“She talked about your tattoos. She’s a real fan of them. Loved Drew’s work from the moment he did that picture of the cabin on your back.”
“I wasn’t with her when I got that tattoo, Hailey. Drew didn’t give me that until after I’d graduated high school,” Bryan said.
“She talked about your work at the foundation.”
“She did what?” he asked.
“Said it was the perfect position for you. Now, how would she know that?” I asked.
I slid another slice of cheesy goodness between my lips as my eyes studied Bryan. The man I had come to trust. The man that had broken down every single wall I had ever thrown up at him. The man who had fucked me and tossed me out onto his porch to try and work me out of his system. The man I still gravitated toward even after he tossed me out like trash.
“Seems like the two of you have talked recently,” I said.
“I swear to you, Hailey. I have not talked to her. She was not there when I got my back tattoo, and she sure as hell hasn’t been around now.”
“Funny, because she acted like she was. Made some interesting assumptions about your personality.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Like the fact that I needed to call her personal trainer to make sure my body bounced back from this child. You know, since you keep yourself in such fine shape.”
I watched as Bryan’s jaw tensed. His fists clenched at his sides, and he went into attack mode. I’d only ever seen this attitude in him a couple of other times, and it was when his mother was offending me in some way. I felt a part of my resolve crumble. I felt another part of me step over to his side of the story. That he hadn’t seen her recently and that he wasn’t cheating and that this was all some massive plot to get me to break before I had this child.
His child.
Our child.
“She what?” he asked.
“Don’t get all high and mighty,” I said. “The damage is done. I’m aware I’ve put on weight, and it’s your issue if you can’t deal with that.”
“Hailey, I make love to you every night. I whisper in your ear how beautiful I think you are. Why the hell would you ever believe something like that coming from a stranger?”
“She isn’t a stranger to you,” I said.
“Yes, she damn well is to me!”
The tone of his voice caught me off guard, and it caused me to jump. He was angry, but I didn’t care. I was done with the past. With people trying to bring me down and exploit me. I was done with people popping up, thinking they could ruin what should be one of the most beautiful times in my life. I stuffed my face with the rest of the cheesy fries before I grabbed my soda, draining it down the bottom as I kept my eyes hooked with Bryan’s.
For the first time in our relationship, I didn’t care that he was angry.
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
“I am not cheating on you,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter if you aren’t. That woman, who is everything I never will be, came into my art gallery and gave me every inclination that she’d talked to you recently. And if she hasn’t talked to you, then she’s fucking talked to someone. So, I suggest you get on the phone with Laura Green, the Laura you couldn’t remember until I described how beautiful she was, and figure out why the hell she was in my art gallery today.”
“I don’t have her number, Hailey! I literally have not seen her in years!”
“Well, she’s kept tabs on you! And I know you. You’re never oblivious to anything. So, either you’re hiding something from me, or you’re not man enough to admit you got your dick wet with another woman.”
“And you haven’t been hiding something from me? You’ve been avoiding me and skulking around and spending late nights at work, and for what? Because you’re pregnant? Because you have heartburn? Because it’s hard hiring someone? I’ve known for weeks you’ve been hiding something from me, so even if I was hiding something from you, you don’t have a leg to stand on!”
Bryan was panting with anger and burning tears were welling in my eyes. They dripped down my face as I tossed my empty soda cup into the sink. I could feel my body humming with stress. Coursing with unused energy. Voices in my head were screaming, and the child in my body was using my uterus as a kickboxing ring.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I couldn’t take our life together anymore.