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“Sorry, I was just worried about you.” He smiled at me. I remembered a time when his smile would cause butterflies in my stomach, but there was nothing now.
He was handsome in a unique sort of way. His hair was jet black, his eyebrows thick. His eyes were a rich brown and framed by glasses. He was older than me and the lines on his face gave that away, but he looked mature rather than old. His nose was a little crooked, his mouth thin, but he had a charm about him that appealed to not only me, but clearly to other women, too.
We had remained amicable at work, and I had refused to entertain any discussion about our past relationship. I tried to pretend as if it had never happened, but Tony tried to bring it up every chance he could.
He’d asked for me to come back to him.
He’d even begged a little, which took me by surprise. A man like him, he didn’t need me. He could have almost any one of his grad students. So why me?
He had told me I was special, but not special enough to wait until our wedding for sex, apparently.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
“No, I need to talk to Dr. Jeffries,” I said.
Tony’s frown lines deepened. “Your advisor?”
“Yes. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
As I went to push past him, my sweater sleeve rose up just enough to show the test in my hand. Tony grabbed my hand before I could get past him and pulled the packaging from me. He held it up with a low whistle. “So you’re not fine,” he said.
“Iamfine,” I spat back, trying to snatch it from his hands, but he was too tall and kept it just out of reach.
He offered a grin. “Seems I wasn’t the only one having fun over the holidays. What happened to waiting, Harper?”
“I realized it wasn’t worth it, not when you meet someone that is actually special.”
“You aren’t going to hurt my feelings, Harper. So, who is this lucky man?”
“It’s none of your business,” I said.
“Will there be wedding bells in your future?”
“Again, none of your business.”
“Considering we had barely been broken up, and I don’t take you for the cheating type, I'm guessing this was a fling,” he said. “And I’m guessing this isn’t a welcomed pregnancy, either.”
I didn’t answer him, nor did I continue to fight to get the test back. I wasn’t about to give him the pleasure of it. I turned on my heels to leave. He could keep the test since I already had the answers I needed.
“Harper, wait. I’m sorry. I’m just surprised, that’s all.” He stepped in front of me again.
I tried to walk around him but it was useless.
“Just hear me out, Harper. Please.”
“I don’t have much of a choice if you’re not going to let me leave.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
“If you need a father for your child, and the other man is, well, not available, please know that I would be more than happy to raise the child as my own. I don’t care about things like DNA—I love you and I would love your baby no matter what.”
My heart softened for a second before I remembered what he had done to me. “I’d rather be a single mom than take you up on an offer like that.”
“Harper, please, just think about it,” he said. He handed me the test back and stepped aside for me to pass. “After all, it can be very hard for a single mom in academia to make a living for herself. I could take care of you.”
I didn’t entertain his offer with another answer.
I had to meet with my advisor. He was right about one thing—academia wasn’t going to be too kind to a single, pregnant mother, and I knew that as things progressed in my pregnancy, it might get harder to keep up with everything that needed to be done.
I was going to ask for a leave of absence. I would find a job, try to earn some money in the meantime. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about how hard this was going to be.
