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“I’m going to head out with some friends. I’ll call you. It will give him time to think. Lane’s a thinker and a planner. It will give you guys time to talk it out.” She gives me a hug. “He loves you.” She pulls back. “You know that, right?” I nod. “He would never let you go, Aura. He will take care of you and the baby. No matter what happens.”
“Thank you, Exie. Call me later.”
I walk to the bedroom and sit on the bed to finish the bracelet I was working on. I hear footsteps, the front door slams, and then, the sound of his car.
He left.
He didn’t call or come home. I called him four times, but it went straight to voicemail. My chest squeezes. It hurt that he wouldn’t tell me what he thought or how he felt. My heart told me to give him time and not to pressure him, that he would eventually come back. But he never came home.
A week has come and gone with no sign of Lane. I went to the urgent care clinic, and they confirmed I was three months pregnant. I saw the little embryo on the ultrasound, and I’d never felt more alone than at that moment. I wanted to share it with Lane. For him to see something bigger than both of us. A tiny little being we created.
When I came home, I cried for hours. I was alone, wishing he was holding me.
The following week, I gave up thinking he would come back. I tried calling him, but it went to voicemail. Exie called me, but Iignored her calls. I wanted to talk to her but I couldn’t. I felt like telling her brother was an asshole. And that he left me. None of that would give me him. None of that would get Lane to come back.
In need of some fresh air, I order an Uber. I’m craving a burger and found a local spot, refusing to take one of his cars.
When I make it inside, I sit at a table outside and people-watch. I think about the baby growing inside me. How I’m going to raise a child on my own. I run the math in my head to see if I could keep selling jewelry to support myself and a baby but quickly realize that it would be impossible. My fingers wouldn’t be able to keep up.
That leaves me getting a job and finding an apartment. I didn’t plan to fall pregnant. He probably thought I did it to trap him. I’m broke, I’m homeless, and I don’t have any family left. It’s probably why he wouldn’t talk to me. Why he left me. Why he won’t answer my calls.
I’m lost in my thoughts, and I see a digital billboard with a huge picture of Kalum that reads, “Youngest CEO takes over company.” My eyes take in his features, remembering
the nice things he said to me that first night and the way he held me. His parents and how they easily wanted to get rid of me. Kalum called me a total of twenty-six times, but I never answered. He left messages pleading for me to call him back, but I blocked his number and never called him back. It was over.
What would be the point? To say he was sorry? The result would be the same, and even if he offered me money the same way his parents did, I wouldn’t take it. The young housekeeper with no future.
Lane has been there for me and was my safety blanket. My solace. The quiet man who loved building his cars more than life itself. He won me over by simply being there as a friend, thenas a lover. Until he walked out on me pregnant with his baby without a single word.
Lane is a man of few words, and I thought patience was the way to handle his silence, but this is different. This is about a life we made together, growing inside me by the minute. Does Lane want me to leave? Is that why he never came back? Is that the message he is trying to send me without voicing it out loud because he feels guilty? The same way Kalum’s parents asked me to leave. He doesn’t want me because of who I am. His parents wouldn’t accept me or my baby. He’s ashamed of me.
After three hours, the light from the diner shuts off, and I stand, having made my decision.
25
AURA
“Is that all I can get you?” I ask the couple seated in booth three. They nod and smile, letting me know they are good when I set down their plates.
I asked the manager at the diner if they were hiring. I was relieved when she told me she needed one more person for the night shift, which gave me some time to make bracelets. They also helped me find a small one-bedroom one block over. It is not the best, but it prevents me from having to purchase a car or Uber.
“How are you feeling today, Aura?” Nick asks, pouring sugar into his coffee.
Nick is a regular at the diner and works at the bank across the street. After two months working at the diner, I’m showing, and my apron doesn’t hide my small baby bump.
“I’m fine and thank you for asking. That’s really sweet.”
He smiles. “If you need someone to walk you over, I have time tonight. I don’t have any plans.”
“That’s nice of you, but I think I will be okay.”
It is a nice offer and Nick has never given me a reason to think he was creepy. My creep meter hasn’t sounded off in myhead. His offer seems sincere, but I have gotten used to being on my own.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. I’ll follow you, and when I see you safely cross, I’ll go on my way. I worry about you, Aura. Walking alone at night…it’s not safe.”
Nick has been coming to the diner a few nights a week. On slow nights, conversations about my family come up. It’s something I’ve gotten used to being pregnant. My answer to everyone is the same. My boyfriend and I broke up and I’m going to be a single mom.
I shrug my shoulders. “I’m kinda used to it.”
