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She looked around the room and stopped when she saw a small jewelry box her mom had given her years ago. Zoey walked over to it and held it up to the light, looking at the intricate designs. Then she clutched it in her hand and threw it on the hardwood floor, watching it smash into dozens of pieces.

Instead of chewing the sperm donor out, she was going to let them both have it. They had both agreed to the stupid, selfish plan. Did either of them give even one thought to Zoey and what she would have wanted? It didn't look that way. One wanted to get halfway across the world to hit a ball and the other wanted to be the sole decision maker in Zoey's life.

She picked up the last birthday card her mom had given her and ripped into tiny pieces, letting them fall on the floor next to the jewelry box pieces.

Zoey was glad that she had been smoking before getting pregnant—it hit her mom where it hurt. Just like she deserved. Even though Zoey had been dealing with horribly painful headaches among other things since quitting, she was glad she told her mom about her smoking. The look on her face had been worth it.

She was even happier to have gotten pregnant. That hit them both where it hurt. She was sure that neither of them wanted to be grandparents at their age. It was too bad she couldn't do more to make them pay. Although having a pregnant fifteen year old daughter was a pretty good hit.

Zoey heard a car pull into the driveway. The moment of truth was about to arrive. She went to her window and looked down. Sure enough, there was her mom's car with someone in the passenger seat next to her. He even appeared to be wearing a baseball cap. How fitting. Too bad the jerk couldn't play anymore. Then Zoey wouldn't have to deal with him at all.

Should she go down and meet them, or should she make them come up to get her? Zoey looked at the mess on the floor and didn't want to deal with a lecture. Not that she cared if her mom saw what she had broken. Let her, so it would hurt.

Zoey stepped over the mess and made her way down the stairs as slowly as possible. She could hear something downstairs by the door.

"Is that you, Zo?" called her mom.

"No. It's a burglar."

Her mom muttered something, but Zoey was too far away to hear. "Hurry up. Your dad's excited to meet you."

Zoey bit her tongue. There was so much wrong with that sentence she didn't even know where to begin. "Coming." She didn't pick up her pace. She took her time making her way to them. Before she rounded the corner, she flattened her shirt so that her stomach stuck out as much as possible. Usually, she wore the loosest clothing possible, but not today. She wanted her
dad
to have a good view.

She turned down the hall and walked to the entry, trying not to look at him, but curiosity made her want to look. How much did she look like him? Zoey kept her focus on her mom. "Are we ready for the appointment?"

Valerie scowled. "You have time to meet your dad." She turned to him. "Zoey, this is your dad. Kenji, this is Zoey."

Zoey glanced at him and gave a slight nod of the head. "Hi." She turned back to her mom. "Are we ready? We need to get Alex."

"Would you stop being rude? Give him a proper greeting?"

A proper welcome? Zoey turned to him. She tried to look past him, not taking in his features. "Hi, Kenji. Thanks for not being in my life. It's been awesome."

He opened his mouth, but Valerie spoke up first.

"Zoey!" She turned to Kenji. "I'm so sorry. I knew she might be in a mood, but I didn't expect this."

"Then I guess you don't know me very well, do you? I'm going to get Alex."

"Alex? Wait, we talked about this."

"No, Mom. You talked about it, but you didn't listen to me. Alex is coming with me. He hasn't been to any of my appointments. He deserves to be at this one. You know, he's been involved this whole time."

Kenji made eye contact with Zoey. "I understand this is hard for you. It's going to take time. I should have been involved, but I thought it was best if I didn't. We both did." He looked at Valerie. "I do care about you and hope you'll give me a chance. If you don't want to for a while, I respect that."

"Kenji, don't. She needs to—"

"This is a big adjustment and she has every right to be angry." He turned to look her in the eyes. "If you feel the need to—what the expression?—tell me off, you're more than welcome. Anything you need to say to me is good. Then I hope we can move past it and get to know each other."

Zoey stared at him, feeling deflated. If he knew he deserved to be ripped into, it was going to take half the pleasure out of it. "Maybe I'll take you up on that. I'm going to get Alex. See you in the car."

"Why don't you help us unload the rest of his stuff?" Valerie asked.

"Nope. I'm going to get Alex."

Her mom looked like she was going to explode. Good.

"She's fine," Kenji said.

"No, she's not! Zoey, you better—"

"Zoey, go get your boyfriend. I'll take care of my luggage."

"See you in the car." Zoey walked past them and out the door. Once the door closed behind her, she found herself shaking. She tried to stop, but couldn't. Why not? He was just some guy from the other side of the planet. Nothing to get worked up over. He was just another random stranger. Nothing more.

She took a deep breath and then made her way over to Alex's house. The driveway was empty. Did that mean neither of his parents were home? Not that it mattered. There were enough parents at her house to make up for the whole street.

The front door opened before she even got there. Alex closed it behind him. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah. My mom and sperm donor arrived just in time. I don't know how my mom does it. She always knows how to plan everything perfectly."

"So, what's he like?"

"Who knows? I barely said hi to him before coming to get you."

"Really? I know you're pissed, but aren't you curious?"

"Not really. Let's go. I want to find out if the baby's a boy or a girl. I'm tired of everyone calling it
it.
"

"Okay." He looked like he wanted to say more, but he took her hand. "I want to know what it is, too."

Alex took her hand they walked to her house in silence. Zoey stopped when they got to her mom's car.

"We're not going in the house?"

"I told them we'd meet them in the car."

"Okay." He opened the back door and waited for Zoey to go in first. They settled in. "Is he nice, at least?"

Zoey shrugged. "He said I could chew him out if I wanted."

"Are you going to?"

"Probably, though it takes half the fun out of it since he said that."

"Fun?"

"You know what I mean. Not like ha-ha fun, but it'll feel good to let him have it. But if he's nice and not a jerk, it won't be the same. I wanted him to be mean. He said he was wrong and seemed to believe it. Said he thought keeping his distance was for the best."

He bumped her. "You're not half-bad, so he can't be too bad."

Zoey gave him a light shove and glared at him.

Alex laughed and then the corners of Zoey's mouth twitched. "Don't try to make me feel better."

"I'm just sayin'. I like you."

"Really? I would have never guessed."

He feigned a hurt expression and they both laughed. "At least you're smiling now."

"We'll see how long that lasts."

Alex looked toward the front of the house.

"Are they coming?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah. I'm trying to get a good look at your dad."

"Sperm donor," Zoey corrected.

"He looks a lot like you. Like, it's obvious he's your dad."

Zoey rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to care?"

"Maybe you should give him a chance."

"And maybe you should back off."

Zoey's
parents
came to the car and Kenji introduced himself to Alex. It looked like Alex was going to pee himself. Was he nervous about meeting her sperm donor?

"Hi, sir. It's nice to meet you." Alex held out his hand between the front seats.

"Good to meet you, too. Seems we have a lot in common."

Alex squirmed in his seat. "Yeah?"

Kenji winked. "We're both nervous about seeing our children for the first time today."

"Huh. That's true. You're nervous?"

"Of course. She has every right to hate me. Maybe you could put in a good word for me?"

"I'm right here," Zoey said.

Kenji didn't take his eyes off Alex. "She has her mom's spunk. Have you ever noticed that?"

A slow smile spread across Alex's face. "Yeah, that's true."

Zoey glared at Alex. Whose side was he on, anyway?

Valerie started the car. "At least someone's being respectful to you." She gave Zoey a disapproving look to which Zoey promptly returned one of her own. "Are we ready?"

Zoey's mouth went dry. What was going on? How could she be in the car with her dad on the way to find out if her child was a boy or a girl? She took Alex's hand and gave it a squeeze. He lifted her hand and gave it a light kiss. Then he gave her a look that told her everything would be okay.

Temptation

Chad was too frustrated to go back home and face Alex and Zoey. Why couldn't the cops get answers? Either the body was Macy's or it wasn't. Was it really that difficult with all the technology available?

If they would have at least let him look at the body, he could have told them whether or not it was her. If he wasn't so sure, he wouldn't be arguing with Alyssa.

As much as he loved her, he wasn't going to give in and say he thought Macy was gone. He didn't believe it and he wasn't going to let anyone think he did. When she returned home, he wanted to be able to look her in the eyes and tell her he hadn't given up on her, not for a moment.

She was going to return. Each passing day only brought Macy's return closer. He was sure of it. He wasn't going to judge Alyssa for her stance, but he wasn't going to take it with her. Even if it meant damaging their marriage. She was the one who wouldn't agree to disagree. They could still live under the same roof and hold different beliefs.

The car was suffocating. He pulled into the parking lot of the closest park. He would walk around the trails to burn off some energy. He couldn't think straight. Between the cops and Alyssa, he'd had about all he could take.

That wasn't true. The lack of results and Alyssa's demands were the icing on the cake of his life. He'd already had all he could take between his two kids. Anyone else in his shoes would have lost their minds already. He was actually holding everything together pretty well.

He slammed his door shut and locked it with the remote. Aside from a few random joggers, the park was empty. He looked up at the sky with the menacing clouds. No wonder only the die hards were out. Chad didn't care if he ended up soaked. He had energy to burn. Even though he wasn't dressed for a run, he was taking one.

Lifting weights had been one way he used to clear his head, but he hadn't even looked at those in months. He broke into a run and passed everyone else jogging. His lungs burned, but he didn't care. It actually felt good.

By the time the trail circled around and he was back where he started, he was almost completely out of breath. He had given himself fully to the run. He hadn't paid any attention to the scenery around him or given himself the chance to think about anything. None of his problems crossed his mind as he ran through the length of the trail.

He stopped at a bench, leaning his arm against the back of it, gasping for air. Sweat ran down his face, neck and back. He wiped it out of his eyes, wishing he had thought to bring something to drink. His mouth was parched.

Chad was vaguely aware of footsteps behind him, but he didn't really care.

"Hey, Chad, I thought that was you. What are you doing running in slacks?"

He turned around to face Lydia. "Do you follow me everywhere I go?" he asked in between gasps for air.

"Maybe. What are you doing out here?"

"I needed some exercise."

"In those shoes?"

"What's wrong with my shoes?"

"They're not exactly running shoes. You're going to have some painful blisters."

"I don't really care." He sat down on the other side of the bench.

"Well, you should. If you're going take care of—"

"Don't lecture me."

Lydia sat next to Chad. "I'm not lecturing. I'm concerned. I know we're done, but I still love you."

"Don't say that."

"Chad, it's true."

He stared her in the eyes. "That doesn't mean you need to tell me."

"I can't just walk away when you're clearly in some kind of trouble."

"I'm not in trouble. I just needed some air." He looked away. The clouds were getting darker, just like his mood.

A hand rested on his shoulder. "Is it Macy?"