My survival instincts kick in, and I jump to my feet and run to the door. “You’re behaving crazy.”
“Get the fuck out!” Cora screams. “I don’t need you for anything!”
I grab the door, and just as I open it, something hard hits it. I don’t pause to check what it is. I slip out and shut the door. I close the door just in time as something else hits the door.
I shake my head as I go down the elevator, catching my breath back when I enter my car. I sit there, unable to believe that the last ten minutes have actually happened.
I don’t want a baby. That much is the truth. Besides that, Cora and I do not have a relationship. We have no business having a baby together. My phone rings and I fetch it from my pocket warily, sure it’s Cora.
I’m relieved to see my brother Martin’s name on the screen. I swipe to answer it.
“Hey.”
“That doesn’t sound like you. Are you okay, man?” Martin says.
“I’m good. You?”
“Fine. Do you want to meet up for a drink? I had a rough day at work, and Fran has a late shift,” Martin says.
“A drink sounds good.” His timing is perfect. We agree to meet at a bar downtown in fifteen minutes.
Traffic is heavy, and it takes me twenty-five minutes to get to the bar. I see Martin as soon as I enter, perched on a stool at the bar.
“Hey.” I slide onto the vacant stool to his right.
“You look like you had a similar day to mine. I lost a patient on the table,” Martin says.
“Mine was rough, but I can’t compete with that,” I tell him. I feel his pain. Losing a patient is very painful, contrary to what people may believe about doctors. We do have feelings, and losing a patient cuts deep. In my specialty, it’s rare, but it does happen, and it takes me weeks to get over it.
“Welcome,” the bartender says, catching my attention. “What can I get you?”
“A cold beer would be great.”
“What happened?” Martin asks when the bartender leaves.
I turn to him. “It’s a crazy story. There’s this chic I had an affair with three years ago.” I tell him the whole tale from the beginning.
“Fuck me,” Martin says when I tell him the part about the baby. He narrows his eyes at me. “You really are an asshole.”
“She didn’t give me time to process the news,” I tell him about running for my life when Cora started throwing things at me.
Martin laughs until tears come to his eyes.
“I knew you’d turn my day around,” he says. “But seriously, though, it doesn’t matter whether you want a baby or not. You have one on the way.”
“I know,” I say miserably.
“Hey, there’s a positive spin to it,” he says.
“What?”
“We’ll all get off your back about finding someone and having a family. You’ve done it in one swipe. Wait until Fran hears this.”
I don’t even bother to tell him not to tell Fran. Martin tells her everything. If I don’t want her to know, the easiest thing is not to tell Martin. I don’t want my sister to know yet. Not until I’ve figured out what to do.
“Everyone is pregnant,” Martin muses.
“Not quite.” The bartender slides my beer and a glass in front of me. I ignore the glass and chug the beer down my throat.
“I would love to meet this woman who’s gotten under your skin,” Martin says.
“She hasn’t.”
“It makes sense. She’s the one you were mopey over three years ago, if I remember correctly. We were all worried about you, asshole.”
I shrug. “Maybe, but I got her out of my system.”
Martin raises his beer. “Congratulations, dad.”
We clink beers. “You too, dad.”
He and Fran are also pregnant. It’s early days for them as Fran is still in the first trimester. Our children are going to be cousins. It’s weird to think that I’m going to be a dad. I’d already made up my mind that a family was not for me. I’m not getting a family, though; I’m getting a child.
The idea begins to settle in. Okay, maybe a baby wasn’t in my future, but if it were, there’s no one I’d rather have a baby with than Cora. She’ll be an awesome mom. She’s responsible and kind and funny.
Yeah. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea. People these days co-parent, don’t they? I visualize a little girl who looks just like Cora.
Daddy.
My heart melts. It’s not so bad to have a baby.
“When can you guys come for dinner?” Martin says, interrupting my musings.
I laugh. “First things first. I need to get back into her good graces.”
“That’s not hard. She’s pregnant. Her hormones will soften her heart. Besides, you’re her baby’s dad. She can’t say no to you.”
Chapter 7
Cora
A ball of anxiety settles in the pit of my belly. Going to my mother’s for dinner always elicits this reaction, more so when my brother, sister, and their families will also be there. I lock my apartment door and trudge toward the lift, dreading the evening ahead.