AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So far, okay. I don’t know much, big words,” Tasha stated as if that was an excuse to not know what was going on. “How far are you?”
“GPS has four hours left,” Math stated.
“Good, you will be here close to six.” He heard her tell others the time they would get in. “Can I talk to her?” Tasha asked with hope in her voice.
“She’s asleep. I’ll try and get her to call when she wakes up.”
“Tell her to call her mama.” Tasha hung up on him.
“Tasha?” he heard from across the car. Tess’s gray eyes were on him.
Nodding in answer, he asked, “Are you feeling better?”
“No,” was all she said. “But nothing with the baby, just my emotions.”
“You need to call your … mama.” Tripping over the word, he wondered if their baby would call her Mama or Mom. He hoped it would be the former. Knowing that if he got a say, it would be, Tess was a Mama. “I mean, your mom. You say ‘mama’ better than I do.”
“I will call her.” But she made no move to actually do that, just sat with her head resting on the seat’s back.
“Why didn’t you want me to come with you? When you went off the road, you weren’t going to my place. You were leaving town.” He looked over at her, but she was just looking out the windshield at the cars in front of them.
“I am keeping my past and present separate.” She shrugged as she adjusted in the seat.
“How are you planning on doing that?”
“Easy. I will stop going there, and I will stop talking to them. They do not leave. The baby cannot live in two worlds. I am picking one. Yours.” She leaned her head back and shut her eyes.
“Because of me?” Though he knew the answer, he wanted her to say it.
“The baby belongs in your world.”
“Do you belong in my world?” he asked, not knowing how their worlds could be that different. They had a lot in common, after all.
“I have been in neither world for so long, I do not know where I belong.”
“With me?”
“I thought so, but after you see my family, you will not want me anymore.” Opening her eyes, she turned to him. She had said it so matter of fact.
“Do you think that bad of me?” Math knew he hadn’t been on his best behavior around her most of the time, but he didn’t think seeing her family would change his feelings for her.
“Not you in particular. My husband left me after he met my family. He wanted someone I couldn’t be.”
“Just because you married an ass doesn’t mean all men are asses,” he said and then added, “Even if I was in the beginning, I hope you know I have changed.”
“We will see.” She said but didn’t crack a smile at his joke.
Since she was awake, they stopped for gas and food and were off again. All the while, she had complained that it was not the gas station she always stopped at. As they were headed out, she took off the blazer she had been wearing for hours.
Tess kicked her shoes off and pulled the bun out of her hair, and Math thought she looked more relaxed than he had seen since the day before in her shower. Since they hadn’t talked about it, he wondered if it was because of her dad being sick or because of the baby. Either way, he knew he hadn’t helped her. In fact, he had hindered her far more—something he wasn’t going to let happen again.
Once back on the road, she started to go through her texts and calls. There must have been a lot because it took almost half an hour to get through them. Some she answered, some she didn’t. All the while, she had been eating pretzels. When she rolled up the bag, she said, “I have to call my mama.”
“Go ahead,” he replied. It wasn’t like he was going to stop so that she could talk in private. If she wanted that, she should have said something at the gas station.
“She is Russian.” She was watching him closely as she tucked her foot under her leg.
“I know, you said you were Russian once,” he said, looking at the road. But his mind was on her tattoo. He had yet to spend enough time looking at it.
