I thought if Jude was there, talk about the pregnancy and baby might soften him. Which, I admitted to myself, was illogical. But I still wanted to understand his reasoning. “In what way?”
“I don’t know,” he said on a shrug. “I might agree with her because I can’t see myself with a child.” His voice dropped off at the end. To his credit, he didn’t avert his gaze.
“Jude, don’t you think I’ve thought a hundred times about the potential for this pregnancy to be the cause of us going our separate ways? But as long as we’re still together, I’m asking you just to sit with me, hold my hand, and be there for emotional support. I believe she’s already looking to find an easy way out. And if she says she is, I’m going to need someone to remind me this is her body, her choice. So, will you come with me?”
“All right, and Ethan, I am on your side all the way. Even if at the end, I’m not part of your future as a papa. You’re going to be amazing in whatever role you take with her.”
“Her?” I said, confused. And then I smiled. “You have a premeditation that Gabby’s carrying a daughter.”
“Mmm, just a hunch,” Jude said with a conceited smirk on his face, as if he really could predict the future gender. “How would that make you feel, having a daughter rather than a son?”
My belly rumbled with laughter. When my chortling diminished to chuckling, I said with a smirk. “I can still teach her how to box.”
The next morning, I sent a text to Gabby telling her that Jude and I had grabbed the last picnic table. I wasn’t in the mood for sitting on the stone steps or a picnic blanket. Our conversation required stable seating and plenty of coffee, since Gabby couldn’t have alcohol.
When she jogged up to us, bending at her waist to catch her breath, I teased, “Whoa, since when are you breathing heavy jogging from your home to here?”
“Since depression, anger, and hormones all combined to make me eat fatty comfort foods and sleep away the hours when I’m not working.”
I stood to give her a hug and then appraised her by holding her arms out. “You still have a rocking body.”
“He’s right,” Jude said. “You look great.”
“Thanks,” Gabby said to Jude. “I’m glad you’re here.” And then she side-eyed me. “You’ll help keep him stable.”
“Gabby, you do remember that Jude and I have already been through the wringer the last two days.”
“Hey,” she said, her hands on her hips. “You can blame my wife for walking out without notice. If you weren’t part of this pregnancy, I’d never have added to your stress.”
I kissed on the cheek. “Sit down and I’ll grab our orders. I already have Jude’s; do you want the usual?”
“Please, E. Thank you.”
I crossed the street, put in the food order, and as soon as I got the coffees, I took them to the table. “Two vanilla lattes for you and a café au lait for me.” I took a cautious sip after blowing on it and jogged back again in time for the woman in the food truck to hand me three burritos wrapped in paper, along with napkins.
I handed out the burritos just as Gabby was telling Jude, “I’m only five weeks in and I have symptoms already. I didn’t believe I could and figured it was just stress, but the midwife confirmed that signs can be as early as two weeks but the norm is five.”
“Other than eating foods that you normally never touch, are there other signs?” Jude asked, seemingly trying to show interest.
“Yes, and I have over half of them. All too boring to go through except mood swings, which aren’t supposed to be until eight weeks.”
I waited until we had taken a few bites of food and drank some coffee before I asked, “Gabby, did Belle really leave based on your dishonesty? That seems pretty drastic.”
“No, on her end, it wasn’t drastic at all. She said that I turned into a bitch with the whole baby thing, and that gave her the green light to find someone else to fuck her.”
I choked on the food in my mouth and grabbed a napkin to keep me from spitting any out. When I’d wiped my face, thanks to Jude giving my thigh a brief squeeze, I tamped down my anger at Belle. “Is that who she was staying with when you two had split?”
“At first, she denied everything. But after I began pushing her for answers, she admitted that she had most of her things at her sister’s house but that she was with the girlfriend enough to know that she wasn’t going to put up with my bullshit any longer. The next words out of her were, ‘I’m filing for a divorce’.”
“No discussion about it?” Jude asked.
Gabby gave one sharp shake of her head. “None.”
Jude slapped the table, seemingly in frustration. “It’s ironic that she found me dating Ethan immoral but cheating on you wasn’t? What a bitch.”
“I said the same thing to her. She’d gone on about you and Ethan for an hour after we left.”
“What she did was so fucking wrong. I’m not at all saying she had cause to cheat on you,” I said, keen on Gabby not misunderstanding me. “But was any part of you being a bitch true?”
