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“You are a snake, and you are leaving the house, now,” I shouted. Lucy was crying behind me, but I wasn’t going to let her go to Jordan. I couldn’t say for sure what Jordan would try if Lucy were to be in her arms, and I couldn’t safely pull her back out of Jordan’s arms, either.
I knew Lucy was upset, but she would calm down when I got Jordan out of the house. I didn’t know how I would ever explain what was going on to her, but I figured I would deal with that later.
In the moment, I just had to keep her safe.
“Get out!” I shouted again, pointing to the door. “You have five minutes to get your shit and get out!”
Jordan folded her arms across her chest and rose to her full height, glaring at me with her eyes snapping with fury.
“Make me,” she yelled back. “You don’t have the guts to do shit!”
“Don’t try me,” I warned her, but she clearly wasn’t about to move.
I didn’t know what to do. I had never felt so stuck in any situation before in my life. All I knew was that I had to keep my daughter safe. I had to protect her from anything that could hurt her, and that included her own mother if the situation called for it.
We were at a standoff.
And I braced myself for the worst.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cassie
Ihad meant to head back to Alex’s house after taking an hour to gather my thoughts, but both times I turned my car onto the block, my heart started racing and I decided to take a little longer to go back.
At one point, I even called Angela for another pep talk before facing the woman who had been so rude to me that morning.
“Cassie!” Angela said when I told her I was having a tough time getting the courage to go back to the house. “If you’re not going to do it, then I’m going to drive myself over there and give that woman a piece of my mind! Then I’m going to tell Alex congratulations on the newest addition to the family and let him be the one to figure it out.”
“Don’t do that,” I said with a laugh. “You’re going to make things ten times worse.”
“If you don’t go back there and talk to him, you’re the one making them worse,” Angela told me. “How are you going to ever find the time to tell him if you don’t do it now? I know you, and you’re going to always have some reason why it wasn’t quite the right time to work it into conversation right up to the point when you have the baby!”
“I’m not that bad,” I said. “Am I?”
Her silence on the other end of the line told me I was pretty bad about addressing the difficult things that came up in my life, and I sighed. I knew she was right about one thing: I had to go talk to Alex.
“At the very least you need to get an answer out of him one way or another on where he stands with the entire thing,” Angela told me. “I’m openly assuming he’s going to be happy to hear he’s got another kid on the way, but if the worst-case scenario is a thing, that’s going to lead us down a whole new path of shit to figure out.”
“I know,” I groaned. “And I don’t even want to think about that.”
“Then you better get your ass back to that house and talk to him, or I’m going to freak out. I’m already spending the day watching my phone and waiting for you to give me an update on how things are going,” she said. “It’s only getting worse the more you procrastinate.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” I said. “Pulling up in front of the house now.”
“Good,” she said. “It’s two o’clock, and you were there at what? Ten? It’s time for you to do this. Be brave.”
“Thanks,” I told her before hanging up the phone. I still had to take a few moments to take a breath and gather myself before I had mustered the courage to get out of the car. With each steptoward the house, I reminded myself she was right. I had to do this.
I had to get answers out of Alex.
Shit, Alex had to know he was going to be a father again before I even started thinking about the next steps. I had had all of the day before to think about the situation, but he still didn’t have any idea I was pregnant. That was the first step in all this.
At least, that’s what I thought would be the first step.
As I got closer to the house, I realized I could hear yelling coming from inside. I made out Alex’s voice, and it wasn’t difficult for me to deduce the woman who had come to the door that morning was the other party in the argument.
There were several windows that were open in the house, so it wasn’t at all difficult for me to hear what was being said. And it didn’t take me long to realize it was a full-blown shouting match between Alex and his ex, and Lucy was inside. It wasn’t the sort of thing any child should have to endure, and without a second thought, I tried the door.
