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“I’m not worked up!” I lied. “I’m just trying to figure out why my boyfriend calls me up and asks me to come watch the kid so he can take off without warning.”
“I didn’t have any warning myself,” he retorted. “It’s not like I was planning for this all day long and just waited until the last minute to let you know. You know me better than that. If I had any more heads up than I do now, then I would have let you know long before now. Especially since I knew there was a chance that you might not be able to do it and I would have had to figure out something else.”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just feeling like nothing more than the nanny with you calling me up like that and just throwing money at me to watch Lucy so you can go off and do your thing,” I said as I folded my arms over my chest. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, or even why I was so upset about the entire situation.
It wasn’t like me to act like that, but then, with the stress of not telling him that I was pregnant and knowing he was now leaving and I would have to wait yet again, I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to just blurt out the news, but I worried if I were to do that now, he would feel like I was simply saying so to keep him from leaving on the trip.
It only added to my anxiety that he was going to think I had gotten pregnant on purpose to baby trap him, and I was so frustrated with the moment that I could have screamed.
Alex frowned as he looked at me.
“You know it’s not like that,” he said. “You don’t want me to invest in your business, so I’m offering to pay you for the timeyou’re working here. It has nothing to do with the relationship you and I have or anything else, Cassie. You should know that.”
I just shook my head and dismissed him with a wave of my hand.
“Just go. I’ve got it handled,” I said.
I turned from him to go find Lucy in her bedroom, and Alex followed.
“Honey,” he said to Lucy. “I’m going to take a trip for a few days, but you’re going to stay with Cassie, okay?”
“Okay!” she said, elated to see Cassie had come over. “Bye!”
He gave his daughter a hug and kissed her on the cheeks. “You be a good girl for Cassie, you hear me? If you’re good, I’ll bring you back a present.”
“Okay,” she said again. “I’ll be good.”
“That’s my princess,” he told her.
He then stood and turned back to me. I was both angry and embarrassed, but I stood my ground.
“Thanks a billion,” he said again, this time leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek. “You’re a lifesaver. We can talk about this more when I get back, okay?”
“Just go,” I said again, my tone dry and flat.
He gave me one last helpless look before walking back to the bedroom and grabbing his bag and heading downstairs. I heard the front door open and close behind him, and I held back tears. I had never felt like such an idiot in my entire life. But it was too late to take it back now.
I had no idea why I was on edge the way I was, but it hurt. I was angry, I was confused, and I just wanted Alex to take me in his arms and hold me.
But, the sound of the car pulling out of the driveway only confirmed that he was leaving. I listened to him driving away until I couldn’t hear the sound of his car anymore.
I tried to focus on playing with Lucy, but my heart wasn’t in it.
I had screwed up.
I just knew it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Alex
Iwas still confused about the fight I’d had with Cassie when my plane landed in Denver. I’d not known how she was going to take it with me asking her to watch Lucy on such short notice, but I hadn’t at all expected the way she’d freaked out.
I took some solace in the fact even though she’d been angry, it hadn’t been anything like dealing with Jordan. Not that I wanted to ever fight with Cassie, but I felt like we had a far better footing in our relationship even though we’d had a spat than I’d ever had with my ex-wife.
I checked my phone when we landed. I didn’t know what I’d expected. I wasn’t really surprised when I didn’t have a text from Cassie, but I also felt rather disappointed. I hated that the two ofus were fighting, even though I didn’t know for sure what about. I wanted to fix it, but I couldn’t.
There were things here that required my attention.
