The Conversation I Couldn’t Avoid
When Adrian came into the kitchen later that night, I placed the wristband on the counter between us.
“What is this?” I asked quietly.
He stared at it for several seconds without speaking.
“Where did you find that?” he finally said.
“So it’s real,” I replied.
He leaned back against the counter, his hands rising to his face as if trying to hold himself together.
After a long silence, he spoke again.
“When I was nineteen,” he said slowly, “I had a girlfriend who became pregnant.”
The words seemed to drain the air from the room.
“My parents were very strict about appearances,” he continued. “They believed any scandal would ruin everything.”
He swallowed hard.
“They arranged for her to stay with relatives in another state during the pregnancy. After the baby was born, they told me the child had been adopted.”
I stared at him.
“You’re telling me you have another child.”
He nodded once, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I was told I would never know where she went.”
But my thoughts were already drifting back to the girl on that porch.
And the star on her wrist.
