AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s tacos in the fridge,” I tell him.
He scratches his jaw, which looks like it hasn’t been shaved in days. “Now that I think of it, I’m kind of hungry.”
“Knock yourself out.”
“Think I might.” Conner nods to the house. “Now go see your girl. She’s hurting too. She’s hurting a lot.”
I was afraid of that.
Tess sits on the edge of our bed, still wearing her robe, her legs bare, no makeup, her soft dark hair parted in the middle and hanging loose past her shoulders.
She’s an absolute angel.
“I’m home.” I shut the door behind me.
She sets her phone down on the nightstand. “I heard when you first came in.”
I close the distance between us and kneel at her feet. “Can we talk?Reallytalk?”
She nibbles her lower lip and nods.
“I wish I hadn’t run out of here earlier. I’m sorry about that.”
“I’m not angry. I understand if you need some time alone.” She takes a deep, shuddering breath. “My heart is just broken for you, Micah.”
I rise up to her level, sit on the bed and pull her close. “I’m not heartbroken. My heart’s just fine. And no, I don’t want to be alone. I want to be with you.”
She lays her head on my shoulder and lets me rock her for a minute.
Tess is puzzled when I start to pull away. I need to see her face so we can sort something out.
“You knew you were pregnant before the fight.”
She hesitates. “Yes.”
“How long?”
That’s a question she’d rather not answer. She bites her lip and turns her head away.
Too late. I’ve already figured it out.
“The day you showed up at the gym. You had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. You came to see me because you’d just found out, didn’t you?”
She nods but I have to cup her chin in my hand to get her to look me in the eye.
“That was weeks ago, honey. Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I’d turn my back on you and take off?”
“No.” She squeezes her eyes shut for a second, like she’s trying to handicap her own tears. They come anyway, her tears. “No, I didn’t think you’d leave, but I wasn’t sure what you’d say or how you’d feel. And I knew how important the fight was to you.”
It kills me that she’s not aware of something crucial. “Nothing takes priority over you.Nothing.How is it you don’t know that?”
Tess hates to cry as much as I do. Which is why the sight of a tear rolling down her cheek is a searing knife to my heart.
“I’m so sorry. I should have told you. If I’d told you sooner then…” She chokes on the next words and drops her head with a sob.
I’m not too happy that she didn’t feel like she could immediately run to me and share the most important news of both our lives. But I’ll fix this. From today on, she’ll never have a single doubt that she can share everything with me.
However, Tess isn’t finished with the worst of the thoughts that have been tormenting her.
