When the meeting ended, a fire lit under my ass and I made sure I was the first one out the door. I swung by to grab my bag from the locker room but I didn’t stop to chat, I barely even slowed down enough for my teammates to move out of my way.
I would need to talk to Mack and Ronnie at some point but right then all I wanted was my Melody. I’d been so worried about her.
It had been two days since our date and I’d not heard a word from her. After sending her home sick, I’d felt like a class A prick but she’d insisted. And I wasn’t one to argue with a stubborn Melody.
I had expected a phone call that night and when I heard nothing I started to worry. Ever since it had been a constant stream of worry and panic.
As I walked through the stadium, heading towards my car I was weighing my options. Should I ring and risk sounding obsessive? What a stupid question, I had to at least give her a call.
I’d just climbed into the car when my phone started to ring. I looked down to see Melody’s name flashing on the screen.Had she heard my - obsessive - thoughts?
“Hey, Mel!” I answered quickly, the excitement in my tone was almost laughable.
Dude, calm down.
“Hey.”
“I’m glad you called, are you feeling any better?”
“Aww, that’s very sweet of you, Callum. Thank you for your concern, I’m feeling much better but that’s not the reason I called. I need to see you. Like right now.”
“Okay. Did you wanna meet me at the club?”
“No, are you at home?”
“I’m just leaving the stadium, I’ll only be a few minutes.” For some reason, I feel nervous. She sounded serious. I hoped nothing was wrong.
“Okay, I’ll be there in five. Be ready to leave, okay?”
“Sure thing.”
Isqueezed my eyes tight shut trying to rid myself from the sting of my tears.
I was a baby. At nearly thirty years old, it wasn’t cute, it was weak and pathetic.
I wasn’t a crier, I never had been. I hated to let anything affect me so much that it caused me physical hurt. But right then, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Couldn’t move, couldn’t even close my mouth enough to keep the hideous, loud sobs in.
I felt lower than I’d been in a long time. I remembered the last time I had cried, it was the night Ava broke her wrist. But the last time I’d cried this hard, was the night I let Callum walk away from me.
What was I even crying for? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure.
The plastic stick still clutched in my hand trembled as I did. It was negative. I’d thought that was what I’d wanted. I’d panicked at the thought of history repeating itself, I’d felt abandoned last time. Figured that if he couldn’t even accept something as mediocre as my job, how would he have reacted to the pregnancy.
Not well, I had imagined.
Maybe this was a wake-up call, the one I needed. I’d been kidding myself thinking that I could continue on forever hiding the twins from their father. That was what this was, deja vu. I could see it all play out in my mind and that only made the tears come faster.
Callum would see me with them at some point and he’d piece it together. Caught in yet another lie that I couldn’t get myself out of, he’d walk away.
But this time it would be forever.
No looking back. No second chances.
This was my second chance - my only chance to make this right.
And, ok, maybe I had some feelings of resentment towards the negative pregnancy test. I’d always dreamed of having a big family, a houseful of kids, but deep down I knew that if I were to one day have that with Callum. I needed to fix this. Like, yesterday.
Crawling over to the toilet, I pulled off some toilet paper and dabbed it against my eyes. After they were seemingly dry, I got up off the floor and stepped to the sink.
