Always & Forever (Nick & Bailey #2)

47. Nick

When Nick opens his eyes, he's surprised to see that the sun is rising. He hadn't realized how late--or early--it was.

He jumped slightly at the sudden brightness coming in through his window, and Avery starts to stir on his chest. Nick moves his fingers in circles along the baby's back and is grateful that it works. Avery begins to drift off again.

His son has to be tired. He was up all night with a cough. The doctor recommended to have him sleep upright, which is why he and Nick spent the night in the rocking chair that Mr. Choi, Lynn's dad, gave them as a present last week. They didn't have room in his dorm at first, but once they got rid of the futon, it opened up the space.

He looks over at Lynn sleeping on the bed. He's glad she didn't wake up. She has to drive to Chicago today to see her family, so Nick wanted to ensure that she would be well-rested. If she is going to take Avery five hours north by herself, the least Nick can do is make sure she gets a good night's sleep.

He also didn't want to give up any time with his son. Avery and his mom are going to be gone for three days. It's the longest Nick has gone without seeing him, and he wanted to soak up every moment last night.

Lynn suggested Nick join a Dad's group online to help with the idea, but it didn't work out. The most popular topic was dads in the delivery room. And every time Nick read about someone holding their wife's hand while she pushed or cutting the umbilical cord, his resentment only grew.

Not resentment towards Lynn, he knew it wasn't her fault. But Nick would have given anything to be there the moment that Avery joined the world. However, he can't change the past.

He closes his eyes to try to sleep but, instead, goes back in time to the conversation that changed his life.

"I didn't think you would even be a possibility," Lynn had said when Nick asked why he was just now finding out that he had a son, a full week after he was born.

"I was dating someone when you and I slept together." She explained further. "He and I were technically on a break during Thanksgiving, but I had sex with him the week before and the week after multiple times. I never thought the guy I had—what I thought was protected—sex with one time could possibly be the father."

"So...so..." Nick was struggling to form a sentence. None of this could be real. "What happened? How did this happen?"

"I wondered the same thing, so I've done some research. And it could have technically been a few things. Number one, condoms are only ninety-eight percent effective. Number two, if you opened it up too roughly or with your teeth, it could have created little holes."

Although Nick does vaguely remember having sex with Lynn—mostly due to the fact that she had been only one who asked him not to close his eyes—he had no recollection of putting on the condom beforehand. He is sure he did it, but the act had become so monotonous by that point. There had no longer been conscious thought about it.

Lynn glanced over at the baby still sleeping in the stroller. "All I know is that as soon as I saw him, I knew it wasn't my boyfriend's. He knew it, too. Avery looked nothing like him...or me. My ex is Korean, too."

Nick looked at the baby. He hadn't been able to bring himself to get too close to him—let alone notice his ethnicity.

"I'd told my boyfriend about you before then, but he had agreed the chances were so unlikely," Lynn went on. "And in case you were wondering, after this revelation, he confessed that he was only still with me because of the baby and left me, alone, in the hospital."

Nick's mind immediately went to his own father, and Ken. That's something they would have done. At least this kid dodged a bullet in that department. But he's not going to talk about that with a complete stranger. Although, was Lynn a stranger? He was struggling to recall her name ten minutes ago, and now it seemed like she was going to be a part of his life forever.