Four Girls and a Guy - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,35
thought of navigating a relationship with Tom Kolsky made her hands sweat.
“How would that work? We’re already both so busy.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“Just leave things as they are for now,” she said. “I’m tired. I know you’re weary, too. We’ll just go about our days. Maybe if you answered my texts, that would be a start, too.”
“I can answer them. I’m so sorry.”
“No need. It’s given me time to sort through my feelings.”
“What decision did you come to?”
“I want to give it up for adoption.”
She didn’t hesitate saying it, and if he was shocked or saddened by it, he didn’t give her any indication.
“How far are you?”
“Around seven months.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“The sex? No. I haven’t seen a doctor yet.”
“Wait, Sam—”
“Don’t say it. Don’t start out telling me what to do.”
“I wouldn’t think of it, but you’re taking a chance.”
“I’ll live with it,” she said. “Do you have anything else to say?”
“No. Please don’t go off angry now.”
“As I said, I’m tired, Tom. Exhausted, to be honest. You’re deciding that you want something, and now I’m supposed to rearrange my way of thinking so you can gain access. It isn’t going to work that way.”
“Look, Samantha, just relax, okay? I don’t want anything. I just want you to be safe.”
“I’ll make the decision about what I do with my body, got it? You can’t make any demands on me.”
“No demands. Zero demands.”
She pushed away from the table and stood up, leaving her apple there.
“I’m leaving,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep here in this smelly cafeteria.”
“Can I call you later?”
“Do what you want.”
She turned to leave, aware he stared at her as she walked away. He didn’t stop her. That belly under the lab coat made him choke up. Maybe the next time they spoke, he’d find the courage to ask her if he could touch it.
The next day he acknowledged her, but they didn’t speak. When she got home from school at two, she got a call from Maria that she let go to voicemail. Can you come in? One of the bakers called out sick. Ignoring it, exhaustion had taken over her body so that she couldn’t even get to her bed, and collapsing on the couch instead, she fell fast asleep.
Voices woke her up around four. She was so discombobulated that she didn’t know where she was for a moment. Struggling to sit up, her book bag dropped to the floor, alerting her roommate that someone was in the darkened living room. She still had her coat and scarf on, too.
“Are you okay? What are you doing in here?”
A concerned Alison was bending over her, unwinding the scarf from around her neck.
“That was weird. I just made it home. I literally couldn’t make it to the bedroom.”
“Come on, honey, stand up so I can get your coat off. You’re sweating. Have you eaten today?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You got a letter from an attorney. It came by messenger,” Alison said. “Not even USPS.”
“Oh no,” she groaned, holding her hand out. “I saw Tom yesterday. He figured out the baby is his and already started making demands.”
She tore open the envelope and started reading. “He’s demanding a paternity test now.”
Alison sat down next to her and read the letter from an attorney in town. “How can you do it before the baby is born?”
“There’s free-floating DNA in the mother’s blood,” Samantha said. “They do a buccal swab of the father and compare.”
“I wonder what his intentions are.”
“I should have just lied to him,” Samantha replied. “Where are Joan and Edwin?”
“Ed’s got to work, and Joan’s clothes shopping for a date, believe it or not.”
“It must be someone important for her to go out during the week. I want to get a shower and put my pajamas on.”
Alison walked with her toward the bedroom, when the buzzer went off.
“What’s going on?” Alison asked, stomping to the intercom.
“Who is it?” she snapped.
“It’s Evan,” a disembodied voice said, ringing out through the apartment.
“Oh crap. What next?” Samantha asked, weary. “You might as well let the man in.”
Alison studied her up and down and shook her head. “I think tonight is going to be the reveal.”
“It’s time to get it over with. I should have told him a long time ago.”
“Just lie to him.”
“Okay. So far everything you’ve told me to do has worked. Sort of.”
Alison smirked, but walked to the door to let Evan into the apartment.
He stood in the hallway with his hands out at his