Her Dad’s Best Friend

When I looked at Ryan, I didn't see my face. He looks like a male version of Marcia, which could mean anything. I'm praying that Marcia is playing one of her dumb games, but if Jack put her up to this, I can see that we're not going to have his blessing when we get married.

I've come inside of Camilla unprotected. She could have my baby inside of her right now. I think about having a family with her, maybe two or three kids running around my house. Kids with her hair and her smile...

And none of that will happen if Marcia's telling the truth. I know that Camilla would stand by me and try to take care of Ryan, but I can't ask her to be a stepmother when she's a little less than six years older than him. Touching her proved that I am a selfish bastard, but I know that she deserves the carefree life of a teenager, not the craziness that raising Ryan would bring.

Now I'm at the lab. My heart is beating double time. With two cheek swabs, we can see which path my life will go down. Happiness with Camilla, a ring on her finger, a bunch of kids. Or taking care of a son I never knew I had and losing Camilla forever.

I take a deep breath, then I get out of the car. Time to face the music.

Lab Test

Lincoln

Dr. Mike is hanging around in the lobby. I know that his daily schedule is jam-packed, so it means a lot to me that he's here.

"You okay?"

I nod. I gesture towards Marcia and Ryan. Ryan is still playing his game. "They're with me."

I can see Dr. Mike's eyes trail over Marcia. She's a beautiful woman. Having a kid didn't diminish her physical attractiveness. But she's like non-alcoholic beer for me now-theoretically, it could be good. But it's not. I watch him turn towards Ryan.

"He's older than a lot of the kids we see in here."

I shrug. "It's a long story."

"Come with me, please." He brings us into a small room. There are two plastic baggies with things that look like long Q-tips in small plastic vials. "Buccal swabs are relatively painless. I'm just going to swab the inside of your cheeks and then give the samples to the lab. Link, you want to go first?"

"Yeah." I sit down on a chair and open my mouth. He swabs the inside of my cheek and drops the long Q-tip into the plastic vial.

"One sample down, one sample to go."

"Ryan, open your mouth."

Without raising his eyes from his game, Ryan opens his mouth. It takes a second or two for Dr. Mike to get the swab inside. He swabs the inside of Ryan's cheek.

"Ow!"

"My apologies," Dr. Mike says smoothly, putting the second sample in a clearly marked bag. "But it's over now."

"It better be." The anger in Ryan's voice surprises me. The cheek swab wasn't all that invasive, but Ryan is acting like he had to get a shot or something. The game music is driving me crazy. At his age, I played some video games, but I also looked at doctors who were taking samples from me. Ryan is supremely uninterested in anything around him, which concerns me. I'll take care of it if he's my kid.

"Could you come back in two hours? I'll have the results then."

"Sure." I look at Marcia. "Do you want to get some ice cream?"

"Frozen yogurt."

"There's a place across the street. It also serves coffee." "Sounds good to me."

Something feels unsettled in the pit of my stomach. Marcia is trying to behave normally, but she's touching the back of her neck. Is this kid really mine or did Jack pay her to show up? Her story is a little wild, but it is in line with what I know about her.

We walk across the street to the frozen yogurt café. There aren't too many people there at this time of day. Ryan finally pauses his game to get double chocolate frozen yogurt. He dumps a ton of chocolate chips and Hershey's chocolate syrup on top. I get a little bit of strawberry frozen yogurt. Marcia gets coconut surprise, whatever that is, with little bits of shaved coconut on top. I pay for the three of us.

As soon as we sit down, Ryan whips out his game. He's playing one-handed as he shovels the chocolate monstrosity that he got into his mouth. Marcia and I are left to make awkward conversation. "Why don't you tell me about Ryan?"