“I guess I’ve been a screw up, huh? I’m sorry. That was never intentional.”
“I know. You met your person, and you didn’t waste any time. Everyone should get to experience that at least once.”
“You never came close?”
Alandra snorted. “With these options? The dating pool is trash. I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’ll probably be single forever. I think I’ll just save my money and when I’m ready, I’ll have a kid using a sperm donor.”
“It’s that bad?” I questioned.
“Whatever you’re thinking it’s worse.”
“Damn. I’m never getting married again anyway. Look, I’ve been sad and depressed long enough. I’m not trying to bring you down, either. Let’s go get some food and drinks. No strings attached. Just two friends catching up. Cool?”
Alandra smiled. “Cool. I saw how shit faced you were at the bachelor party that night. Please don’t get that drunk again. You looked like you were two seconds away from throwing up.”
Laughing, I stood up. “I’m done with that shit. I felt like a bitch throwing up the next morning. There’s got to be better ways to handle heartbreak.”
“Ice cream usually works for me.”
Alandra and I walked along the beach. I knew exactly what restaurant I wanted to go to. It was one of my favorites. The food was good, and the drinks were strong. Two drinks were my limit. I had no plans on getting dumb drunk. Inside the restaurant, the hostess seated us, and I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.
Easing it out, my heart slammed into my ribcage when I saw that London was calling. She never called me. I immediately thought something might be wrong with the baby. “Hello?”
“Hey, oh, are you busy?”
“Nah, I just came to High Tide for food and drinks. Is everything okay?”
“Yes. I’m sorry to bother you, I swear I am, but I’ve been putting baby furniture together all day, and my back is killing me. There’s one more thing. My uncle can do it next week if you can’t, but I really didn’t want the box in the way.”
“Of course, I can. Why are you putting furniture together anyway? I could do that.”
“I like putting things together. It’s not a big deal. If you coming over will make you feel some kind of way, I can get my uncle to do it.”
“No, I’m good. We have to get used to co-parenting anyway, right? I’ve accepted what it is. I’ll come by tomorrow if that’s cool.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Seeing London wasn’t going to be easy, but it wasn’t like I didn’t see her often anyway. At the rehearsals. I was going to see her at the wedding. I was going to see her when my son was born. I couldn’t avoid her forever, and I couldn’t be in my feelings every time I saw her. It was what it was.
The next day, I stopped by London’s house as promised to put whatever it was that she wanted together. She answered the door dressed in black gym shorts and a tank top. It hadn’t even been a week since I saw her, but I swear, her ass and stomach were both bigger. I had to force myself to stop looking at her juicy ass thighs. Fuck.
“Hey,” I gave a slight nod.
“Thank you for coming. I couldn’t keep bending over or getting up off the floor. It was starting to kill me after a minute.”
“Still being hardheaded I see.” Shaking my head, I followed her up the stairs.
“I don’t think wanting to be independent is being hardheaded. I listen to my body, and I know when to quit.”
I didn’t respond because I couldn’t tell London what to do. Following her into the room that would belong to our son, my chest tightened. There was a jungle theme. A changing table was in one corner and a crib in the other. A small bookshelf had been put together, and there were already books and stuffed animals on it. The box in the middle of the room contained a toy chest.
“You ran into Elandra, huh?”
My head whipped up. “How do you know that?”
“Did you forget who you are? Shoot, who I am. I’m on a reality TV show, and you’re still technically my husband. Of course, the blogs were going to report you being out with another woman.”
