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“Like I said, Todd is a nice man. But we’re not like you and Reed, or Ruby and Bo, or Naomi and Pierce.”
Analyn shook her head. “It wasn’t like lightning struck and we knew we’d found our soulmate the minute we met. Well, maybe it was like lightning, but everything you’re saying, I said too. And you know Ruby and Naomi did as well.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “What do you want, Betts? How do you feel?”
I sucked in a breath and looked down, too afraid to articulate my desires or feelings.
“That bad, huh?”
“Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be,” I said, hoping she’d drop it.
She studied me for a long moment and then nodded. “Okay. You know I’m here for you, whatever you need.”
“I do. Thank you.”
After Analyn left, I made myself some tea and took it out to the little balcony off my kitchen, needing a moment to settle.
I was going to have a baby.
My mind suddenly filled with all the things having a baby involved, such as getting a doctor and taking childbirth classes and preparing a space. Maybe I needed to look at buying a home, although I didn’t have the finances for that.
I blew out a long, shuddering breath. My life, from this day forward, was drastically different. I didn’t want to do it alone. To answer Analyn’s question, I wanted to do it with Todd. But I couldn’t allow myself to consider it.
For my baby’s sake, I needed to live in reality, and the reality was that Todd didn’t love me and didn’t want a new family.
23
Todd
The weekend was uneventful, but that was because Dean spent most of the time in his bedroom. Since he had no interest in spending time with me, I spent time in my home office. It occurred to me that this choice of behavior was what had gotten me into this situation. Taylor and Dean had no interest in me, so I gave up trying.
On Monday morning, I’d made sure Dean got off to school and then went to work. I’d only been at my desk for ten minutes when my phone rang.
The caller ID was Dean’s school’s name. Fuck.
“Hello?”
"Can I speak with Mr. Marshall, please?"
"This is Mr. Marshall."
"My name is Mrs. Mickelson. I am Dean's civics teacher."
I had received a few emails from teachers expressing concern about Dean's attitude at school, but this was the first time I was receiving a phone call. "Is everything all right?"
"Last Friday was a teacher workday, so students didn't have class. Dean was supposed to spend the day shadowing you or someone at your work and write a report about it."
Why was this the first I was hearing about it? "I see. He didn't say anything, and I didn't receive any messages from school about it."
"It went home in a letter that he should've given to you. If this were the only homework assignment he’d missed, I might—"
"What do you mean, if this were the only one?"
"He's missed quite a bit of work in the last two weeks, and I was in touch with some of his other teachers who have reported the same. Today, he's not in class. So, unless he's home sick...?"
Goddammit. "I'll take care of it. Would you be able to give me a list of all the homework he's missed between your class and his other classes? I'll bring him to work with me tomorrow and have him complete the assignment that he was supposed to do Friday. I'll also make sure that he catches up on all the other work he missed."
"He will be missing class tomorrow."
"Do you think missing one day will be that big a deal if he's behind, anyway?" I asked.
