AllFreeNovel
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“Sure,” I say. Of course he wouldn’t have my number, still. Even then, I changed it a long time ago, right after the incident.
Taking Max’s phone, I notice the lock screen of a photo of him with a blond woman, smiling, both holding glasses of wine.
Swallowing, I hand it back to him. “I need your passcode.”
“Oh, sorry.” He types it in, and the screen is now filled with apps.
He has a girlfriend. Or a wife. I glance at his left hand, trying to be as casual as possible, but there’s no wedding band. Maybe he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t wear one or loses it. Why is he here if he has her?
I type my full name into his contacts and enter my number. Max takes his phone back and types something in. My phone in my purse vibrates, and my eyes close.
“I just texted you,” he says, shaking his phone at me. “Did you get it?”
“I think I got it.”
“Can you check?” He smiles, and my knees go weak.
I pull out my phone. Hi from a 619 area code.
“Got it.”
“Great,” he says. His smile is unfair. Completely unfair. I’m not sure how I’ll survive a dinner with him, after I tell him everything, knowing he has a hot girlfriend who he decided to stay with. He may even have a child or two. He sure had strong sperm.
Thinking about Olive potentially having a sibling makes me woozy. Baby steps. First step: Get through party. Second step: Freak out in private. Third step: Prepare every possible scenario for dinner tonight. Maybe prepare a flow chart.
Max’s smile spreads to a grin, and I lock my knees so I don’t fall. He’s still so handsome. No wonder my daughter is so good-looking.
“I’ll see you tonight at six o’clock at La Scarola on Rosella Drive in Auburn,” he says. He shoves his hands in his pockets and hesitates. Does he want to hug me? Why is he here? What does he want to say?
The moment fades away as he walks away toward what I assume is his car. It’s a gray sedan, modest, unlike Burke’s car.
He stops, turns around, and I brace for whatever he has to say.
“It’s really good to see you. To know you’re real. That I didn’t imagine it.”
My mouth flops open as he nods with a closed mouth smile and walks away. My hands shake against my legs. As he pulls away, gravel sputters from his tires, and I let out a sigh so loud it startles me. Ripping open my purse’s zipper, I pull out my phone.
I tap to open my contacts and find the Bs. I haven’t talked to her in a few months, since she recently had a baby and I know how discombobulating that can be. Still, she needs to know. She was there.
It rings three times, and I think it’s going to voicemail. Instead, she answers, and I gulp air because I’ve been holding my breath.
“Emily, hey, what’s going on?” Caroline asks. “It’s been ages!”
I take a deep breath. “Caroline, he’s back.”
The line goes dead like she hung up on me. Then, I hear an “Oh shit.”
Emily
Ten Years Ago
“You can do this,” Caroline said.
I cradled my phone in my left hand and a positive pregnant test in my right. I found out I was pregnant two days, three hours, and fifty-three minutes ago. My finger hovered over the number in my phone, and I let out a huff of air.
This was a nightmare. The first time I ever had sex, and I got a plus sign. Just my fucking luck.
I had just turned twenty, still home from school for the summer. My roommate at USC, Caroline, was up for the day from her parents’ house in Lillyvale, a town about an hour from us. At lunch, I told her I didn’t feel good, and we did menstrual math together. She knew about losing my virginity to Max, and she had joked, “What if you’re pregnant?”
