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“Arya, that surely can’t be the answer. What about the baby?” I asked her, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Let’s tell my parents about the baby. That will change their mind.” I wasn’t sure that was true at all, but it was all I could think of.
“We can’t tell them about the pregnancy. I wouldn’t feel safe with them knowing about it.”
I understood why she wanted to keep the news away from them, but I knew my parents would never hurt their own blood.
“Look, I'm going to go talk to her right now. I'm done with this." I stood to leave.
"No, Tristan. This is a case of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. If you confront your mom, I don't know whether it would stop her plus you run the risk of losing her and worse, Shiloh will lose her grandparents. I'm so stupid. Mason was right. There's just too much at stake here. We can't be together." Arya had tears streaming down her face.
We were both silent for a few minutes. The mess that we had worried about what playing out right in front of our faces.
"This is really what you want to do?” I asked, hoping that she’d change her mind.
“This is so opposite to what I want to do, but we have to think about other people besides ourselves,” she said, wiping away her tears. I hated seeing her cry, and I hated that she was so damned considerate. I wanted to be selfish.
“I can’t stop you from doing what you feel is necessary,” I said, turning away from her. I had hoped that Arya would be willing to fight for us like I was willing to fight for us, but she wasn’t. Arya got up from the chair, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at her.
“I should get going,” she said, and I just nodded my head, still looking away. Arya walked away, and I didn’t turn to look at her. If only she would let me talk to my parents and tell them about her pregnancy. I knew that would change things.
I got up from the chair and headed inside the house where I found my grandfather sitting alone solving a crossword puzzle.
“What’s all that heavy energy you’re bringing from outside?” he asked, looking over his glasses.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” I responded. I didn’t want to talk about it, but I knew my grandfather wouldn’t let it slide easily.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“I just don’t get women,” I said with frustration. “They want you to be Prince Charming. They want you to be a gentleman. They want you to protect them and prove your love for them. I did all those things, and it’s still not enough. I can't seem to do the right thing. Arya wants to break up with me, and that's the last thing I want, and I know that's not what she really wants either. I'm screwing this all up."
“I don’t think you’re the problem, son. Your parents are. If I were Arya, I would have ran for my life a long time ago. The fact that she’s lasted this long means that she loves you.”
My grandfather was right.
“Don’t give up just yet. She’s worth it,” he continued. My grandfather was not a man of many words, but when he spoke, he was profound and wise. I knew I couldn’t give up on Arya, but for now, it was just better for everyone if I let her be. I needed a plan.
Chapter 27
Arya
Ijustwantedtogo straight to bed and cry myself to sleep. Why do things have to get this complicated with Tristan? Why couldn't we just run off into the sunset together? Maybe I didn’t deserve to be in a happy relationship. Maybe I was cursed and was meant to be alone.
As I walked into the house, I spotted Mason sitting in the living room having a drink. His hair was ruffled up and his shirt had an extra button undone. He looked like he had a rough day at work. Since his fight with Tristan, we hadn’t really spoken, and he hadn’t been coming over. I was surprised to find him at home and unfortunately, I wasn’t really in the mood to see him.
He was right that my relationship with Tristan would only end up causing a lot of chaos for everyone.
“Hey, you look like you’ve had a bad day,” I said to Mason as he took a sip of his bourbon. He glanced at me and turned away.
“You too. You look like you’ve been crying,” he said. I knew my eyes were puffy and dull from all the crying I had done while breaking up with Tristan.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. He was silent for a few seconds before answering.
“I lost my job, Arya,” he said, looking at me with glistening eyes. My heart sank, knowing that it was all my fault. Rebecca was following through with her threats.
“I’m sorry, Mason. Let me fix this,” I pleaded with him.
“From my understanding, you’ve been fired, too. Do you see what I meant when I said nothing good could ever come out of making enemies with Rebecca Adler? Now we have to live our lives looking over our shoulders,” he said angrily as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“I know, I messed up. I’ll fix it, I promise.” But I didn’t even know how to fix the mess.
