“About ten months later, I got a text from Anne. She wanted to see me.” He shook his head. “I assumed she couldn’t live without me and wanted to talk about moving to Austin so we could get back together.” He glanced at Reggie. “I was wrong.”

“She was pregnant? No, wait. Ten months later means she had to have already given birth.”

“Yeah, that. We agreed to meet at a coffee place. I was excited to see her, making all kinds of plans in my head. But she didn’t want to get back together. She walked in carrying Harrison and said he was my son.”

He looked past her to something she couldn’t see. “I didn’t know what to think or say. One second I was a happy, single guy, and the next, I was a father of a three-month-old.”

He returned his gaze to hers. “She said she couldn’t do it—she couldn’t be a mom. It was too hard, and Harrison needed too much. She was offering him to me. If I didn’t want him, she was going to turn him over to the state.”

“What?” Reggie nearly came out of her seat, unable to believe what she was hearing. Seriously? Anne had done that? What kind of human being was she? “She was going to give him up? Just like that? She is nothing like me. I would never do that.”

He smiled. “I know, and you can relax. The story has a happy ending.”

“Are you going to defend her and say it’s not her fault? She’s the mother. She should have tried. And where was her family? Why weren’t they helping?”

Amusement darkened his eyes. “You have some thoughts on the subject.”

“Of course I do. Dena’s going to be a single mom, and you know we’re all going to be fighting over time with the baby. We’ll be there for her. I’m already planning to move back home for the first few months after the baby’s born so I can help.”

“I’m not even surprised.”

She picked up her wine and waved at him. “Okay, go on. I won’t interrupt again.”

“Yes, you will.”

“Probably, but we can hope I don’t.”

He chuckled. “I told her I’d take him. She had all his stuff in her car. She’d written down a few instructions. Once she gave those to me, she told me to find a lawyer, and she would sign whatever she had to. She was done being a mother. And then she drove off.”

“Leaving you standing by the side of the road, with a baby in your arms? That’s insane. How would you know what to do? You’d never even changed a diaper.”