She gets a message from an old fling

"Yeah, actually," Sandy says. "There's an email from a man called Zach. He said you met a few years ago."

Zach... Zach. Oh, that Zach.

* * *

EIGHT YEARS AGO

I was doing what most college kids do when they have a free night: Getting wasted and getting laid. The wasted part wasn't normally any trouble, and on that night it was even easier. See, there was a bar that was having some event, giving half-off drinks for current and former service members. My friends and I had found a group of Army soldiers who'd come back from the Middle East and were looking for a good time.

The one I hit it off with was Zach. I mean at the time, any guy who was relatively handsome and ready to buy me a drink was good enough, especially after Emma moved away. He was about my age, give or take a year or two, and back then he had a buzz cut and clean-shaven olive face that'd been toned in the Middle-Eastern sun. Most of the night is still a blur, and when I woke up my head was spinning. Even then, I had no issue figuring out the picture messy bedsheets and a naked man painted.

Back then I knew the score. A quick shower and getting dressed before leaving, never to see him again, or so I thought. I'd end up running into him the day after at my job as a waitress, where I found out he had a week before he re-deployed. From there, we continued to have a 'friends with benefits' sort of arrangement, and what benefits those were. His job meant that he kept fit, but he also didn't mind following orders.

Eventually, it came time for him to re-deploy, and we called it quits from there. It'd only be a few days later that I'd find out that I was pregnant with Max. Whilst Zach was a candidate for being his father, he wasn't the only one.

* * *

PRESENT DAY

"You okay, Miss Karsada?"

"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine. Just... Bit of a throwback. That's all."

Sandy nods. She's probably figured out who Zach might be, but she doesn't dare say it.

"Thanks Sandy. I'll deal with it at lunch time."