began. “We did it for all the right reasons. Let’s be honest.”

He remembered their last conversation.

“I know that but?—”

Jen held her hand up. “If you weren’t ready to commit to me without her, you wouldn’t be with. Sure you probably would’ve married me and done the decent thing. How long for? Two years? Three?”

He couldn’t reply.

“We might even have had another kid,” Jen continued. “Then I would be a single mother of two and the media would come for me. They always do.”

Adam frowned. “Where have you been?”

Jen shrugged. “I went to Abbie’s.”

Jen’s best friend, Abbie, lived in Barbados and hated Adam with a passion. She’d have had a lot of fun slagging him off for the last year.

“So why come now?”

Jen’s eyes filled with tears. “Because I can’t cope. Abbie has a new man who made it clear he’s not vibing with the midnight feeds.”

Don’t react.

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

Jen ran her hands through her hair. “Probably. I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking long-term. Believe me, she came as much of a surprise to me.”

Once again, Adam gazed down. She was perfect. He hated that she’d been born into such a world of confusion. No matter what the future held. At that moment, the focus of his life shifted. He felt it inside of him.