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I would be able to hide out in my apartment and lock the door if I didn’t want to see him. While we were here, there wasn’t anywhere I could go to avoid him.
There was a knock on the door. I looked up, expecting to see the doctor.
But the nurse was back again and had a bouquet of roses in a gift shop vase. She set them beside my bed.
I frowned. “What’s this about?” If it was part of an attempt to brighten up my room, it wasn’t necessary. “You know I’m about to leave, right?”
“These were sent to you,” the nurse explained.
For a wild moment, I wondered if they might have come from Michael. Maybe this was his way of asking me back to work on the movie.
She handed me an envelope and smiled.
I waited until she was out of the room, then ripped it open and pulled out the card.
My eyes went right to the signature, and my stomach turned upside down. The flowers were from Jake.
Why was he sending me flowers? He hadn’t even bothered to come visit me.
You didn’t want him to come to visit you, I reminded myself fiercely. It didn’t make any sense to be hurt that he hadn’t come. I hadn’twantedhim to come.
Or had I?
I returned to the top of the card and read from the beginning.
Olivia—
I hardly know what to say to you. Everything between the two of us seemed to go so wrong so fast. But maybe after years of misunderstandings between us—and insensitivity on my part—that was bound to happen.
I was standing outside your door when your doctor told you about your pregnancy.
My blood froze.
He knew.
He had known since yesterday.
A thousand possibilities occurred to me all at once. He had fled Maui, leaving only this card in his wake. This was his way of apologizing for the fact that he couldn’t step up to help deal with a surprise pregnancy.
Well, who asked you to?I thought irritably.
I realized I was gripping the card so tightly that it had slightly bent. I took a deep breath and forced myself to keep reading.
The door hadn’t closed all the way. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard your conversation with the Doctor.
I should have come and talked to you right then. But I felt you wouldn’t want to see me. Lately, it seems like you don’t want anything from me. Maybe that’s understandable. And maybe you won’t want me to have any involvement here.
I want to respect whatever you want to do.
But I want you to hear me out before you decide. Will you please talk to me, Olivia? One conversation, so I can explain myself. That’s all I ask.
If the answer is yes, tell the nurse, and she will let me know.
If the answer is no… I’m catching a flight tonight at five o’clock, and I guess I’ll see you back at home.
Love,
Jake.
