He Never Looked Up at Breakfast, So I Served Him Papers novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Space Between

Stuart held the test in his open palm.

"Is this ours?" he said.

The whole diner heard him.

"It's mine," I said. "I took it in the bathroom the morning I found you on the couch."

His eyes went wide.

"That morning. You knew that morning, and you filed anyway?"

"I filed because of the couch."

"Elise." He stood, and his chair fell over behind him. "Six years. We stopped trying six years ago. The doctor said it was over."

"The doctor said unlikely," I said. "Not never."

"A baby." His voice shook. "My baby."

"My baby."

"It's mine too!"

"Is it?" I said. "Which parts? The six weeks you've been sleeping at the studio? Or the fourteen years you spent at the head of the table without looking at me?"

He flinched.

Then his face changed, and I saw it happen.

I saw him pick up the new fact and turn it over, looking for what it was worth.

"Okay," Stuart said. "Okay. This changes things."

"It doesn't change my petition."

"It changes everything. A child needs a father, and a stable home."

"It needs a mother who isn't being talked over."

"I can give the baby my name, my money, and my house," he said, louder. "You have a room above a diner. If this goes to court, who do you think a judge will believe? A man with a book on the bestseller list, or a woman who walked out and moved in with a short-order cook?"

The room made a noise.

Dot picked up the coffee pot and held it by the handle.

"I haven't moved in with anyone," I said.

"Bryce says they'll call it abandonment. He says I can get full custody if I want it."

"Bryce says."

"I will fight you for this child, Elise. I mean it."

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