“So tell him,” Phoebe replies. “Literally the only thing you can do. You can’t hide a pregnancy for long.”
“If he walks away, then he’s a dick,” Gemma sighs. “And you saved yourself heartache.”
“Uhm, no,” Hannah speaks up. “Getting blindsided by another man’s baby when you’re dating for fun does not make you a dick for walking away. I mean, what man thinks a woman is worth blowing up his entire career? There’s no way Snow is worth that.”
Her words sting like a burn and suddenly, tears smart behind my eyes.
“Not that you’re not worthy!” Hannah corrects quickly. “I just mean most men value their careers. Especially a doctor, right?”
“Now who's a bitch?” Phoebe hisses at Gemma, who rolls her eyes.
Hannah’s right.
She’s spoken my fears into existence and there’s no putting the lid back on them.
With a pounding heart, I force a smile. “So you all think it’s a bad idea?”
They glance at one another, then Gemma speaks. “It’s your life, Snow. But you can’t be mad if he walks away if you guys are new, y’know? What man wants to raise someone else’s baby? But that’s just our thoughts. Only he can tell you the truth.”
Blindly, I’d hoped for reassurance and sympathy like I’ve given them over the years, even when I think their decisions are bad.
I hoped for comfort and maybe a miracle solution that would make everything okay.
Instead, they saved all their reality checks for me.
“I have to go.” Standing abruptly, I toss a handful of bills onto the table.
“Don’t leave!” Gemma’s hand catches my wrist. “We were having such a good time!”
“Yeah, stay! We don’t see you as it is!”
Shaking my head, I flash them all a smile. “I wasn’t having fun. I’ll text you later. Merry Christmas.”
The warmth of the bar is taken away in a single gust of icy wind when I step out onto the cold street and huddle in my coat.
A few taps of my thumb against my phone book me a nearby taxi before all the warmth in my hand is robbed by the falling snow.
It should be a beautiful night with the crisp white snow underfoot, a crystal-clear sky filled with a thousand stars andonly one thick cloud that pours down the thick flakes of snow around me, but I barely notice any of it as I walk.
Am I worth Xander’s career? Not even in the slightest.
He likes me, I know that, but he likes the easy me.
The fun, sexy me that’s there for a good time. He didn’t sign up for a baby or the end of his career.
With tears in my eyes that refuse to fall in the wind, I meet my taxi a block away from the bar and climb into welcoming warmth.
“Where to, Ma’am?”
Just as I’m about to give him Xander’s address, I pause. I need time to myself. Time to think properly and come up with a real plan.
So I give the driver my apartment address instead and settle into the seat, nose buried in my phone.
Given that it’s Caleb’s baby, maybe I should get rid of it. That man gave me nothing but grief, with the highlight being his love bombing. What if his kid’s the same?
No.
It’s not the baby’s fault.
