Jack falls still. “What about her?”
There’s a pause, and Jack repeats, “What about her?”
“I’m so sorry,” the woman says. “She’s had a miscarriage. The fetus is gone.”
My whole fucking world turns upside down.
Gone? Our fawn is… gone?
Arthur scrambles to his feet.
“No!” he grips the edge of the table. “That can’t be right!”
My blood is rushing too fast through my ears to hear what the representative says next. But then I hear Jack answer, “We understand.”
After exchanging a few more words with DreamTogether, he hangs up and puts the phone down.
Arthur whimpers, and tears are cascading down his face. Running to his side, I wrap him in my arms and pull him in closer. He turns his head, burying it in my shoulder, and lets himself cry.
When I look up, Jack is staring at us, looking utterly lost.
“Poor Bree,” says Arthur, now crying harder. “I hope she’s okay.” He looks up then and scowls at Jack. “And you didn’t even ask! You don’t give a shit about her!”
Jack says nothing, but his lips twist.
I hold Arthur closer because my world, too, is collapsing. The fawn we all made together is gone, a life snuffed out too early.
But then Arthur pushes me off and surges to his feet.
“I’m going over to Bree’s place,” he says, stalking to the front door without a second look at either of us. “Someone needs to be there for her.”
Jack gapes at him. “You’re leaving? Now?”
“Yeah.” Arthur pauses, glancing at both of us over his shoulder as we follow him through the kitchen. “You can kick me out if you want, Jack. Fine.”
Jack’s mouth opens to object, but Arthur’s already going. The door falls closed behind him, and we hear his junky old car start up in the driveway.
He’s right. Bree’s all by herself, and she just lost a fawn, too. Did it hurt? Is she in pain even now? Is she as devastated as I am?
“Fuck it,” I say as I push past Jack. Arthur knows what’s right. He’s always followed his own moral compass, and now, I think I should, too. “I’m going with him.”
Jack doesn’t speak to me as I grab my wallet and head out the door. I wave at Arthur as he pulls out of the driveway, and he puts on the brake so I can hop into the passenger seat.
Arthur shoots me a grateful look, and I nod in return.
Just as Arthur is about to gun it, the front door opens and Jack comes out. He waves for us to stop.
“I’m coming,” he growls as he gets into the back seat, “so don’t drive like a lunatic, Arthur.”
Fourteen
Jack
It’s the worst thing that could have happened, losing our fawn. When we got the call, my heart broke into a thousand pieces.
I never knew I wanted to be a dad so badly, but now that my chance is gone, I feel empty. My home life is a disaster and we have nothing to show for it, no hope left for the future.
Even now, I’m not sure why I went with them. I probably shouldn’t have come. This is something delicate, something better handled by Arthur and Bennett, who know Bree already and have a relationship with her. My only relationship with her is having sex with her in that room, then telling her to get out of my house and never come back. She won’t want to see me right now.
