Sidetracked (The Busy Bean)

by R. L. Kenderson

  He put his hands on my shoulders and pivoted me, so I was facing what appeared to be two items covered with a couple of sheets. One was taller than the other.

  Standing back, he said, “Are you ready?”

  He seemed so happy that it pushed my possible pregnancy anxiety to the back.

  I smiled. “As I’ll ever be.”

  He moved in between the two items, grabbed the sheets, and pulled them off at the same time. “Ta-da,” he said as he stepped back, so I could see them.

  Before me were a desk and a bookshelf.

  “They’re beautiful.” It was only after I moved closer and inspected them that I realized what they were. “Is this the old furniture I gave you?”

  “It is.”

  No wonder Gabe had wanted to share his work with me.

  “You did an amazing job. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but you should be incredibly proud of yourself. I didn’t even recognize them at first. And I know firsthand how unattractive the original pieces were.” I playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Now, I see why you’re so popular.”

  “Thank you.” He ran his hand over the desk that used to be the dresser. He had cut out the middle and left rows of drawers, and he’d added a shallow one at the top for pens and other office supplies. With the chest, he had removed all the drawers and added shelves. “You like them then?”

  “Yes. Definitely.” I gasped as a thought came to me. “Please tell me you took before and after photos.”

  “I always do.”

  “Would you mind sharing them with me?”

  “Sure will. I’ll text them over in a bit.”

  “Thank you.” I looked the pieces over again. “I am a little jealous of whoever will get these.” I was actually a lot jealous, but I didn’t want him to know that and feel bad for me. “How much do you think you’ll get for them?”

  He laughed. “I don’t think you understand. Charli, these are yours.”

  My mouth fell open. “What?”

  “You don’t have a proper desk or a bookshelf. And the furniture was originally yours, so I made them for you.”

  My heart started to beat faster.

  “But I gave these to you to pay for the moving truck. The moving truck that you wouldn’t let me pay you back for, remember? That’s why I gave you the dresser and chest to sell.”

  He shrugged. “I changed my mind,” he said and held out his hand. “Look around. I’m not hurting for work. And I wanted to do this for you.”

  This was bad. Really bad.

  I took a step away from him and shook my head. “I…I can’t accept these.”

  All the happiness on his face from earlier slipped away and was replaced with confusion. “Why not?”

  Because if I’m pregnant with your child, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to get anything from you. Not marriage, not money. Not even furniture.

  But I couldn’t tell him that.

  I lifted my chin. “I have my reasons.”

  “Yet you can’t share them with me?”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  His lips pursed. “I see.”

  He turned away from me, but I thought maybe I’d caught a glimpse of hurt. However, this was Gabe, and I had probably misread his face.

  He turned back around to me. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were no longer warm. “You’re sure about this, huh?”

  I nodded slowly, my heart full of regret. “It’s for the best.”

  “Fine. Whatever you want,” he said.

  I spun around and rushed out of the workshop right before the first tear fell from my eye.

  32

  Charli

  I sat in the driveway and stared at the ultrasound picture I had gotten at the clinic today. There was a tiny white thing on the image that looked like a grain of rice.

  It was official. I was pregnant.

  “So, baby, I guess it’s time we talk to your father and let him know you exist, huh?”

  Just the thought of talking to Gabe about being pregnant sent me into a panic as a cold sweat broke out over my body.

  “I have to warn you, little one. Your daddy is not going to be happy when I tell him about you. But I want you to know that I am excited enough for the both of us. I never thought I’d have a child, and here you are, growing in my belly.”

  I ran my hand over my lower abdomen. It felt the same as always. No small bump or anything. If I hadn’t seen the baby’s heartbeat flicker on the screen, I wouldn’t have believed I was actually pregnant. Not even my symptoms could convince me before today. And it had been hard to go into my appointment, hoping for two different outcomes at the same time.

  “I wish I could have conceived you on my own or with a sperm donor, but that’s not how it worked out. That’s why I’m apologizing in advance.”

  Because Gabe just might end up being only a sperm donor after telling me to get out of his life forever.

  I felt the familiar burning behind my eyes.

  “No, no, no.” I had already cried enough today. I had cried happy tears when I found out I was pregnant and scared tears when I realized I was probably going to have to do this alone. And I’d cried sad tears because I officially had feelings for Gabe.

  The stupid man had made me fall for him, and the last few days of not speaking to each other had been awful.

  It was worse than when I’d first moved in because he’d actively been avoiding me since the furniture situation last week. Not that I had tried to chase him down or anything. I’d been dodging him too.

  But the time for that was over. The two of us needed to have a serious talk.

  I pulled on my hat and gloves before I shut off my car and exited. It was cold now, and I didn’t feel like freezing any more than I had to. My Midwestern pride wouldn’t let me admit it to anyone, but Virginia had softened me a little. I would need to get used to the winter weather again.

  It had snowed again last night, and when I’d left for my doctor appointment, I’d noticed that Gabe had cleaned off both our vehicles and shoveled around my car. I was holding on to that little tidbit. I hoped that it meant that even though he was mad at me, he was a grown-up. Maybe he wouldn’t reject our baby right away.

  I knocked on Gabe’s door and waited for him to answer.

  33

  Gabe

  Gabe

  I almost didn’t hear the knock at my door, and once it registered, I sighed.

  It was the middle of the afternoon. There was nothing wrong with using the doorbell at this time of day.

  I opened my door, surprised to see Charli standing on the other side.

  “Hey, Gabe,” she said with an uncertain smile. “Can I talk to you?”

  I frowned at her and briefly considered making her stay outside, but it was cold, and I wasn’t an asshole. I didn’t want her to suffer.

  I moved back. “Come in.”

  She stepped over the threshold as I shut the door behind her.

  She had to walk right past me to get inside, and her scent filled my nose. I wanted to grab on to her and bury my face in her hair. I hated how much I’d missed having her around.

  I crossed my arms over my chest to stop myself from reaching for her. To keep myself away from her.

  I had worked hours on making her old furniture perfect for her, and she had thrown it back in my face. She’d made me feel like a fool.

  “Charli?” I said after a few seconds. It seemed as if she had zoned out.

  “Huh?” She looked up to my face.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You said you wanted to talk,” I reminded her.

  “Right.” She took off her gloves and stuck them in her pockets. “I don’t really know where to start.”

  A flash of something went through my body. It might have been relief.

  She’d come to tell me she was sorry.

  “It’s okay. I accept.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Accept what?”

  “Your apology.”
<
br />   “My apology?”

  “Yeah.” My arms fell to my sides. This wasn’t going how I’d pictured it would. “You came to apologize, right?”

  “Uh…no.”

  I clenched my jaw as she ripped away the little bit of happiness I’d felt. I was pissed at myself for getting my hopes up.

  “Gabe, remember how I came to the hardware store to pay you back for the moving truck and you wouldn’t let me? Because I had given you the furniture as payment?”

  “Yeah,” I reluctantly agreed.

  “I didn’t get mad at you for not taking my money. So, you can’t be mad at me for not taking the furniture.”

  “It’s not the same thing.”

  She threw her hands up. “How?”

  Because you didn’t bust your ass, making the perfect present for me. You didn’t pour your heart into that money like I did the furniture.

  She stepped closer. “Gabe? How is it different?”

  I looked away. “It just is.” I slowly turned my gaze back to her when I was sure she could no longer see the hurt I felt. “If you didn’t come to apologize, then why are you here?”

  She flinched at the bite in my voice, but at that point, I didn’t care very much.

  She rubbed her forehead. “Oh boy, this is not going well. Maybe I should come back another time.”

  I didn’t want to extend this torture to another day, so I moved away from her to give her room. “Just tell me whatever you need to say.”

  She dropped her arm and looked up at the ceiling. “I guess there’s no good way to do this.” She looked down until she met my eyes again. “I’m pregnant.”

  I felt as though all the air had suddenly been sucked from my lungs and all the blood had left my head. She could not have said what I thought she had said.

  My memory flashed back to when I had been little and my parents were fighting. Fighting because my mom was unhappy. Fighting because she was stuck in Vermont for the simple reason that she had gotten pregnant with me.

  It was my mom and dad all over again.

  “I thought you’d said you couldn’t get pregnant.”

  She winced. “Actually, I said I couldn’t get pregnant without medical help.” She shrugged and smiled. “I guess the help I needed was you.”

  I thought she was trying to lighten the mood, but all I could picture was Charli in ten years, yelling at me because she was stuck in Colebury because of me. Because I had put a baby inside her.

  “I told you I never wanted to get married. I even made it clear that I didn’t want a relationship.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t do this on purpose.”

  I knew that. I really did. But all my hurt and anger snowballed into the next sentence out of my mouth. “Really? Are you sure about that?”

  Fire burned in her eyes. “Fuck you, Gabe. Fuck you,” she said as she spun on her heel and ran out the door.

  34

  Charli

  I slid a scone across the counter to a customer and watched as he stared at it.

  “Uh…I ordered a coffee.”

  Crap.

  “I’m sorry.” I grabbed a cup and began to fill it. “Why don’t you take the scone, too, as an apology?”

  He shrugged. “If you insist.”

  I handed him his coffee. “I do.”

  Zara came around the corner. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

  “That’s the third order you’ve messed up this morning.”

  I winced. “I’m sorry. Can I offer you a free scone?” I joked.

  Zara smiled but only for a second.

  “Please don’t fire me,” I said quickly.

  She snorted at that. “I’m not going to fire you. I’m worried about you.”

  I looked around to make sure there weren’t any customers close to us and whispered, “I’m pregnant. And Gabe isn’t happy about it.” I lifted a shoulder. “Not that I blame him, but it still hurts.”

  “Oh, hon. You poor thing.” Zara put her arm around me. “But if you want to trade baby-daddy stories, I have a doozy for you.”

  I smiled because I had already heard all about it. Small-town gossip traveled faster than the speed of light.

  My phone vibrated in my apron, and I quickly grabbed it to see if it was Gabe. I was hoping he’d come to his senses this morning and reach out to me.

  But it was my mom.

  I let it go to voice mail and was about to put it back in my pocket when my mom sent a text.

  Mom: Call me ASAP!

  I turned to Zara, but she was already shooing me out the door.

  “Go. Call your mother back. I’ll watch the counter.”

  The Busy Bean wasn’t too busy, so I found a quiet corner and called my mom back.

  “Charli?”

  “Mom, what’s going on? I’m at work, and I can’t—”

  “Charli, Grandma had a stroke.”

  “What?” I said a little too loudly, but I didn’t care.

  I loved my grandma. I didn’t talk to her as much as I should, but growing up, I had been super close to her. A rain of guilt fell on me as I realized all the times I hadn’t called her back or hadn’t flown back to Minnesota for things like her birthday.

  “Is she…” I couldn’t finish.

  “She’s alive.”

  I slapped my hand to my chest. “Oh, thank God.”

  “But she’s in the hospital.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “Honey, you just said you’re at work. Are you sure you can do that?”

  “I have the two best bosses in the world. They will make sure I get time off.”

  “I didn’t want to pressure you, but I am so relieved to hear you say that.”

  “I’ll text you the details of my flight once I get it booked.”

  “See you soon. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  I hurried home after Zara and Audrey told me not to worry about work. I hastily stuffed clothes into a suitcase while I looked up flights. The next one was in three hours, which gave me just enough time to drive to the airport, check in, and get through security.

  I forwarded my confirmation email to my mom and sent her a text to make sure she checked her email. I noticed that my phone was about dead, but I would just have to charge it in the car. I had about an hour’s drive ahead of me. Plenty of time to put some juice in my battery.

  I loaded up my car and ran back in my house for my purse and to take a quick look around to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything important. As I jumped back on the porch, I looked over at Gabe’s half of the duplex and paused.

  Even with our fight last night and the fact that we weren’t exactly speaking to each other right now, I should probably tell him where I was going. The baby was half his, and he deserved to not have to worry about us.

  I had already thrown my phone in my car, but if I was being honest, I didn’t want to call him or text him. I was too emotional to communicate with him—or fight with him—at the moment. I was going to need to use all my brain cells to keep me on the road and away from a ditch.

  I looked at the mailbox he’d built for me.

  After the rent-check incident, he had told me it was a place to put important things concerning the two of us. And he had dared me by saying I’d probably never use it.

  I went inside and into the spare room. I grabbed a piece of printer paper from my desk and scribbled a quick note.

  Gabe,

  My grandmother had a stroke. I had to head to Minnesota at the last minute.

  I’ll be back in a few days if you want to talk.

  Charli

  I locked my door, dropped the note off in the mailbox, and headed to the airport as fast as the speed limit would let me.

  35

  Charli

  I plugged in my phone and set the directions to the airport. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I arrived at the airport and saw my percentage that I remembered my charger was broken, so
my phone hadn’t charged on the drive.

  I’d been so worried about my grandma and making it to the airport in time that I hadn’t paid attention to the battery at all.

  While waiting in the security line, I sent my mother a quick text and prayed she’d receive it.

  Me: My phone is about to die. I’m turning it off as soon as they scan my boarding pass. I’ll turn it back on when I get to Minneapolis.

  I had to stand patiently and not waste my battery by looking at my phone as I waited in the security line. Only now did it occur to me that I should have brought a book to read.

  By the time I made it through, I only had minutes to get to my gate. But I was there right before they started boarding passengers.

  It turned out, I hadn’t needed to worry about my mom. She was waiting for me in Baggage Claim when I arrived. I had kept my composure after finding out about my grandma, but the moment I saw my mother, I started crying.

  She hauled me into her arms and hugged me close. When we pulled back a little, she ran her hands down my hair and cupped my face. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m okay. How’s Dad? How are you?”

  My mom had lost her own mother about five years earlier and had always been close to my dad’s mother.

  “I’m doing okay.” She sighed. “Your father is more upset than he’s letting on. He’s trying to be tough.”

  “Is he at the hospital?”

  “Yeah, I left him there to come and get you.”

  “You didn’t have to come in to find me,” I told her. “You could have just picked me up at the curb.”

  “I wanted to.” She smiled sadly. “I sure missed you, kid.”

  I smiled back. “I missed you too.”

  She nodded toward the baggage carousel. “Let’s go get your luggage, and you can tell me all about Vermont.”