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Could that be true? I wondered.
But no—of course, Brian would act like he felt bad when he was talking to Dad. Dad was his friend. He wouldn’t have that same energy when it was me he was talking to.
“I don’t want to talk to him,” I told my father.
“Well, it’s up to you,” Dad said. “But you can’t keep your phone off forever, you know.”
“I know.”
“I’m just saying, eventually, he’s going to get through.”
“I can keep declining his calls.”
No, you can’t. You do have to talk to him eventually.
Oh, this was maddening. Maybe I should have just taken that call—but the news I had to relate wasn’t the type of subject you wanted to say in front of your father. Or over the phone, for that matter.
“I have to get to work,” I told Dad.
“Will I see you again tonight?”
I bit my lip. “It’s probably time I went home, I can’t keep crashing in my childhood bedroom.”
“You can, you know, this is your home, Allie. You can stay here as long as you’d like.”
“Thanks, Dad. But I need to move on. And I will not do that as long as I hang around here and let you baby me.”
“Listen, Al, whatever Brian said to you—don’t take it too seriously, okay? You know how we military guys can be. A little too gruff. Not great at expressing ourselves.”
“I think he expressed himself just fine.”
“Give the guy a break. I know he didn’t mean the things he said to you. He was just taken aback. I was too, and you forgave me.”
“That is completely different,” I informed him.
“All right,” Dad allowed. “It’s your decision. Get off to work. I’ll see you in a few days.”
“I’ll call you tonight,” I told him.
“There you go. Good girl.”
I got in my car and started to drive in the direction of my office, but I found it impossible to keep my mind on what I was doing. Again and again, my gaze strayed to the phone lying in the passenger seat. Its screen was still dark.
I do need to talk to him. Especially if he’s going to keep calling me and calling Dad, I can’t put this off.
I sighed, steered my car into an illegal U-turn, and set a new course.
Fifteen minutes later, I was pulling out outside Brian’s building.
Am I doing this?
I pulled down the car mirror and checked out my reflection. Fortunately, I was no longer deathly pale, the way I had been the day I found out I was pregnant. I’d noticed increased color in my cheeks lately. It felt to me as though pregnancy agreed with me.
Not that Brian would even notice my looks once he discovered what I was doing here.
Fuck, this was going to be complicated.
I flipped the mirror back up and forced myself to get out of the car. I’d come this far. I would have to bite the bullet and do what I had come here to do. Whatever he said, I could leave within a few minutes. I wasn’t planning to hang around and try to sort out our future. I was going to tell him what he needed to know.
