AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Okay.’ She couldn’t think straight, but she knew his request was hardly unreasonable. She opened her mouth to say something—though what, she wasn’t sure—but he spoke first.
‘I will never forgive you for this.’
He left, and she felt as though the light in her life had been switched off completely.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALICIAWASATserious risk of pacing a hole in the carpet, but she couldn’t stop moving. As the minutes ticked by and the time of Graciano’s arrival drew closer, her body simply wouldn’t stay still. She was like a live wire, incapable of anything but jerking and shifting.
She flicked another glance at her watch, groaning audibly to see how slowly time was moving. Anxiety was running through her. She’d been waiting for the executioner’s blade to drop ever since the hospital two nights earlier, and now, Sunday afternoon, with Annie and a school friend seeing a movie together, she had this small window of time in which she could try to make some order from the wreckage of her life.
Of course, that depended entirely on Graciano, and how reasonable he was prepared to be. It depended on if he’d even give her a chance to explain.
But she sucked in a breath and reminded herself of her new favourite expression:Que cada palo aguante su vela.
He might be angry with her, and rightfully so, but that didn’t change the facts. It didn’t mean she’d been wrong, only that he didn’t understand yet. It was her job to make him see things from her perspective. He might continue to feel furious with her, for what he’d lost. That would be his right. But at least if she’d told him the full story, she’d know she’d done the best she could.
The doorbell rang and she moved to it, knowing that her future depended on the next thirty or so minutes of her life.
Anxiety was a raging fire in her belly as she unlocked it and drew the door inwards, her nerves flaming at the sight of Graciano. Today he was all that was dark, dangerous and sinfully delicious, from his black jeans and dark grey T-shirt to the expression he bore—a scowl crossed with a look of white-hot accusation.
None of it helped her nerves.
‘Hi,’ she murmured under her breath, then cleared her throat. ‘Come in.’
He stepped into the hall behind her, his eyes scanning the walls as he took in the mishmash of photos—Alicia and Annie, photos of the many moments that made up their day-to-day life.
His scowl deepened.
‘I’ve made a pot of coffee. It’s not quite as fancy as your espresso, of course.’ She was nervous—over-talking. She grimaced and moved into the living room, a happy space that caught the afternoon sun and invited one to sit down and settle in. She gestured to the sofas, covered in bright cushions and blankets, and moved to the tray on the coffee table.
‘Can I get you a cup?’
He put his hands on his hips, his nostrils flaring as he expelled a slow breath, then dipped his head once. Glad for something to do, she poured a cup from the French press, then moved towards him, holding it out. His eyes seared hers for a moment before he took it, their fingers brushing so her stomach catapulted through her body.
‘I want to explain—’
Breath hissed from between his teeth, so she faltered.
‘It’s important,’ she finished softly.
He took a drink from the coffee cup, then moved away from her to place it on a side table. He crossed his arms, feet planted wide apart—hardly a gesture of welcome invitation, but she had to get through this.
‘When I found out I was pregnant—’
‘How did you find out?’ he interrupted, but dispassionately, as though it were a fact-finding mission.
‘I did a test.’
‘Why?’
She frowned, remembering that weekend. ‘It was in the middle of a bracing heat spell. I’d gone down to the lake to swim, and as I floated on my back, I just realised that my cycle was late—that I’d been swimming almost every day since you left.’ She didn’t add that it was one of the mechanisms she’d used to cope, that swimming reminded her of him, of being immersed in Graciano in the same way the water wrapped around her. ‘I wasn’t well informed,’ she said wryly. ‘But I’d watched enough TV shows to know that your period being late generally meant one thing.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I skipped school one day,’ she said, plunging herself back into the past. ‘And went to a free clinic. I used a fake name, because my dad seemed to know everyone and I was terrified of him finding out.’ She toyed with the necklace she wore. ‘They gave me a pregnancy test and told me to come back if it was positive. They also gave me a handful of condoms,’ she added with a tight smile, an attempt to lighten the mood, but Graciano’s face was like a storm cloud.
‘The test was positive,’ she said with a lift of her shoulders.
