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“I didn’t just come to check on you.” He shifted on his feet. “I want to talk.”
“We already talked.” She hurried toward her car, her steps fast because she could smell him, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed his scent until now. Her glasses slipped down her nose, so she shoved them back into place. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big girl.”
“Can we talk?” he repeated.
“Talk. I’m listening.” She hit the unlock button on her car, touching the frame of her glasses. “But honestly, I think we’ve said all there is to say, don’t you?”
“But I don’t mean—” He caught her wrist, pulling her hand down and trying to hold on to it, but she jerked free. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “What I mean is, can we talk without you running away from me?”
She stopped at her car, facing him. “I’m not running. I just have things to do that don’t involve you anymore.”
“Like what?” His gaze dropped to her belly, then back up. “Is…is everything okay?”
Loneliness shone in those tormented blue eyes. His eyes shone with concern for her, and it would be so easy to misread that as more than it was. She’d already misread him once. She wouldn’t be doing it twice. “Yes.”
“Have you been to a doctor yet?” he asked, lowering his voice.
“No.” She hugged herself. “I have my first appointment at ten tomorrow.”
He nodded. “You’re pale. Are you still getting sick all the time?”
“Yes, but I’m not pale.” She shoved her hair out of her face when a gust of wind blew it in front of her eyes. “I’m just hungry, is all.”
“I can take you to that place on Fifth and—”
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly. “I’m fine on my own.”
“I can see that,” he said slowly. “It’s just…I’d like to talk to you, and maybe if we go out to eat, we can have some time together.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You were right the other day. What we had was supposed to be fun, and…and…not this. This isn’t fun. It’s not what you wanted.”
“It’s not what you wanted, either,” he pointed out, shoving hi
s hands in the pockets of his pants. “But maybe together we can find a way to make it work anyway. I owe it to you to—”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she said sharply.
He winced, stepping closer. “I’m sorry.” He locked eyes with her, and what she saw there, the sincerity in his eyes, stabbed her right through the heart. “I didn’t mean what I said the other day, and I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just… I panicked, I guess.”
“It’s often when we panic that our true feelings come out,” she managed to say through her throbbing throat. “But it’s fine. We both knew what we were when we started. Just because I’m…because I’m pregnant…it doesn’t change anything. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe you anything, either. We’re just two people, going about our lives separately.”
He frowned, stepping closer. She backed up but hit her car. There was nowhere else to go besides in it. “That’s not true. I didn’t mean those things. We’re more than sex. We weren’t just fucking.”
“Yes, we were,” she said, tears stinging her eyes. “And now, we’re not.”
He made a broken sound. “Kass—”
“Don’t. Don’t look at me like that. It’s not fair.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Like you care about me. You don’t. And don’t tell me you do.” She reached blindly for the handle. “Just…leave me alone, okay? Stop calling. Stop texting. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and for me. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. And I don’t need you.”
“Let me try again,” he begged, reaching out for her hand. “Please, let me have another chance. I can’t say where we’ll end up, or what’s gonna happen, but—”
“No. I can’t do that anymore.”
“I can try to be what you need,” he said desperately. “If you give me a chance, I can try.”
