“No, I’m just a spectator and let me tell you, I’m horrified,” she joked. We got dressed and rolled the mats up. I had had my run-ins with housekeepers in the past. When I was a teenager, our housekeeper walked in on me having sex, masturbating, watching porn, everything. I understood what Brenna was going on about. As an adult, this was the first time I was having someone work for me full time. I loved the convenience of having a staff, especially with Brenna around and the changes we had coming. I just never had much use for someone fulltime in the past. They kept my life running, respect was the least you could offer them. A salary, no matter how fat didn’t make up for being harassed at work.
I was just about to go to the kitchen to grab us both a couple of waters when Brenna’s phone, still on the ground went off, ringing. She picked it up.
“Hello… yes, this is Brenna Andrews speaking… what?” her face dropped. She went silent as whoever was on the other side of the line spoke to her. Suddenly, she darted out of the room. I followed her. She ran down the stairs.
“Yes, yes, of course, I’ll be right there.” She hung up, practically sprinting into her room.
“Brenna, Brenna! What’s going on?”
She ignored me, running into the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on. Her phone was on the bed. I watched the little light go out. If I was really that curious…
No, I’d never invade her privacy like that. The relationship that we were building had to be built on trust or else we had nothing. In less than two minutes, she charged out of the shower wrapped in a towel.
“Baby, what’s going on?”
“Something happened,” she said, shuffling into the closet for some clothes.
“What? What’s something?” I asked her.
“Charles, I can’t talk right now, please.” She came out of the closet pulling a sweater over her head. She grabbed her phone and fumbled for her purse.
“Just tell me what happened? Where are you going?” I asked. She stopped finally. She was so wired that she was panting. What the hell was going on? What was enough of an emergency to get her like this?
“Later, okay? Right now is just not the greatest time, please understand that.”
She ran out of the room past me. I followed her. She flew down the stairs like she was being chased. I struggled to keep up with her. “Well, then whatever it is, call Barry. Take the limo,” I said.
“Great, thanks,” she said, too distracted to look at me on her way out the door. It had been weeks but calling Barry when she wanted to go somewhere wasn’t second nature to her yet. At least this time she actually said yes instead of insisting on using the subway.
What the hell was wrong with her? What had happened? Why had she run out of the house like it was on fire?
Why didn’t she tell me? Just a couple of words would have sufficed so I wasn’t totally in the dark. I mean, I could have helped her, whatever it was. You couldn’t just disappear on someone like that without any explanation. I wanted to be mad at her. I was but I was more worried about whatever had gotten her to that state. I went to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. Alone in the house after my girlfriend just left running like it was on fire was the perfect environment for overthinking.
I could help her. Whatever it was, I could fix it, why didn’t she see that? She didn’t still think she was alone in this, did she? If anyone would though, it was Brenna. She was so independent, just getting her to let Barry do his fucking job of driving her around was like pulling teeth. I admired that about her but then sometimes, it made her like this; totally resistant to receiving help. How would I even help her? She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. I started to feel anxious.
Eventually, I heard the limo pulling back up to the house. I ran out, accosting Barry as he was exiting the car.
“Mr. Hampton,” he said, surprised.
“Brenna’s not with you, is she?” I asked.
“No, sir, I dropped her off at the university hospital,” he said. My heart dropped into my stomach.
“Take me there, right now,” I said. Barry took the sudden request in his stride, getting right back into the car. I ran back into the house quickly to grab my phone and some money, then came back out then we left.
Nobody went to the hospital for fun. Something was wrong. Something was wrong and she didn’t want to tell me. That had to mean it was the baby. Why else would she want to hide from me like that?
No, wait a second. Wait a minute.
My pulse was going crazy and I was starting to get short of breath. I couldn’t deal with this if I was panicking. I took some deep breaths, trying to calm down. Surely, something like that, she would have said to me.
I mean, she would have, right? We had been doing great for the past few weeks. We were spending time together, having sex, laughing a lot, having fun. What if that wasn’t enough for her? What if she still didn’t feel like I was there to support her, no matter what happened? Thinking she had one foot out the door rattled me all over again. I should have told her how I felt about her.
Would that even mean anything to her? She was out the door on her own without a word in my direction just now, why would hearing that I loved her change that?
I had to have hope. I could not lose her again. We had so much this time. We actually had a chance now. Our baby had a chance to grow up in a two-parent household, a total one-eighty from what I intended when we found each other again. I had to say something. I lost her the first time and I don’t know, maybe that couldn’t have been helped. This time, if it happened again, it would be because I let her go.
24