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Brielle sat there waiting for me to continue, but when I didn’t, she leaned forward. “I see it’s rather a good mess you’ve gotten into isn’t it.”
I nodded, picking up my mug again. I took a sip and then told her the entire story, and how things had been left: with me standing alone in the office crying my eyes out. When I finished, she sat there, tears in her eyes as she studied me.
“What am I going to do?” I questioned.
“I don’t know. Perhaps give it a few days, then try to talk to him,” she suggested. “Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, people say things they don’t mean. I mean, think about how you might feel if the shoe were on the other foot?”
I looked over at my best friend.That was her advice! Give him a few days? Think about how I’d feel if the shoe were on the other foot.
“Brielle, seriously.”
“Yes, seriously. You’ve jumped to conclusions this entire time, you’ve lied to him—well, maybe not lied, but told untruths.”
“That’s what he said,” I muttered.
“So, give him a few days.”
“My God, that is the most awful advice anyone has ever given me.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? He said I was a liar, that everything we had was based on a lie. Do you really think he’d entertain a conversation with me?”
“I don’t know, he might. If he’s the man I think he is, he will. But I know for the sake of that baby, you need to try.”
Asher
I’d buriedmyself in work since Friday. Finding out that Bella was pregnant had shocked me. Work had been the only way to escape the way I felt. I’d been blindsided. I was angry, and I’d acted out of that shock and anger. I’d been so mad I’d jumped to a conclusion that hadn’t made me feel any better, despite thinking that was what I wanted. On top of all that, I was hurt. Over the course of our relationship, I’d always told her she could come to me with anything.
I’d worked the rest of that day on Friday and then left the office. I’d gone home and sulked around the house for the better part of Friday night and Saturday, but I needed to pull myself out of the funk I was in. I couldn’t possibly see patients on Monday in this mood.
I’d sat down behind my desk with a hot cup of coffee and switched my little radio on. I grabbed the file that lay on my desk for my first patient on Monday, looking over her test results, and made some notes to discuss some things with her. Then I moved onto the next. As I placed the last file Marie had left for me, I noticed one last file sitting on my desk. Bella’s name stared me in the face.
I set it off to the side, but curiosity got the best of me. I flipped the file open and while I knew it was wrong to look over Alonzo’s patient files, I did it anyways. I went right back to the beginning, looking over past blood work and diagnosis. She hadn’t been lying; Kavanaugh had diagnosed her as infertile. The old bastard hadn’t even done his due diligence and ran the proper tests. It didn’t come as a shock to me. I’d found it in some of my own patient files.
I continued, flipping through notes from her appointment with Alonzo, and then to her blood work results. I ran my hand over my face and then flipped to the ultrasound image. I stared at that little bean, while in my head I replayed the entire event over and over in my mind, realizing that my reaction to the situation was just as bad, if not worse than her not telling me. She was probably afraid to say anything to me after what I’d told her. She was probably shocked to find out that what she’d come to believe over the past five years hadn’t been true.
Bottom line was, I’d been a complete dick. I flipped the report over and saw that the baby, our baby… my baby, would be born somewhere within the first two weeks of June. I flipped her file closed and leaned back in my chair. I’d royally fucked up. I picked up my phone. Tapping the side, I opened a new message to Bella, then decided against it. She deserved an apology, face-to-face, not a fucking text message.
When I climbed into my car, I checked the time. It was a little after five. Bella normally closed The Cooling Rack tonight. I decided I’d go there first. As I made my way there, I played in my mind what it was I’d say to her.
I’d start by apologizing and take it from there. Only when I pulled into the parking lot, I didn’t see her car. Regardless, I cut the engine and headed inside to find Brielle standing behind the counter dealing with a customer. The look on her face said everything I needed to know. She knew.
I waited, and once she was done, she turned her back on me and began filling the counter.
“Brielle, is Bella here?” I asked.
She ignored me, continuing to fill the counter.
“Brielle?”
She popped her head up to the top of the counter and glared at me. “No, Asher, she isn’t here.”
“Do you know where she is?”
She laughed. “You think I’m going to tell you after what happened?”
I shrugged, hoping she would.
