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The stillness in Duke’s posture and the silence that seems to fill the car is overwhelming.
"Are you sure it's not mine?" He asks. His voice taking on a sad cadence.
"I'm pretty sure, Duke."
He looks deeply into her face, searching for something.
"I would have liked to make a baby with you, Melody."
She looks down at her hands. "I know Duke, but we would never work out, not in the long run, and now? Come on, a single mom and kid that isn't yours. That's not what you want."
"How do you know that's not what I want, Melody? Don’t presume to know what I want." His face pulls into a frown, and he takes her hands in his. "What about the father? Is he still in the picture?" He asks, not letting go of her hands.
"No." She says simply. "He can't know about this baby."
"But he should at least take a financial interest in the baby. I mean, babies are expensive. How are you going to do this alone?"
"I will figure it out, Duke. I always do. Plus I have family back in Tennessee, they will help if I need it." He looks back at her, seemingly unconvinced. "I'll be ok.” She reassures him.
"Sure." He doesn't want to let her go, she can sense that, he has always been protective. Even though they are not dating, the pregnancy may ramp up his instincts a little. She can't let this confuse her boundaries or blur any lines.
“I have to go to the pharmacy now. I'll talk to you later, okay?" She says, opening the door. He is out in a flash, helping her open her door and putting things in the backseat for her.
"Melody, you can call me if you need anything. I am just a phone call away." Duke states, waiting by the driver's side door, not even making a move to get into his car.
She waves at him, starting the engine and driving off. He always waits for her to leave the parking lot first before pulling up behind her. So, she can't just sit in the car and cry like she wants to, and she really wants to fucking cry. He would just pull open the door and try to hug her or something. Hugs are nice, but right now, she needed to process this alone. The lump in her throat is getting bigger, and her eyes burn with unshed tears.
Somehow, she makes it to the pharmacy parking lot. She shuts off the engine, pulling her purse over her lap. She stills, sitting in the silence.
She is pregnant.
She is fucking pregnant.
She laughs. Full-blown hysterical laugh that turns into an ugly cry in a pharmacy parking lot.
She is 26 years old. Having a baby is fine right now. It's fine. It's better with a partner, but it's okay to have a baby on your own. Women have been having babies on their own since, well, forever.
Graham can never know.
He has his entire future ahead of him. She knows he would drop everything the minute she told him. She couldn't do that to him. He is going to do amazing things with his life. He doesn't need to be held back by whatever this was, and now a baby. He wouldn't be able to do everything he was meant to do, everything he was destined to accomplish.
She lightly touches her belly. "We will be ok, little one. Just you and me."
Graham
___________________
After a long discussion with his academic advisor going over his options, they came up with a good plan to get him the fuck out of California.
He was ahead of the game academically. If he loaded up his courses over the next two years, he could be on track to graduate, with honors, hopefully. Then, he would apply to the Physical Therapy program at the University of Tennessee in Nashville.
He wants to be closer to home. This year has been rough, he might not have the same goals as he did last year, but a Physical Therapist was right up his alley, he can still work with athletes if he wanted to. But for now, he just wanted out of California.
This place was suffocating.
He spent a lot of time thinking about Melody, about the kind of life he wanted her to have. If that meant letting her go so she could have that life with someone else, he may have to do just that.
He tried his best to stay away and out of her life, and he did, sort of.
