"I don't get why you want him in our lives. He'll complicate things for you, Hannah. He could want custody."
"I'm done talking about this," I say and shrug out of his grasp, heading for the bedroom.
"Hannah!"
I head for the bedroom and abruptly shut the door before collapsing onto the mattress. For the first time, I miss this place being my own and having a room that I can disappear into and be left alone.
Mark doesn't follow. I'm relieved to have a few minutes of peace and quiet. I undress for bed and change into my pajamas before climbing beneath the covers and shutting off the bedroom light.
Tears spill onto my pillow. I wipe the remnants away, shifting against the mattress, trying to still my racing mind.
Sleep eludes me, and I'm left alone, grumpy, and out of sorts. Mark has never behaved like this before. He's never been jealous. What bug crawled up his ass?
I don't do well when I'm deprived of slumber.
* * *
The bedroom door squeaks open, and I roll onto my back as the morning light streams in through the blinds.
The smell of coffee wafts into the bedroom, further waking me.
My head hurts, and my stomach is doing somersaults.
Wonderful.
"Did you come to bed last night?" I ask.
Mark is in the bathroom, the door open, brushing his teeth.
I have to be at work shortly. Forcing myself out of bed, I stalk to the dresser and grab my clothes.
He spits his toothpaste in the sink, gargles with a dixie cup filled with water, and rinses the sink clean. "I fell asleep on the couch," he says, stepping out from the bathroom.
There's a heaviness in the room, a tension that seems to be stretching out like a rubber band. Eventually, it will snap.
I can't remember Mark ever falling asleep on the couch. "Are we fighting?" I don't want to be fighting with him. I'd like him to respect my decision and move on from what happened between us last night.
"Well, that depends. Are you still planning on telling that guy he's Bay's father?" Mark asks. He folds his arms across his chest, his shoulders tense and his nostrils flaring.
"You're mad."
"I'm not happy about it."
"Yeah, well, I'm not happy with you right now." I shuffle past him and slam the bathroom door shut on his heels.
"What did I do?" Mark's muffled reply echoes through the door.
Am I being unreasonable?
I'm not trying to be a bitch, but Luka has the right to know he has a daughter. I'd have reached out to him sooner if I could have, with his phone number. The digits he left had been smeared and gotten destroyed.
Mark is just trying to look out for me, for us as a family, but I can't ignore the past or the fact that the man has reappeared in our lives.
The timing sucks.
I quickly get dressed, brush my teeth, and hurry out of the bathroom past Mark. He doesn't seem to have moved an inch since I slammed the door on him.
"You're mad," Mark says.
"You're just now figuring that out? I can't do this right now. I have to go to work." I hastily head out of the bedroom. The television is on in the living room with cartoons playing on the screen. Bay is seated on the sofa, my favorite throw blanket curled up around her.
"Mama!" Bay says when she glances back at me.
"Good morning," I say and waltz over, hugging my little ray of sunshine. I squeeze her an extra second than usual, and she wiggles her way to freedom. "I have to go to work," I say and drop a kiss on her cheek.
"You're leaving her here, with me," Mark says.
His tone suggests that he's not happy about her staying behind and me going to work. I swear my headache is growing by the second.
"Do you want me to take her with me?" I ask. There's a daycare at the concierge center for staff members to utilize. She attends preschool during the weekday, but on weekends, I've taken her with me to the daycare, especially before I met Mark.
Maybe I'm putting too much responsibility on him with Bay.
I drop a kiss on her forehead. She's not the least bit warm—no runny nose. No fever. She's got a sippy cup next to her and seems to be doing fine this morning. If she is sick, daycare, even at the center, would require her to be sent home.
"No, I just want you to leave that barbarian alone." He gestures to the front door where he'd met Luka the previous night. "I don't want him in our life."
I can't deal with this right now. I'm running late as it is. "I have to go to work," I say, giving Bay another kiss before grabbing my keys and purse and bolting out the door.
* * *