“She just showed me the baby. I asked her why she didn’t tell me. She said her plan was adoption, but she changed her mind. I told her we need to handle it the right way, and I wanted a DNA test.”
“And . . . you wasn’t gon’ tell me.” Her voice wavered.
“I didn’t want to stress you over something that might not even be mine,” I replied. “I wanted facts first.”
I heard her sigh from the other end of the phone. “So you made that decision for me.”
“That wasn’t?—”
“You decide what I can handle,” she continued gently. “You decided what was best for me. Again.”
The word ‘again’ hit like it had back when we were teenagers, crazy in love, and even more hurt. I knew it had killed her inside. I took a deep breath, then exhaled.
“I was trying to protect what we just rebuilt,” I said.
“And I was trusting you,” she replied.
I stood up and started pacing. “Prin, I was going to tell you.”
“When?” she asked. “After the blogs confirmed it? After I got tagged in all the bullshit?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s what happened.”
I rubbed my forehead. I hadn’t even thought of that. Of course, the internet was going to be the internet. They always took a story, twisted it, and turned it into entertainment without any facts. People didn’t care what was true. They just wanted something messy to talk about. I was sure they tagged her or her team in some blogs.
Then I shook my head. I had to be honest with myself. None of it was the people on the internet’s fault. It wasn’t even Amora’s fault. It was mine. Princess was right. I should have told her sooner, regardless of how I felt. All that she asked me was to be honest with her. I didn’t give that to her.
“I’m handling it,” I said. “The test. The lawyers. Everything.”
“That’s not what hurts,” she replied. Her voice changed into a softer tone, more honest. “What hurts is that you didn’t tell me.” I didn’t have a comeback for that. She was right. I remained silent and let her get it all out. “I feel so stupid,” she continued quietly.
My chest tightened. “Stupid? For what?”
“For throwing myself at you last week. For believing we were ready for this.”
That cut me deep. “Don’t say that.”
“But it’s true. We said we weren’t going to move fast. We said we were going to be careful. I guess I should’ve known better.”
“Prin, really? Come on?—”
“I’m not blaming you. It’s on me. You shut me out the moment you decided I couldn’t stand beside you. You didn’t even give me a chance not to run away this time.”
I stopped pacing. I didn’t even realize what she meant until that moment. I did shut her out. I had decided that she would leave. I did decide that she couldn’t handle it and would run away, but I never intended to push her away from me in the process.
“I wasn’t trying to push you away.”
“Well, you did,” she repeated.
Silence filled the line again.
“So what you sayin’?” I asked, my voice low.
“I’m saying . . . maybe we moved too fast,” she admitted. “Maybe we need to go back to what worked.”
My throat went dry. “What worked?”
