“That would be wonderful.”
Wonderful? Now she sounded too formal. Dayton smirked at her stuffy language and mumbled something in agreement.
They drove separately and met inside the restaurant, a cozy yet upscale place on the edge of town. Kenna had never been there and if it weren’t for her church clothes she would’ve felt out of place in the enforced dress-code environment.
Though she didn’t know Charlaine, there was an air of familiarity about her. A quality she had seen in her own mother’s face time and time again that revealed far more than the snug fit of her clothing.
She felt sure enough to ask.
“How far along are you?”
“28 weeks.” Her expression contorted into one of surprise. “I didn’t think my bump was that noticeable.”
Kenna shook her head. “It’s in your face. My mom always looked the same way.”
“Big family?”
“Huge. All girls.”
Something pulled in her gut as she spoke of her family. She knew she needed to call them—it had been far too long.
But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
They had not spoken in years and she had ignored their excessive calls leading up to Thanksgiving. What would they say if she called them out of the blue? She knew what they’d say, no matter how much time had passed or how fervently she’d ignored them.
Come home.
That was her sisters’ collective plea and Kenna supposed she was deserving of some reprimand from God for denying their earnest request. Perhaps that was Dayton’s purpose in her life: this unsavory thing that would be used in her final judgment. She imagined that the notion was true, her path to Heaven or Hell determined not by her faith but by her familial neglect and an ill-advised relationship.
“We could leave right now and they wouldn’t notice,” Professor Scott said.
She offered a phony smile but it fell quickly as she sipped her water and arrived at a puzzling realization. Dayton had obviously known that his friends were expecting a child, so why had he kept the news from her? Wasn’t that what people did when they were close? Shared details of their lives and developments from friends and family?
Pain ruled Kenna’s chest. She and Dayton did not fit the textbook definition of close. They’d been perfect strangers, thrown together out of obligation, and their romance had blossomed only from the seeds of his obsession and her determination.
A darker thought took hold.
Maybe he didn’t love her, had never loved her, but strung her along as some sick way of keeping her quiet.
Dayton’s phone chimed within his slacks and she watched him slide it out halfway, though the screen was beyond her vantage point. He replaced it in his pocket, rising with unnatural haste. “Sorry to be so impolite, but I have to run to the hospital. It’s a bit of a rocky situation.”
He seemed to emphasize the last part and a strange yet undeniably smug look came over Professor Scott.
“Go do whatever you have to do. We’ll drop Kenna off when we’re done here.”
Some secret knowledge laced their tones and it made her uneasy. There was a truth behind their words, one which they did not want uncovered. She was assaulted by thoughts of her conversation with Audrey, the merciless cycle of infidelity, and she wondered if Dayton had gotten too comfortable with her and it was starting up again.
“So, how long have you two been together? I’ve asked the guys but they aren’t much for that kind of stuff,” Charlaine said.
Together.
It was too nice a descriptor for what they had.
“We’ve never really been official.”
“Well, I’ve known Dayton for a long time and I’ve never seen him with a girlfriend. He seems happier, don’t you think, Nate?”
“Oh, yeah.”