Shit. Shit. Shit.
This was not how Marlee had wanted Eli to find out. She’d hoped to tell him gently after she’d had time to think of the best way to break the news.
She shoved the swinging doors into the kitchen, Eli following behind. Everyone else on staff shuffled in behind him. Her parents and ScottyandBrittney brought up the rear.
“Scotty’ll never let you go now,” he said, his volume higher than normal.
“Why would Scotty have any say in this?” she asked, ignoring the fact that Scotty was right there. “And he already let me go.”
“I didn’t know you were pregnant, Leelee.” Scotty pushed through the small crowd, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Eli looked like he was about to cut it off with a butcher knife.
“Scotty.” Brittney’s tone was ice.
“It’s Marlee. Not Leelee.” Marlee kept her focus on Eli while she addressed Scotty, shaking his hand from her shoulder. He could take his stupid nickname and shove it right alongside the unused thank-you cards for their wedding gifts.
“Maybe you two should talk this out.” Eli pulled the bandana from his skull.
“Why would you think I want to talk to Scotty about this?” None of this made any sense. Unless…
Seriously?
Eli thought the baby was Scotty’s? He thought she wanted Scotty? “Eli, I haven’t been with Scotty in forever. Not like that. I’ve been withyou.”
Eli didn’t say anything.Gah. He didn’t get it.
“I haven’t had”—she nearly saidsexin front of her parents—“relations”—there, much better—“with Scotty since weeks before the wedding. He claimed that he wanted the night to be special, so we took a break.”
“Perhaps you should take this someplace more private?” Sadie suggested.
Marlee glanced behind her. Sure enough, her parents stood wide-eyed next to Scotty.
“The kid’s mine?” Eli asked. The apparent shock kind of pissed her off and hit her like a right hook to the jaw.
For a smart guy, he was being really stupid.
“Who else’s could it be?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“Even when we weren’t careful, we were careful,” he said, the expression on his face one of genuine confusion.
“I guess that doesn’t always matter.” She lifted her shoulder even as her stomach plummeted. She needed to get out of there.
She pushed passed the group, her heels clicking against the kitchen floor toward the heavy brown door under the greenEXITsign.
The door slammed shut behind her. She took a gulp of air, her eyes getting warm with tears that she refused to let fall.
“Mar.” Eli jogged to catch up with her.
She paused in the alley, a security lamp on the building spilling fluorescent light on them. The air was chilled, but she crossed her arms around herself and ignored it.
“You didn’t tell me.” He was clearly hurt.
“Iwasgoing to tell you. You said not to tell you if it was going to piss you off.” She tossed her hands to the side. “You don’t have to do anything.”
“Why wouldn’t I do anything?”
“You don’t want kids.”
