Blaine
Although I would have much rather been with Reese, sitting in front of the television, catching up on sports, and drinking a cold brew wasn’t a terrible way to spend a Thursday evening. I lifted my legs up and propped them on the table, focused on the football scores that were scrolling across the bottom of the screen. They were talking about hockey on the show, which bored me to tears, and I was mostly interested in hearing their picks for the Playoffs. I tilted my cold beer back and took a big gulp, watching as the show went to commercial. I sighed, realizing I was in a trance, trying to find out information about a sport I never actually watched.
As the commercials filtered through, some talking about new hair care products, and others advertising the upcoming games, my mind fluttered over to Reese, and I wondered what she was doing right then. Hopefully, she was asleep, finally finding a comfortable position and resting her body. This was the first time I was able to experience Reese sick, and I quickly found out she was one of those people that preferred to be left alone and not coddled when she wasn’t feeling well. For me, that was hard since all I wanted to do was to protect her and make her feel better, but I respected her wishes and stayed away, still sure that if I hadn’t caught it yet, I wasn’t going to. Whatever gave her peace of mind made me happy.
I pulled myself from the couch and walked into the kitchen, tossing my empty bottle in the recycling bin and pulling out another beer. I opened it and watched as the lid bounced across the counter and disappeared into a stack of dirty plates next to the sink. Not only did I miss Reese because we had become inseparable, but I also missed how she took care of me at every turn. Half the reason I never taught myself how to cook was because I hated doing dishes. It was very obvious as you glanced around the apartment that I never did a very good job of taking care of myself, which was why before Reese, I had hired a maid three times a week to come in and clean up my mess. Sure, it sounded kind of ritzy, but I didn’t care. It made my life less stressful.
As I was sitting there thinking about Reese, I decided that I would text her so that she would at least know that I had her on my mind. It wasn’t very often these days that I didn’t have her on my mind, but since she got sick, I was thinking about her a lot more. I took a sip of my beer and walked back over to the living room and picked up my phone. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should wait in case she was asleep. Then again, when she fell asleep at my place, it would take a herd of elephants playing the trombone to stir her after she went to bed.
I opened up the messages screen and scrolled to our conversation, smiling at the picture she had sent me, sitting in the feed. She was making a funny face, holding up a new puppy, and her best friend was in the background, trying to corral the rest of them. She was such a goofball when she was feeling well. I began to type the message, deleting words a couple of times and fighting myself on what I actually wanted to say. I reread what I wrote and breathed deeply, shaking my head in approval. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her, that I missed her, and that I needed her to get better soon because I was lost without her. It sounded a bit much, but I knew that it would make her smile knowing I was sitting at my place, thinking about her. Caleb had tried to get me to take this time to go to the bars, but the last thing I wanted was for Reese to be sick and worried at the same time.
Just as I was about to press send, a loud banging came from the front door, and I jumped. I closed the message screen and looked down at the time, realizing that it was after eleven at night. I was really curious to know who was at my door, knocking loudly at that time of night. It was probably Caleb, too drunk from the bars to drive home, so he was going to crash here as he did from time to time. That being said, eleven may be late to me, but that was the getting started time at all the bars and clubs.
I groaned as I pulled myself from the couch and tossed my phone on the coffee table. The banging came again, this time louder, and I walked a bit faster, wondering where the hell the fire was. I reached for the doorknob. I flung open the door, expecting to see Caleb, but instead, Reese was standing there. Her skin was pale, but her cheeks had a hint of color to them, an improvement from the last time I had seen her. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were bloodshot still from being sick for so long. I wondered what in the world she was doing here that late at night.
“Reese,” I said. “Are you okay? I mean, come in. Get warm.”
I stepped to the side and watched as she blew past me, her hands shoved in her pockets. I closed the door and locked it, turning around and watching her as she walked down into the living room. She looked extremely nervous, and she started pacing the floor back and forth. I was instantly nervous, not knowing what I could have possibly done to get her into such a tizzy. She was basically falling apart at the seams. I walked toward the living room slowly, trying to give her time to calm herself enough to look at me. She was fiddling with something in her pocket, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Finally, she slowed her pace and turned, looking me in the eyes and letting out a deep sigh.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing out of bed?” I asked. “You’re sick.”
“I had to talk to you,” she said quietly, her eyes roaming the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“God, I don’t know how this happened,” she said, launching into a complete panic attack. “I checked the calendar, and I thought I just forgot. I had been so busy with everything. So, I wanted to just make myself feel better because Leena had freaked me out. She has this amazing way of do
ing that. I went across the street and bought it, not thinking that it would say what it did.”
I watched as she scrambled back and forth, trying to make sense of what she was saying, but she was talking in short fragments with very little information of any use. I walked across the floor quickly and down the stairs into the living room. I walked straight up to Reese and reached out, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her still. Her eyes moved back and forth, and she continued to go on until I pulled my fingers up to her lips.
“Shh,” I said. “Take a deep breath, Reese. You aren’t making any sense at all. You need to slow down and think about what you are trying to tell me. I don’t know what happened, but you are in complete disarray. Remember, I’m here for you, for anything that you need. You just need to take a deep breath. Here, sit down.”
“No, I don’t want to,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
I held tightly to her shoulders, feeling as if I let go, she would just fall into a heap on the floor. There was something going on with her, and it was obviously pretty serious. I had never seen her like that before. She was usually completely calm and collected. When her breathing had slowed, I looked down at her, staring deeply in her eyes. Her hands moved out of her pockets and sat in front of her. She looked at me and tilted her head, her eyes going from my face down to her hands. With confusion, I followed her gaze to her hands and watched as her palms unfolded, revealing a long white stick. I squinted my eyes and looked down, not realizing what she was holding. Her eyes shot up to my face, studying my reaction.
Then, as if a light bulb went off, my eyes grew wide, and I realized exactly what she was holding. In her tiny smooth palms was a pregnancy test. She let out a deep breath, and tears filled her eyes. I was frozen in place, trying to compute what was going on.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered. “I didn’t even think about it until Leena brought it up. She asked me what my symptoms were and then made a joke about it. When she did that, it locked into my head, so I checked my calendar to just make sure. I hadn’t written anything on there since September. So, I walked across the street and bought a test, sure that it was going to say negative, but, well, I was wrong.”
I reached down, listening to her words, and took the pregnancy test from her hand. I turned and held it up in the air, looking at the two lines, bright as day, staring back at me. I could feel all the blood draining from my face, and I was sure by that point, I looked as pale as Reese did. I walked over to the couch and sat down, staring down at the stick and wondering what I was supposed to say because all the words had vanished from my mind. I wanted to be comforting, I wanted to be there for her, but first, I needed a minute to process what I had just found out. Reese was pregnant which meant I was going to be a father.
I looked up as Reese walked toward me, her mannerisms slowed and steady. She had calmed down completely and now looked very contemplative. She moved with care, as if she wasn’t sure whether to approach me or not. She sat down on the couch next to me and put her hands in her lap, her foot tapping on the floor beneath her boots. She sat there silently for several moments before speaking.
“I understand that this is a shock,” she said quietly. “I know that this might not be what you want at all. I understand if you need to think about things. I understand if this is not a situation you want to be a part of. You are not obligated to be part of anything that you don’t want to be part of.”
With the sound of the words she was speaking, I knew that I needed to bring myself out of this. I shook my head, pushing the shock out of my mind and turning to her. I furrowed my eyebrows and reached up, running the back of my hand across her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into me, opening them back up as I lifted her chin up toward mine. She gazed into my eyes, and the fear and anxiety that was there before quickly faded away. Everything about this was unexpected, but nothing about it was unwanted. It was time that Reese knew exactly how I felt about her and exactly how I saw our future, whether it followed my timeline or not. I leaned forward and pressed my nose against hers, closing my eyes.
“Shh,” I said, tipping my chin forward and kissing her lips. “I love you.”
Chapter 24
One Year Later
Reese