I shrugged. The truth hurt.
“But since it did… which option is the best?”
“I don’t know. It’s already been four years, but… Oh, Idon’t know.” There was no easy answer. All of them were bad. “I hate that it happened. I hate that he lied to me or withheld the truth. I hate that he had her over to our home, without telling me or asking for permission.” Tears burst free, and I crossed my arms over my chest to hold myself together. “This was supposed to be an amazing time for Mitch and me. We were supposed to be daydreaming about what our baby will look like and booking midwife appointments. Instead, we’re falling apart.”
“Whenareyou going to tell Mitch?”
I looked over at my best friend, raising my shoulders in the process. “I don’t know.”
“You have to tell him. Otherwise, you’ll be just like Jasmine, and if you continue to live in Cheshire Bay, Mitch will find out.”
“I thought you hated Mitch.”
A smile sprang to the corner of her mouth. “Oh, I do, and I’ll never forgive him for upsetting you like he has. But if you don’t tell him, then you’re a Jasmine too.”
Man, I hated when she pointed out the obvious. “I promise I’ll tell him before the baby is born.”
She cocked her eyebrow and gave me her best don’t mess with me look. It was terrifying.
“Fine. Sometime within the next couple of weeks. Maybe when I go back and pack my things.”
“You’re going to move out?”
“Do I have a choice? I can’t be with a guy who doesn’t want kids.” I sat on the edge of the couch.
There was so much to think through. When I found out I was pregnant, I was thrilled to picture our future together and now I needed to side-step the dream and plan the future of me bringing up the baby alone. It was absolutely mind-boggling. Thank goodness I had eight months to prepare.
Chapter Eleven
There was a bouquet on the corner of my desk when I came into work, a giant collection of lilies, carnations, daisies, and red roses. It had been three days since I walked out, and three days of filtering phone calls and text messages. It hurt too much to look at his name on the display and be reminded of what we had.
The daisies smiled upon me as I sat down and logged in, their faces bobbing in the breeze from the nearby fan. I turned the vase around – the flowers could smile at the passengers.
Today was a busy day with four inter-island flights, two inbound from the mainland, and one outbound to Seattle. As I scanned the list, relief washed over me – Jasmine’s name was on the outbound list. At least my nightmare was leaving the island.
“Hey.”
I jumped and stared up at Mitch’s face. He’d been so quiet on the approach; I hadn’t heard him shuffle over in his baggy overalls. “Good grief.” Despite the surprise, he still held the power to cause a fluttery feeling in my belly.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No, it’s fine.” I forced myself to stop gazing into his soulful eyes and to stare at the computer screen as if I expected to magically have all the answers. It didn’t. But Mitch wasn’t leaving, and I had work to do so I continued on.
“The flowers are for you.” He curled over the ledge above my workspace.
“Thanks.”Stay focused on the screen.
He reached out a hand, but just as quickly, retracted it. “I’m really sorry about before. You’re right, I should’ve said something.”
I jumped out of my seat, my muscles tense. “What would you have said, Mitch?Look Cedar, while I waited for you todecide if you wanted to sleep with me, I went and slept with someone else, and knocked her up.” I did a poor impression of him, but the hurt was loud and clear as my voice cracked.
Thankfully, the interior of the building was empty aside from Mitch, me, and Eric as he strode into the room in his full captain’s uniform.
“Morning,” he said as he inched over, oblivious to the thick as pea soup tension.
I sat back down at my spot and let my fingers beat the keys as I punched in my request, and when it was granted, I hastily tore the sheets from the printer and clipped them onto the boards. “Busy day.”
I ignored Mitch who continued to hang on my desk and thrust the clipboard into Eric’s hands. “You’ve a departure to YVR, from there to YQQ and back.”