“Oh, bunny. Come on, sit.” He led to her to the couch, tenderness overriding his anger and confusion.
“I got a call from my brother Rich a week ago. He said he ran into a guy he knows, who knows Derek, who told him you two had split up.”
She nodded.
“When did that happen, Krissa? Why?”
“It happened the day you left.”
He felt like someone had just punched him in the gut. “Huh?”
“The day you left…Derek went out and met up with his ‘girlfriend’,” she made air quotes with her fingers. “Or whoever she is. He’d cheated on me with her before, apparently. Some agent who works for him. I was out and I saw them together. I waited up for him and asked him who she was.”
“Oh Christ.” He stared at her, reached for her hands, closed her small fingers in his. “I’m sorry, Krissa.”
“He told me everything, Nate. He told me about him and Lauren.”
“Oh.” He closed his eyes. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. I can’t believe they did that.”
“Neither could I.”
“You must have been devastated.”
He opened his eyes and met hers. “I already knew she’d been screwing around. Finding out who it was with was just…well, yeah, I was pissed.”
“Me, too.”
“So…when you found out, you left him?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Call you where? I didn’t know where you went. I didn’t even know your cell phone number. And I thought you wanted to leave, wanted to get away from us. I wasn’t going to beg you to come back.”
“But…the baby.” He almost growled. “Why thehelldidn’t you tell me about that?”
“Is this when we have the fight?”
He stared at her, then burst out laughing. “Damn right. I’m pissed about that.”
“You’re laughing.”
“Christ, you make me laugh.” He shook his head, tugged her closer. “But Iammad about that, Krissa. You should have told me.”
“I found out I was pregnant over six weeks later. I kind of forgot about keeping track of things, with staying with Cam and then finding my own place. I knew I had to let you know. I was planning to track you down after Christmas.”
“So you were going to tell me?”
“Yes, of course. You have to know.” She touched her fingertips to his cheek. “I just didn’t want to make any demands on you. The whole idea was that you would just…”
“Donate my sperm.”
“Yes.”
He pressed his lips together.
