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When I get to the arena, I look around, seeing not many cars are here. It is an optional day, but I told Xavier I would come and work out with him. I pull open the door and step onto the blue carpet, walking toward the locker room. There are some new pictures of Xavier and me from the Stanley Cup game on the wall as I walk down the hall.
Xavier is sitting at his spot on the bench, drinking a pre-workout drink as I walk in. “Hey.” I walk beside him to my spot, putting my keys and phone on the shelf.
“Talk about getting here on time.” He laughs at me when I take off my shirt.
“Sorry I’m late,” I apologize to him. “Also, I have to be out of here at ten fifty-five.”
He looks at me for a second, and I avoid his eyes. “Is everything okay?”
“Not really,” I admit to him, sitting down. The pressure of not telling him weighs heavy on me. In the last year, he’s been like a brother to me and vice versa.
He looks at me with concern on his face. “Is everything okay?” he repeats, his voice low. Then he gets up and walks over to the shower area to see who is in there and then over to the door, sticking his head out before closing the door behind him. “Is it Penelope?”
I shake my head. “No.” My heart speeds up in my chest so fast and hard it feels like it’s going to jump out of my chest. I rub my hands on my legs, trying to wipe the sweat off them. “This has nothing to do with her.” My heart lurches up and then down like a wave in the ocean.
“What is it?” He cocks his head to the side.
“You have to promise me that you won’t tell a soul.” He nods his head. “Not even Vivienne.” I take a second. “Or Beatrice.” Beatrice is his support dog, who is also kind of his therapist.
“I would never betray your trust like that,” he assures me, and I one-thousand-percent believe him.
“Okay.” I take a deep exhale. “I don’t know how to say this, so I think I’m just going to come right out and say it.” He just waits for me. “I’m the father of Abigail’s baby,” I say the words out loud and watch his face. It goes from worry to confusion and then to shock, followed by a loud gasp.
His hand flies to the top of his head before he jumps up. “Why would you tell me this?” he shrieks. “Oh my God, how could you tell me this?”
“You asked,” I point out to him as he starts pacing in front of me.
“Oh my God,” he chants over and over again. “You.” He points at me. “You were the one who left her.”
I hold up my hands. “I did not leave her. I didn’t even know. I found out she was pregnant when I got back. It killed me. I thought she was dating a doctor or someone. Then I found out on Sunday she was fifteen weeks, and I put two and two together.”
“You had sex with Abigail?” he asks, and I nod my head. His mouth opens now as something else dawns on him. “On the family vacation?” I nod again. “Unreal.”
“Does Dylan know this?” he asks, turning around to make sure we’re still alone.
“That is why I’m leaving at eleven. We are flying to tell Justin this afternoon,” I admit to him, and then my shoulders slump. “I don’t know how he’ll take it, but it is what it is.”
“This is…” He puts his hands on his hips. “You swore me to secrecy over the biggest secret.”
“You need to leave now and go and bare your truth so I can bear mine.” He grabs the shirt I just took off and tosses it to me. “Like right now.” He then grabs my keys and phone and holds them out for me. “The sooner, the better.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, putting on the shirt.
“I have never been more serious in my life,” he assures me, his chest rising and falling. “It’s ten o’clock.” He looks at his Apple Watch. “Get on the plane in an hour, that’s eleven, get to New York in, what… three hours, if you tell the pilot to gun it.” I roll my lips. “So sitting down with Justin at four his time. I can tell Vivienne at three thirty our time.” He puts his hand on his head. “This is huge.”
“It’s not that huge.” I try to calm myself down and his eyebrows just pinch together. “You aren’t helping with nerves.”
“You know what would have helped?” He puts his hands again on his hips. “Not having sex with Abigail.”
I just laugh as I grab my things. “I’ll never take that one night back.”
“It was one night?” He throws his hands up in the air. “Go play the lottery while you’re at it.”
I shake my head, and the door opens, so both of us stop talking when Chase comes in, “Everything okay in here?” he asks, and I just nod, pretending everything is okay.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Xavier asks, trying to act cool and failing miserably. “Of course it’s cool.” He picks up his drink. “I’m going to work out.”
“I have a family emergency,” I finally say to him. “Got to go,” I say before walking out of the room. “Here goes nothing,” I mumble to myself.
