I tried my best to hide the smile on my face before re-entering the waiting room. Apparently it was to no avail as Emma’s face lit up when she saw me.

“I wondered what was keeping you so long,” Emma hissed as I met her and we left together.

“What do you mean? It wasn’t that long,” I replied as we made our way down the hall.

“Oh please you were in there like a half hour, I figured you were either going to come out and tell me you’re dying or that you finally got some action. Glad to see it was the latter.”

“I didn’t!”

“Then why does your face look like that?” Emma accused.

“Barrett…”

“Ohh Barrett…”

“Barrett,” I said again more firmly, “only called me in because he remembered me. The test was fine.”

“And then you picked up right where you left off by making sweet love on his desk?”

“No! I don’t know what you mean picked up anyway. It was one night, not like we had an actual relationship.”

“Just a kid,” Emma added.

I shushed her immediately. It didn't matter that we were out of the building and in the parking lot. I couldn’t risk anyone knowing that. At least not until I figured out what I was going to do about it.

“Hey, up until this week I knew nothing about this guy. Not even his name! I’m not going to tell a practical stranger that he is the father of my kid. As of right now Aria’s father was basically a sperm donor.”

“What and you are going to keep telling Aria that her dad was some Navy Seal killed before she was born? She is getting old enough now that it’s not going to cut it. Better to have a real father no matter who he turned out to be.”

“The point is moot,” I said waving my hands.

“So you’re just going to go on with your life like you didn’t just find your baby’s daddy?”

“Kinda,” I replied with a wrinkle to my nose.

Emma turned in the passage seat and looked me up and down. She was trying to determine what that exactly meant.

I rolled my eyes when I saw she wouldn’t drop the matter till I told her.

“Barrett asked me out to drinks with him tonight?”

Emma’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“I knew it! So now what?”

“Now I am going to go pick up Aria, figure out what the hell I’m going to wear.”

“Oh, something hot for sure,” she said as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Stop at my place first. You don’t have anything that will work.”

“I’m only going for drinks. I just want to get to know him a little. That way when I do have to tell Aria who her father really is, at least I can tell her a little about who he is.”

“Sure, sure. And if you get laid in the process…all the better. But this time maybe use a rubber,” she added in a teasing voice.

“I do have an IUD, not that it’s any of your business,” I retorted. “There is no plans for any need to consider it.”

Of course, but all the same when we stop at my place I’ll pick up some things. That way should you want to spend the night, you’ll know that Aria is good.”

“Who said your going to be babysitting?”

“Uh, I did,” She said with a sassy swing of her hair. “I want to be there when yo get home. Then I can be the first to hear all the juicy details.”

“What is all this stuff Aunt Em?” Aria asked as she slid into the back seat of the car.

There were at least two bags of clothing stuffed in the small back seat of my jeep that Emma had insisted I try on for tonight.

“Your mom’s got a date,” Emma said without so much as a pause of hesitation.

“What?” Aria said with a look of shock I could easily see through the rear view mirror.

“It’s not a date. I just ran into an old friend from college. I agreed to go out and get some drinks with him tonight, that’s all.”

Dating was something new to both Aria and myself. Emma had always tried to get me to go out with her to go bar hopping but I just couldn’t with a kid at home. At first it had been easy to say no, because I had a baby. As Aria grew older it was getting harder and harder to make up excuses why I didn’t want to join Emma on her weekly prowls of the local bars.

I was never a big drinker or partier to begin with. My mother always told me that I was far too mature for my age growing up and I guess not having an interest in bar hopping came with that.

Had it been anyone else to ask me out tonight, I would have easily said no and not given it a second thought. In fact saying yes had been a hard thing to do. I was truthful when I told Emma that I wanted to get to know Barrett more. I didn’t have any plans or expectations for tonight other then that.

I couldn’t. If I did that would involve finding a way to tell Barrett that I had his daughter. And even if that went well, how could I tell Aria that I had been lying to her all this time about who her father was?

My parents hadn’t been happy when I told them I was changing course from pre-law and having a baby all in the same breath. That being said, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell this little girl that her precious life was anything other than happy and planned.

I knew the day would come that I would have to spill out the truth of the matter. I had hoped to wait long enough for her to be at least in her teens. I wasn’t sure if she would be able to fully understand the delicate nature of the situation.

That and I really didn’t want her to know that her mom had lost her virginity hooking up with a random stranger at a club. That was one skeleton I planned to keep in my closet as long as possible.