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“You’re bone white. Shit, sit down. The soup is nearly ready.”
I took a seat at the table.
“Beer?” he asked.
“Um.” I couldn’t have a beer, I realized. “Maybe just some water.”
He shrugged and pulled out a bottle of water. I took it and gulped it down.
“You didn’t have a bad incident with the car, did you?”
“What?”
“I don’t know, and it’s dark out there. I worry about you driving in the dark.”
“Nothing happened,” I said. “I’m wonderful, Dad.”
I would have to tell him the truth eventually, but I wasn’t ready for that. For one thing, he was going to want to know who the father was immediately, and that was going to open up a whole other can of worms. I didn’t see any way of lying to him, although I probably would have if I thought I could have gotten away with it. It would have been much easier to tell him I’d just had a one-night stand.
But fucking my dad’s best friend was coming back to bite me. The minute the two of them compared notes—as I was sure they would—they would know exactly what had happened.
I’d come clean, of course. I would have to. But I had a few weeks to figure out what I wanted to say.
I ate Dad’s soup, which made me feel better. When I’d finished, we returned to the den and turned the old movie back on.
I couldn’t focus on it. But I was comforted by being in a room with my father, listening to the sounds of monsters mutilating people, and sipping my drink. It felt like I had been through something traumatic, and now I was being wrapped in a familiar and comforting blanket.
When the movie was over, Dad stood up and stretched. “Think I’ll hit the hay,” he said. “You going to bed too?”
“I might stay up and watch TV for a little bit,” I told him. “Would that be okay?”
“Hey, fine with me. Just make sure you get enough rest before work tomorrow.”
“You know I will.” He still acted as if I sometimes couldn’t look after myself.
Then again, maybe I wasn’t. Just look at the predicament I’d gotten myself into! I had no idea what I would do about talking to Brian. I wished there was some way just to avoid it altogether.
I couldn’t do that to him, though. As much of an asshole as he had been to me, I couldn’t match that energy. I couldn’t be an asshole back to him. He deserved to know that he was going to have a child.
I’d tell him.
Our lives would be linked together forever.
But that didn’t mean we’d have to see each other. Maybe he wouldn’t want anything to do with this kid. After all, hewasa selfish jerk.
It was hard to hope my baby’s father wouldn’t want to be involved. But I had to admit, that would make things much easier.
Chapter twenty
BRIAN
“Isthisabadtime?” Henry Barrett asked me.
I pressed the phone against my ear with my shoulder and moved to close my office door. “Not a bad time,” I assured him. “Not very much going on here today—for once. I thought things were never going to die down—but there are actually no feds in the office today, so we might be able to get some work done.”
“Yeah,” Henry said. “That’s why I’m calling. I wanted to check in on you after everything that’s happened.”
“I assume you’ve been talking to Alison.”
