He shook his head. “Honestly, I have no idea.” He smirked. “It’s news to me. And it’s very odd to think he’s ignoring you in-person, considering he brings you up in conversation like all the time.”
I felt something light up inside of me, something that had been burnt out for almost a month. “He does?”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “Sometimes he complains about you, sometimes he asks if I’ve seen you around the office, and other times he expresses concern for you. Lately, it’s been that one. He’s really worried about you, thinks you might be sick or something.”
“I’m not sick,” I said. I went on to tell him the truth, but instead of the words coming out, a sob escaped my mouth the second I opened it. I started to cry again and slumped my shoulders forward. “God, is this what being pregnant is like? Am I just going to be crying all the time for the next nine months?”
Matt uttered. “Did you… did you just say you were pregnant?”
I took a second to answer, and when I did, all I could muster was a nod of my head, no words. I felt myself shuddering under the weight of what was definitely going to be another panic attack, and coming with it, was a wave of embarrassment. I did my best to control my breathing, using the technique Matt had just taught me, but still, I was spiraling.
“I think I need to go home,” I said. I went to stand up but ended up stumbling instead.
“You shouldn’t be driving,” Matt said. “Let me take you home.” Then his phone buzzed on the table, and he guided me back into the chair. “Hang on,” he said. “It’s Adam. I just want to tell him I’ll be running a little late.” He picked up. He walked away a little, but I could still hear him talking to his brother. “Hello? Uh, yeah, I’m about to leave. But I just have to, um, run a quick errand before I head your way…”
“Don’t tell David anything!” I said.
He looked at me worriedly, then spoke into the phone. “Listen, Adam, is David right there with you? Can he hear me? … Okay, good. Look, I shouldn’t be too much longer, but the truth is I have to drive a co-worker back to her apartment… Lily, okay, it’s Lily. Don’t say anything to David. She’s having… we’ll call it a rough day… No, she’s fine, it’s not an emergency, at least I don’t think it is. Just go to my place. Will is already there, and he’s probably packing all the wrong things so make sure he gets what we actually need, and I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”
I wanted to stand up and go take the phone out of his hands and hang up the call before he accidentally said something I wasn’t ready for anyone else to know about, but he got off the phone before I even got the strength to push myself up to my feet. He was walking back to the table and helping me up before I even knew what was going on.
“Everything’s fine,” he said. “I don’t think Adam suspects a thing, and I didn’t mention your…” He looked at my stomach. “Condition. David won’t know any of this, yeah?”
I nodded.
“Now, let’s get you home, shall we?”
He put his arm out to steady me, but once I was standing, I started to feel better.
“Grab the cookies,” I said before we left the break room. “I really amstarving.”
ChapterTwenty
DAVID
Adam hung up the call and looked at me.
The two of us were in the car driving over to Matt’s house. “What is it?” I asked. I was behind the wheel, and he was in the passenger seat. “All good?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “All good. Nothing to worry about. Matt is just going to be a little bit late, but he said he’d just meet us at his house. Will is there packing up now, so we should get over there before he has a backpack full of pop-tarts and comic books.”
I laughed, but then frowned. I had the oddest sense that my brother was lying to me, which was something Adam rarely, if ever, did. “Are you sure everything is all right?”
“Sure, yeah,” he said. “All good. Matt just has to run an errand.”
“What sort of errand?”
“I don’t know,” Adam said. “Just… an errand.”
Rica got up in the back seat and moved around, switching from looking out of one window to looking out the other one. We came to a stoplight, and I turned to face Adam. “What’s going on? Why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling me everything?”
He laughed. “Pshh. That’s ridiculous. Everything is fine, why are you acting all suspicious? You think I’mlyingor something?”
This was part of the reason Adam didn’t lie very often. He was bad at it. His neck was already starting to get flush from the nerves of keeping a secret, and I knew if I just kept my eyes locked on him for a few seconds longer, he would spill it all. “Matt just has a work errand to run, it’s honestly no big deal, but yeah, he wants us to go to his apartment and wait for him there…” He looked forward, then at me, then forward again. “The light’s green,” he said. I didn’t move the car. Anything to bring his nerves up. “The light is green!”
The cars behind me started to honk, and my brother made a fist with his hand. “Drive, damnit!”
“Not until you tell me the truth.”