Nick was the first to speak. “How’s Leighanne?”
“She’s great! She’s pregnant with a little girl. We’re going to name her Ashley. So what have you been up to?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Nick said sarcastically. “I have a two-year-old son. Found that out yesterday.”
“What?” Brian exclaimed. As Nick nodded, Brian quickly figured out what girl he would have been with at that time. “That would either be Rachel’s…or Lauren’s.” It had to be Rachel. Lauren would have told him if she were pregnant.
“It’s Lauren’s,” Nick stated.
Brian’s jaw dropped. “And she never told you about it? How did you find out?”
“About three weeks ago,” Nick started. He quickly recounted the events of the previous three weeks, up to the point where he had walked away from her apartment almost in tears. “My son’s name is Danny, and he looks just like her. Same blue eyes, same straight, blonde hair, same cute little nose, everything, Brian.”
“So he looks a lot like you, too,” Brian pointed out. “Or at least the eyes and the hair.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Nick replied.
“So how’s Lauren doing?”
“She’s as emotional as ever. She’s also as beautiful as I remember, if not more. She lives with Danny and Jess in a messy little apartment. I don’t know what happened to her mom. Diane probably disowned her when she found out she was pregnant.” He paused. “I’m supposed to go over there later to see Danny.”
“I can’t believe you have a son!” Brian exclaimed.
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me about him,” Nick muttered bitterly.
“It probably seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” Brian replied.
“Well, it wasn’t.”
After they ate, Nick looked at his watch. “I better get going, but I’ll give you a call. I’m off to visit Danny.”
“Later,” Brian said.
“Yeah, later,” Nick replied as he left the restaurant.