Coming Clean Read Free Page A

reached out and stroked his cheek with my thumb.
Incredible.
He was soft and warm. And when he turned his head toward my touch, his tiny mouth working in a sucking motion, I was a goner.
    “So?” Cassidy said around a dazzling, brilliant smile of her own. “Have you decided which name we’re going with?”
    We’d opted to wait until the birth of our baby to know the sex, but Cassidy had picked two names for each. Although I’d liked both of the names she’d come up with for a boy, I’d wanted to wait until I met him to decide. One look at him, and I knew.
    With a nod, I said my first words to our son. “Welcome to the world, Abe. It can be a cold, cruel bitch, but we’ve got your back.” The words felt thick on my tongue but were no less true. I would not fail my son like my parents had failed me. I would be there, for everything.
    “Always.” I swore.
    And I fucking meant it.
    “Abraham Whalen Matthews.” Cassidy’s voice caressed each syllable as if embracing them in that motherly tone would cement them in time. I think it did. “We’re going to love you forever. You’ll see.”
    As Cassidy leaned forward to kiss his forehead, I did the same to her. She shivered as if an invisible yet unbreakable bond among the three of us had formed with our dual action. Real or not, it didn’t matter. It was there, and I was going to protect it at all costs.
    This was my family.

CHAPTER 1
    Cassidy
    “Come on, we talked about this, little man. Mr. Binks needs to get under way so he can find the next little boy or girl who needs him. You can’t be selfish.” Shaw was doing his best to re-convince Abe to give up his pacifier, for the millionth time.
    Abe crossed his arms over his chest, his chunky fist still holding tight to his best friend, and then he stomped his little foot in defiance. “I not a shellfish, Daddy. I da baby.”
    “No, you’re not. You’re a big boy now.”
    While it was true that Abe had been knocking down milestone after milestone—giving up the bottle, walking, and getting the potty training down with ease and in record time—like he’d been born to conquer, he was only three. And he was still a baby. He was
my
baby. My gorgeous baby.
    Though Abe was only a toddler, it was clear to see he’d be a heartbreaker when he got older. The child was Shaw’s mini-me, with his father’s bone structure, crystal blue eyes, and long lashes that brushed his cherub cheeks. He had my pale skin and ginger hair, but those thick locks were a tousled mess atop his head…just like Shaw’s. Abe even dressed like Shaw in blue jeans and button-down shirts—sometimes with a tie, sometimes without.
    And he was being so brave to give up Mr. Binks, even if he’d had to be bribed to do so. Shaw had managed it with a promise to take him to Dixon Lake, a beautiful park just outside San Diego that Abe had really grown to love. And in addition to that, Mr. Binks was captaining one of the many toy sailboats Casey and Mia—my best friend and his wife—had gotten him for his third birthday. Mr. Binks was to set out on a voyage to find his next grand adventure. But Abe was having second thoughts about that.
    Right on cue, Shaw looked down at his wrist…and the watch my father had given to him as a gift when Abe was born. It had been a family heirloom, one passed down through the Whalen generations when each male had become a father. Since I’d been Duff Whalen’s only child, a daughter, Shaw was the lucky inheritor. Originally a pewter pocket watch that showcased its inner workings in the center of a Celtic knot in the twelve o’clock position, it had since been altered to be worn on the wrist and had seen a fair turnover of leather bands. Engraved on the back was a reminder to all the Whalen men, a note that read:
Time makes men of men who make time
.
    I gave an annoyed sigh that I didn’t bother trying to hide. Knowing the glimpse at his favorite trinket meant the father of my son was about to cut things very