I swallow hard. “I know it’s not the same. But it was reckless. We were drinking. I told him we should use protection, because we always did, but he sweet-talked me so good that night that I gave in.”
Cody stays quiet. Listening.
“And I got pregnant, obviously. I wasn’t even nervous to tell him because he assured me in the moment that it would be fine if it did happen, and well…that was a lie. He flipped. Like it was my fault. Like I tricked him into it. I was the stupid one, I was the reckless one, it was my problem.”
My voice shakes, but I don’t stop. “That’s when everything started; he was unrecognizable some days.”
The words sit in the air, raw and almost too loud to be in this room.
Cody leans forward, arms resting on his knees, eyes dark. “He said all that to you?”
I nod and he exhales through his nose, slow and controlled, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. Like he wants to hunt the guy down. I know he would too.
“I’m sorry,” he says dryly.
I shrug. “It is what it is.”
It’s quiet. He shifts in his seat again and takes in a breath. “Sounds like we both got duped.”
I let out a quick laugh. “Yeah. You got the ring. I got the baby.”
His mouth twitches a smile. “Hell of a trade.”
I laugh. The space between us isn’t awkward, it’s heavy but familiar. Like we’re both realizing how different our lives turned out to be than we expected.
Cody leans back again, eyes on the monitor. “I’m not looking for anything anymore,” he says quietly. “That whole thing was enough to make me promise myself to stay single.”
I nod slowly, trying to ignore the nudging feeling in my chest. “Yeah. I get that.”
He glances at me, like he’s waiting for me to say more than that.
“I agree. I just want Emma to grow up in a home where no one raises their voice or leaves holes in walls. A place where she never has to wonder if she’s enough. That’s all I care about.”
Cody’s eyes stay on mine a beat longer than they should.
“That’s good, that’s how it should be,” he says after a second, the conversation tapering off.
I glance toward the baby monitor. Emma stirs in the bassinet but then settles.
Cody’s attention is on the TV, which…is in Spanish? Doesn’t matter. I act like I’m watching. I’m not. I’m thinking about him.
The way he’s carried everything for me in these last few weeks. Without even needing to be asked. The moment we left the hospital is something I’ll never forget…
I was standing just outside the sliding doors, under that big steel overhang where the ambulances come and go. It was warm. The nurse was standing beside me, making small talk, waiting while Cody went to get the truck.
She looked at him as he walked away, broad shoulders paired with that quiet intensity he carries everywhere.
“How long you guys been together?” she asked so casually.
I shook my head. “He’s just a friend.”
She blinked like I’d spoken in another language. “Girl,” she said, raised eyebrows and all, “that man is no friend. That manlovesyou.”
I didn’t respond. Just stared at her, heart racing, cheeks burning. Cody pulled up a few seconds later, truck idling warm. He got me and Emma in, the nurse waved us off, and that was it.
But her voice has been living front and center in my brain ever since.
That man is no friend. That manlovesyou.
