Right there is my name, printed in bold. She doesn’t bend to help, frozen in place, instead.
I scramble to shove the rest of the photos into my purse, barely managing to keep it together.
I’m so screwed.
Absolutely, one hundred percent screwed.
We stay like that for a second longer, while her eyes dart everywhere…my belly, the photo, my name. The date.
She doesn’t say anything.
Not for a long-ass time.
Finally, I manage to get up, grabbing the bench for support, pulling myself up. My knees aren’t cooperating and I’m not even sure I can stand straight.
“Please, Corinne.” My voice is just air, no sound at all. I barely recognize it. “Don’t tell Ben. Please.”
That snaps her out of it.
She blinks, mouth falling open like she’s just now realizing I can talk. “What the hell, April?” She keeps her voice low,but there’s real heat behind it. “This—this wasn’t exactly what I expected to see.”
I wrap my arms tight around my stomach. I can’t do this. I can’t have her looking at me like I’m some awful person.
“It’s not Ben’s,” I blurt. “It can’t be Ben’s. I swear.”
She narrows her eyes, “Really. That's interesting timing, don’t you think?”
I almost dropped my bag. My chest is too tight for air.
Corinne steps closer, voice lowering. “Please, if this baby belongs to Ben, he needs to know.”
I shake my head. Everything in me wants to double down, but the words come out a jumbled mess. “It’s not him. I promise. Please. Don’t say anything, Corinne. He has enough to deal with; he doesn’t need this.”
Her eyes go to my stomach again, then back to my face. “You’re telling me you slept with someone else around the same time?”
I want to lie. I really do.
“No. It was six weeks before I met him. Promise me,” I whisper, tears on the verge, blurring her face. “He can never know. Please.”
She sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. I know she doesn’t believe me. But I’m telling the truth. At least that part. Ben and I never had actual sex. But I’m already mortified with seeing her, I don’t want to go into details about my sex life or the night I actually got pregnant.
I watch as she’s replaying every detail in her head, lining up the clues. “Sure. Fine. Whatever you want.”
But her eyes say otherwise.
Corinne takes a step back, scanning me one last time, and for a moment I’m positive she’s about to call Ben right here in the hallway.
Instead, she nods, “Take care of yourself, April.”
Then she’s gone, leaving me in a puddle of shame and terror.
I slide down onto the bench, face in my hands. If secrets had a weight, I’d be crushed.
He can’t know.
If Ben ever found out, my entire world would explode even more than it already has. It would be like losing him all over again. And for about thirty seconds, that’s all I can think about.
Chapter 14
