The next morning, I woke up before the sun. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt from the dryer, I headed out for a run. I never did hear Scarlett come home from the hospital, so I was sure she was still there. She hadn’t texted either.
After running for two miles, I stopped and sat down on a bench. I pulled my phone out and checked it. Nothing from Scarlett.
A woman with a large black dog came walking up. She sat down on the bench and took a long drink of water.
“Seems like something heavy is on your mind,” she stated.
Turning to look at her, I forced a smile. “Nah.”
With a lift of her brow, she gave me a look that said I was full of shit.
“Want to talk about it?”
I laughed. “To a stranger? No, but thank you.”
“Sometimes talking to a stranger helps to put things into perspective.”
I rolled my neck. “Okay, well my fiancée won’t talk to me and is pushing me away like I did something wrong.”
“Did you?”
“No. We have a five-week-old daughter in the NICU, and yesterday she decided she didn’t want me around. I have no damn clue why.”
Frowning, I faced the woman. “And I’m so sorry. I just unloaded all of that on you.”
She laughed. “I asked you to. Plus, I have that kind of personality. I can read people as well. That’s how I knew you were dealing with something.”
“What are you? A mind reader?”
“Close. A psychiatrist.”
This time it was my turn to laugh.
“So, did I hear you right, you have an infant in NICU? Five weeks, you say?”
I nodded. “Yes, she’s doing great. She’s even drinking from a bottle and trying to nurse. We had a small setback when she lost a couple of ounces, but she’s gained it back.”
“Son, I’m going to go out on a limb here, and I could be totally off, but this is my advice to you. When you see her today, talk to her, because I promise you she’s scared to get close to you again.”
Scoffing, I looked at the woman. “We’ve been close for the last five weeks. I don’t think we’ve spent more than a few hours away from each other or from Aurora.”
Her face lit up, and she smiled. “Your daughter’s name is Aurora?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, I’ll be.”
Looking up toward the sky that was slowly turning brighter, she laughed, then focused back on me.
“Son, that’s not the kind of close I mean. What did the doctor say? Six weeks, no sex? You’re coming up on that. She’s scared. Maybe she’s worried about her body or the way she looks. Maybe she’s worried about being intimate with you like that because she’s thinking she needs to focus on being a mother, or maybe she’s just plain scared she’ll get pregnant again. Having a preemie will do that to a woman.”
My mouth hung open as I stared at this woman. Her damn dog was sitting there staring at me. Almost like he was trying to read my mind, too.
“Wait. You just met me, I told you very little about us, and that’s what you came up with?”
The woman stood and shrugged. Then she gave me a wink. “It was just a thought. Unsolicited advice. Have a nice day.”
She started to walk off, her dog trotting next to her. I went to start running again, away from the woman and her dog when she called out.
“By the way, my name is Aurora! Aurora Jean Bell! Good talking to you, son.”
I stood there frozen in place. There was no fucking way that was the woman’s name. Spinning around, I ran back to the condo. When I opened the door, I nearly dropped to the floor at the sight in front of me. Scarlett was sitting on the sofa, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her head dropped low.
When she looked up, she burst into tears, rushed over to me, and threw herself against me.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
Burying her face in my chest, she cried harder. I kicked the door shut with my foot, picked her up, and carried her to the sofa.
“Scarlett, what’s wrong? Is everything okay with Aurora?”
She nodded. “Yes, she’s fine. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you about her. She’s fine.”
Framing her face with my hands, I wiped her cheeks with my thumbs. “Then why are you crying?”
“I…came home and you were gone. I thought you had l-left me.”
My eyes widened in shock. “I would never leave you. Why in the world would you think that?”
Burying her face in her hands, she cried some more. “Because…I told you to leave. I treated you horribly yesterday and when I found out about Amelia’s baby, this weird jealousy thing came over me. I got angry, and in my mind, I was blaming you. But it was just a way to keep you at bay because I was scared. I didn’t mean to hurt you. When I came home, and you were gone…and you hadn’t slept in our bed last night, I…”