“He’s a good guy. He got burned early on and he’s probably got some trust issues, Nic.”
“Really,” I said sarcastically, “everybody has trust issues by the time we hit thirty.”
“His wife was cheating on him with his really close friend,” Trixie said.
“What?” I said, flabbergasted. “He was married?”
“They got married, I want to say maybe seven or eight years ago. He was picking up slack for his dad at the business, getting everything turned around financially. Shelly was a cute little blonde, and I guess he thought she was ready to settle down and have a family. He was working all hours trying to remodel this old house out on the edge of town and paying rent on a place downtown till the house was fixed up for her. Turned out when he was plastering walls and putting in tile, she was riding his pal Eddie like a mechanical bull all over that apartment. He walked in on them.”
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“Eddie played ball on the team with him in school and they’d always been buddies. I guess it about killed Noah.”
“What did he do? Oh my God, did he shoot them?”
“What? He’s not Yosemite Sam, Nic,” she laughed. “No, he didn’t shoot them. I wasn’t there, but rumor has it he just told her to get out and take her trash with her.”
“Wow. That had to have been hard.”
“Yeah. So if the guy isn’t in a hurry to jump into a serious relationship, maybe consider how bad he got burned before,” Trixie advised. “He might just be acting like an idiot to protect himself.”
“Do you think I’ve misjudged him?” I asked, bewildered.
“I don’t necessarily think being cheated on justifies him leaving the bar with that blonde when he was involved with you. I know you were just hooking up, but I also know you, and you’re a one at a time kind of woman. So you wouldn’t have so much as looked another man up and down when you’d been with Noah. Even if you hadn’t defined the relationship, it was a trashy way to act. He’s a grown man. I think he deserves to know he’s going to be a dad and I think that his promiscuity doesn’t make him a bad person.”
“I realize he isn’t a bad person. Maybe not great boyfriend material, but that’s not something that’s even on the table. I’m not saying I won’t ever tell him. I’d just like to distance myself from this community center build being done and not being associated with him at work for a while before I mention it.”
“You’ll start showing sooner rather than later, Nic. You need to be prepared for the fact people will start to talk and wonder who the daddy is.”
“I’d rather be at the center of speculation after the center is open and he’s off to whatever his next job is.”
“You really think nobody’s going to suspect that he’s the father?”
“I can say I have a boyfriend in Overton. We’ve been seeing each other for a while, it just didn’t work out with our schedules.”
“That’s pretty vague and people in small towns are nosy. We love to gossip. You know that. Please. They’ll probably say you’re screwing the mayor.”
“Um, there is not enough alcohol in the world to get me under that man,” I said indignantly.
“Yeah, his wife says the same thing,” she laughed.
“You’re a mess. Thanks for checking up on me,” I said.
“You need to find a way to tell Noah, sweetie,” she said. “The baby deserves a father.”
“What if—what if he doesn’t want the baby?” I said in a small voice.
“I don’t think that’s likely. On the off chance that’s what he says, then at least you’d know.”
I knew she was right. I was just scared to tell him. Scared of the career repercussions and also scared that he’d look right at me and say he didn’t want anything to do with my baby. I put my phone down and nestled back on the couch under my fuzzy blanket. I heard a knock at the door.
There was Noah Jeffries standing on my doorstep. What was he doing here? I was terrified to tell him and terrified to keep the baby a secret. He needed to stay out of my face. It was just making me more anxious. What if he could tell by looking at me? I wondered. Then I realized how stupid that sounded and I made myself open the door.
25
Noah
I didn’t plan on showing up at her house like that. I didn’t know what in hell I was thinking. I just went in the diner and bought chicken soup and a dinner roll when I picked up my sandwich.
“Hi,” I said, feeling awkward.
“What’s up?” she asked, still standing in the doorway, not quite letting me come in.
“Before I left work, I went back by your office to check on you. Your secretary or whatever she is, the nervous one, she said you went home early because you weren’t feeling good. So, I’m checking on you. I brought soup.”