“Are you sick?” I swallow hard, not wanting to tell him why I was absent.
He looks back at the TV when he realizes I will not answer that question. “You know, the guys didn’t make it over from Corpus to come and see me. I know the girls made it, but no one even came by. I don’t know; maybe they were in Houston, just not over at my house.”
I proceed with caution in how I am going to answer that. “Did the girls go over to see you?”
I nod. “Yes, but we didn’t see the guys here, so maybe they really couldn’t make it. Emma, Ainsley, Val, and l went out. I wasn’t feeling well. I went home and then had to go to school and work the next day. They stayed out with Emma, but I didn’t see the guys around like I said. You know they would have found us.”
He seems to think about this. “Maybe they were busy after all.”
I smile reassuringly. “I am sure they were, Brodie. We all are. I wouldn’t take it personally.” I am sitting on the side of his bed now and get up quickly to comfort him. As I do this, a wave of nausea hits me, and I run to his bathroom and begin to dry heave.
“Liv, are you okay? Are you still sick?” Melissa comes into the room with my drink and hears me retching over the toilet. She comes over to gather my hair and hand me a paper towel. “Here you go, sweetie.”
I carefully wipe my mouth, avoiding any fast movement that could cause nausea to return to full force. She hands me the seltzer water, and I take it, sipping a minimal amount.
“Thank you.”
She nods and immediately looks at my hand, where my large engagement ring catches her eye. Her mouth forms an “O,” and then she looks at my flat stomach. Her eyebrow raising in question is the only indicator I receive that she suspects my nausea has something to do with my early pregnancy. She gets up and walks to the doorway.
“I’ll let you guys catch up.” She turned back to look at me with a sad smile as she shut the door.
The air in the room has shifted. “Brodie…” I trail off, and he shakes his head.
“Liv, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Brodie, I need to talk to you.” I walk over to him and pull up a chair next to his wheelchair. “Brodie, I am pregnant.”
Even though Brodie had his suspicions, I had yet to verbalize the truth–admit to him that I was, in fact, pregnant.
The sob that he lets out is my undoing. I get up and throw my arms around him. “I am so sorry, Brodie. The pregnancy was an accident, but I love Dax and this baby.”
“No, Liv, I’m so sorry.” He looks down at my hand on his arm and gasps in shock. “What the fuck?”
He is staring at my engagement ring. “Dax asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I moved in with him recently since I found out I was pregnant. I’ve been so sick with the pregnancy that he wanted to ease my burden so I didn't have to worry about paying rent or working. He just wanted me to focus on school at this point. Too much stress isn’t good for the baby.”
He just keeps shaking his head. “No, Liv, you were supposed to be mine, never his or anyone else's.”
All I can do is listen to him. I know he has difficulty accepting this, mainly because he is lonely. “We were over before Dax. Our friendship was never over, though. You will always matter to me.”
“I want you to leave Liv. Please leave.”
I stand, feeling like he just verbally slapped me with his words. He always knew how to cut me with his wicked tongue when he didn’t want me to witness his hurt.
“You don’t mean that. How can you say that?”
I hear him call for Melissa on the intercom. A minute later, Melissa is in the room, and she is cautious as she must have listened to the outburst from the room.
“Melissa, can you please escort Liv out? I am not feeling well and would like to get into bed.”
I make a final attempt to reach him. “Come on, Brodie. Please, listen to me. I am so sorry for how this happened.”
He moves his chair over to the bed. “I know, Liv, but I can’t deal with this right now. I want to be alone.”
“Do you want me to come by next week? I know the holidays are coming, but I usually come by.”
“No, I don’t think we are going to be here. My dad mentioned a cruise or getting away for a bit.”
I nod in acceptance. “Oh, well, after the holidays?”
