Not really sure how Ifeltabout that.
“And the last time we saw each other, you were ending things, so I wasn’t about to tell you then. It would have seemed like I was trying to keep you, trying to trap you.”
“Shel, I know you wouldn’t do that. We were always careful.” Both statements were true. I’d known Shelly for a few years. She was a couple of years older than me and made an okay living cutting hair at the swanky salon. She wasn’t looking for ways to keep me as a boyfriend. And we’d always used condoms.
“So, what was the plan? Were youevergoing to tell me?”
She took a long time to answer me. Ate a few bites of her sandwich, took a gulp from her glass of milk. “Here’s the thing, Stick,” she said, then leaned across the table closer to me. “I’m not sure it’s yours.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I mean, I’m not a slut or anything. But let’s face it, we were never more than an occasional hookup.”
I held up my hand. “No explanation necessary. You were a free agent.”
She nodded. “So were you.”
“You’re right,” I admitted. There had been other girls in that stretch.
Until I danced with Jane at her sister’s wedding. Then no other girl would do…even though I couldn’t admit to myself that Jane was the one I wanted.
“So, obviously at some point you decided to keep it,” I said.
A sweet glow came over her face. “Yes. It was scary as hell, but now…now I’m really glad and excited.” She rubbed her hand over her huge belly. Over the baby.
My baby? Jesus, this was all so unreal.
“And when will we know if I’m the father?” I asked. “Some kind of test or something?”
“They have some prenatal testing you can do, but I’d rather not do the invasive stuff. There’s also some prenatal blood tests they’ve started doing, but you have to send them off to a lab out of state, and it’s expensive.” She shrugged. “If you want, we can do a blood test after the baby is born.”
“What do you mean if I want?”
She sat back in the booth, both hands now slowly caressing her tummy. “I intended on doing this on my own, Stick. I’m not asking for your help.”
“I’d say that was obvious by the way you kept it under wraps. What about the other possibilities for the father? Do they know?”
She shook her head. “No. He’s out of the picture, was before I knew I was pregnant. Like I said, I intended on doing this on my own. How did you find out, by the way?”
“Lucas saw you somewhere.”
“Hmm. Yeah, I suppose something like that was bound to happen. With you being local and all.”
“But—”
“I would have let you known. After the baby was born. I would have asked if you wanted to be involved. And I would have—will—if it’s…the other guy’s.”
I believed her. Shelly had always been a straight shooter with me. And given the business we did together, there was a high level of mutual trust.
“How are you doing for money?” I asked. I knew the salon was one of the more expensive ones in town, but I couldn’t imagine they had a good healthcare program. So she was probably on some low-priced, piece-of-shit healthcare policy.
Plus, she wasn’t receiving the extra income I had been sending her way for information on her clients’ comings and goings.
She shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She wouldn’t meet my eye as she said it.
“Listen, we’ll figure it out, okay? I’m…I’m not going to let you go through this alone. I can help out financially with the hospital costs and stuff. I…” I knew what I was going to say. I also knew it was going to change my life forever. And that I was about to lose the one thing—the one person—who meant everything to me. “I will be a father to my child.”
Chapter29
