Baby Daddies - Tara Brown Page 0,62
Austen.”
“Persuasion?” I suggest, fully aware of the level of angst and heartbreak she is needing.
“Yeah, I could go for some Captain Wentworth and understanding Anne Elliot’s pain.” She lifts the entire cake and walks to the sofa. I bring everything else.
We snuggle in and start the movie. She cries at odd moments and laughs at painful ones. Her eyes are glossy the whole movie, lingering on the verge of tears which she cries at the end.
By the time I leave, she’s exhausted enough that I think she might sleep. Though I’m not sure I will after eating so much junk.
When I step out into the night air, my own doubts and fears are plaguing me. But there’s no time to contemplate them because he’s there. His car is parked across the road and he’s leaning against the driver door, watching me. For a second I’m sure I’m hallucinating but he’s real.
“Did you follow me? How do you know where Sukii lives? How long have you been here?” I stop and shout, not crossing the road to him.
“Are you taking the job and the apartment?” He ignores me and instead asks the question of the hour. I don’t bother asking how he knows.
“I don’t know.” It’s the truth.
“Do you want to?”
“I think I should,” I admit. “That way we can slow things down and date without the pressure of the baby being so consuming.”
“Okay,” he offers what I assume is his permission. It makes me smile at how controlling he is.
“Can I offer you a ride home or is Stan sending a car for you?”
“Sure.” I laugh bitterly as I cross the street to him. He opens my door, not assaulting me with kisses and smelling me as I climb in, suggesting the conversation over my moving into the apartment and taking the job isn’t over.
When he climbs in, he’s quiet, but I’m not. I want answers. “When did Cap decide to break up with her?”
“Why?” He stares straight ahead at the road as he starts the car and drives away from the curb.
“Because everything was fine until he came to your house and played poker.”
“What?” He glances at me quickly. “I told you, this is their business. Not ours.”
“Were you part of the conversation to convince him to break up with her?”
He presses his lips into a tight line.
“I see. So you can talk to him about breaking up with her, but you can’t warn me about it?”
“You want to move into Stan’s apartment again, and you can’t talk to me about that?” He fires back with a serious shot.
“I was going to talk to you about it. I was going to bring it up tonight but then Sukii called. She’s my friend, of course I had to go.”
“And he’s mine. And my teammate. I don’t want this to be our issue.” He turns to me again. “And you need to leave their issues for them to sort out. We have enough shit going on, we don’t need to add to it. And before you go thinking things, you should know Cap’s still in love with his ex-wife. So while this might suck today, it’s way better for Sukii that it ends.”
The narrative in my mind switches.
“What? He is? How do you know?”
“Because I know him well enough to be able to tell. He thought this thing with Sukii was fun. He’s an idiot,” he grumbles and changes the subject to one he doesn’t want to discuss either. “So are we still going to Vancouver on Monday or do you have to work now?”
“We’re still going. I don’t have to give Stan an answer until Friday,” I murmur and look out the window, also avoiding the subject. The idea of visiting his family, introducing him to mine, and moving for the millionth time in three months is too much to add to my upset stomach.
24
Meet the chef
Monday, August 21
Lori
Jenny’s quiet on the plane ride to Vancouver. We’ve barely said two words since we left the city. She hasn’t given her acceptance of the job and apartment to Stan yet, as far as I know, so I assume she’s stewing on that.
She stares out the window of the jet, watching the clouds and nothingness.
It’s rotting my insides but I don’t know what to say or do to make this better.
My mind is reeling with possibilities for how this will work out.
The option I like the most is the one where she stays with me, we share the pregnancy, fall further in