"Which was when?"
"Maybe five or six months ago? I can't remember. I just remember thinking it was odd that she hated the place, then suddenly liked it. At one point she was going there almost every day."
"And they did spin class together."
"Lars was in her spin class?"
"They went to the same class at the same time. And now he's going to her yoga class. Don't you think that's odd?"
She shrugs. "I don't really care. If she wants to risk getting some disease being with Lars, that's her business. I think my friendship with Lauren is over. I don't even like being around her anymore. I really don't care who she dates."
"I don't either but what if..." I lower my voice. "What if he's the father?"
"Father?"
"Of Lauren's baby."
She laughs. "No way. Lauren's too cautious to let that happen. She would've used a condom with Lars, especially knowing how many women he's been with."
"Maybe she didn't know. Or maybe she got caught up in the moment and forgot to use one."
"I guess it's possible."
"Do you think you could ask her?"
"About Lars? I could, but Lauren would never admit to being with him. Not even to me."
"But you're her best friend."
"Who she knows is now friends with you. She's not going to tell me anything that might get back to Corbin."
"What if you just casually asked her some questions about Lars? Nothing direct. Just questions that might get her talking."
"I can try, but she's not going to tell me anything. You'd have better luck talking to Lars. That guy's an open book. You wouldn't believe the things he told Missy. She didn't even have to ask."
"Then I'll talk to Lars and you talk to Lauren. Just see if you can get anything out of her."
"I guess I could try. I'm going over there tonight to help her pack. But I really don't think he's the father."
"I don't either but I have to know for sure."
After my shift ends at three I hurry upstairs to change clothes. I walk Lucky, take him back to the apartment, then race down to the street to the deli. It's Thursday, which is when Lars usually works but I don't know how late.
When I walk in I don't see him working the counter. Neal, a college student who works part-time, is there instead.
"Hey, Neal," I say. "Is Lars here?"
"No, he switched days with me. He took today off to go rock climbing with his friend. I think they were driving up to New Hampshire. He's off tomorrow too."
"Oh," I say, disappointed he's not there.
"What can I get you?" Neal asks.
"Um, nothing. I'm not really hungry," I say but then my stomach growls. I took Lucky for a long walk during my lunch break and didn't get time to eat.
"Actually," I say, "I'll take a turkey club."
"Sure." He smiles. "Anything else?"
"No, that's it."
He makes the sandwich and I take it to a table by the window. Getting out my phone I check messages while I eat. There are several texts from my mom, all about the wedding. My brother finally proposed to his girlfriend after years of dating. They're getting married in August, just three months from now. My mom's doing most of the planning and keeps asking me for advice, as if I would know. I keep telling her to ask the bride but apparently the bride has no interest in the wedding. She wanted to elope but both her parents and mine insisted on a traditional wedding.
"Hey, bro, what's up?" I hear Lars' voice and look up. He's standing at the counter, talking to Neal.
"Hey, what happened to the trip?"
"My buddy broke his hand so we couldn't go." He shrugs. "Shit happens."
"So what are you doing here?"
"I need to eat. Give me the usual."
Neal makes the sandwich and hands it to Lars.
"Thanks, man." Lars takes his sandwich and looks for a table.
"Lars!" I call out.
He looks over and smiles. "Hey, Star." He joins me at the table. "Where's Corbin?"
"At work."
He laughs. "Yeah, I forgot what day it was. I don't usually have Thursday off." He takes a bite of his sandwich. "So what's new?"
"Not much. I missed lunch today so I stopped in to get a sandwich."
He just nods and continues eating.
"So I saw you this morning on my break," I say, casually.
"Where?" he asks, gulping down water from the bottle he brought in.
"Coming out of the yoga studio." I take a sip of my drink. "You were with Lauren."
"Yeah, she's in my class," he says, like it's no big deal. He doesn't seem nervous or like he's trying to hide something. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they really are just friends.
"Did she give you a ride home? I thought I saw you get in her car but I could be wrong."
What a dumb thing to say. I either saw him get in the car or I didn't. I'm getting nervous, worried he'll clue in to what I'm trying to figure out and not tell me anything. Then again, Lars isn't too smart.
"She always gives me a ride," he says, and then smiles, "and not always in her car."
I let out a laugh. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean." His knee brushes mine under the table and I quickly move it away.
"So you and Lauren are...seeing each other?"
Lars shrugs. "It's just casual. The girl is wound up tight. She needs to let loose, you know?"
"And you help her...unwind?"
He smiles. "Oh, yeah. It's why she keeps coming back."
So he's had sex with her, but when? When did it start? How do I find out? He seems open to telling me stuff but I don't want him figuring out why I'm asking.
"It's good she has you," I say. "Even if it's just for, you know, letting loose. Sounds like her job is really stressful, although it's getting better now that her residency is ending. I'm sure last spring it was a lot worse, having to work all those long shifts at the hospital."
"Yeah, she was a mess. I had to spend hours..." he smiles, "loosening her up."
"Hours?" I ask, sounding surprised, hoping to appeal to his ego so he'll tell me more. "You have a lot of stamina."
"I like to think so," he says with a laugh. "The ladies sure seem to like it."
"So you two have been doing this for awhile now, huh?" I ask casually as I pick up my water to take a drink.
He stuffs some of his sandwich in his mouth and chews while he talks. "Lauren and me? We've been doing this for almost a year now. It started out being just every now and then, but then she got demanding." He smiles. "Not that I'm complaining."
Demanding, how? Is he talking about her demands in the bedroom or how often she wanted it? I don't really want to know. I just want to know if they were doing it when she got pregnant.
"That must've been why she was here so much," I say. "When I moved here last March it seemed like she was always here at the deli when I'd stop by."
"Yeah, we'd do it in the back room. Just a quickie." He grins. "The girl's horny as shit. You'd never guess it from how she dresses, all prim and proper, her hair up. But get her alone and, well, I probably shouldn't say. Point is, the girl doesn't hold back."
"Too bad she's moving," I say. "She's going to be really uptight without you."
"I'll still see her. I got friends in New York."
"But she won't want to do those things as much now that she's pregnant."
He rears back. "She's WHAT?"
"Pregnant."
From his reaction it's clear he didn't know. How could he not know? She's not really showing yet but still, I would've assumed she told him.
"Lauren is pregnant?" He runs his hands through his hair. "Fuck!"
"She said it's Corbin's."
He looks at me moment, then exhales a breath. "Corbin. Yeah, that makes sense. Shit, for a minute there I thought you were going to say it was mine."
He goes back to eating his sandwich, seeming to no longer care about the pregnancy news now that he knows it's not his baby.
But it might be.
Now we really need that paternity test. Corbin may still turn out to be the father but there's a good chance he's not. From what Lars said about his numerous encounters with Lauren I'm putting the odds on Lars being the father. Or at least I'm hoping that's the outcome.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Corbin
"I have to tell you something," Star says as we're sitting on the couch. It's after eight and we just finished dinner.
"What is it?"
"Can I turn this off?" she asks, picking up the TV remote.
"Go ahead."
She shuts off the TV. "I was having a late lunch at the deli today and ran into Lars. He had the day off. He was there to get a sandwich and when he saw me he came over to talk."
Knowing Lars he wanted to do more than talk.
I turn to Star. "Did that asshole hit on you?"
"Asshole? I thought you liked Lars."
"I put up with him. I wouldn't say I like him. He's a player and sleeps around. You're hot so it wouldn't surprise me if he hit on you."
"But he knows I'm dating you."
"Doesn't matter. Guys like him don't care if a girl has a boyfriend."
"Well, he didn't hit on me but he did hit on someone else. Actually, I don't know who started it but he slept with her."
Corbin's brows draw together. "Who are we talking about here?"
"Lauren."
He cocks his head. "Lauren was with Lars? When?"
"For the past year."
He laughs. "Yeah, I don't think so. Lauren would never be with a guy like Lars. One time she told me he looked like a homeless guy. She joked that he probably hadn't showered in days."
"Apparently that didn't matter because according to Lars they've been doing this for a year, and not just now and then, but a lot."
I pause a moment, letting this sink in. Lauren cheated on me? With Lars? It doesn't make sense. Maybe Lars was making it up.
"If that really happened, why would Lars tell you?" I ask. "He knows we're dating. He knows you would tell me."
"Maybe he thinks it doesn't need to be a secret now that you and Lauren aren't dating anymore."
"How did the topic even come up?"
"I mentioned that I'd seen him earlier with Lauren. When I was on break this morning I saw them coming out of the yoga studio and leaving together."
"So they're dating now. That doesn't prove they were together last year."
"Corbin, think about it. Lauren was always going to that deli. And she and Lars went to the same spin class. Remember how you'd say she'd go straight from work to spin class without coming home? It was probably because she was going to Lars' apartment."
I think back to last year. Lauren worked a lot of overnight shifts and had mornings off while I was at work. She could've easily done things with Lars without me finding out.
"I guess it's possible," I say. "I just can't imagine her being with him. They're complete opposites. And I can't imagine her cheating. It's so unlike her."
"But maybe it wasn't. You're always saying you felt like you really didn't know her. So it's possible she was doing all this and you didn't know."
I shake my head, my anger building. "If she really did that..." I don't finish the thought, my mind now picturing her with Lars.
"I know it's hard to believe," Star says, "but I don't think Lars would lie about this. Why would he? He has no reason to."
All last year Lauren lied to me. Cheated on me. Why didn't she just break up with me? She knew I wasn't happy, and she obviously wasn't either if she was with another man so why did she stay with me? And why did I stay with HER? I should've ended things with her a year ago when I wanted to, but instead I stayed, blaming work on our relationship issues when it was so much more than that.
"You know what this means, right?" Star asks.
How could Lauren do this? How could she be with another man in the morning, then be with me at night? Did she not feel even the slightest amount of guilt or shame?
"Corbin," Star says. "Do you know what this means?"
I look up. "It means she cheated."
"More than that." Star grips my hand. "It means this baby may not be yours."
I consider that a moment, then get up and walk around. I'm too anxious to sit. "She would've used a condom with him."
"Maybe. Or maybe not." Star walks over to me. "Corbin, you have to get that paternity test. You have to know if you're really the father. It can't wait. We're making decisions based on something that may not be true."
I was pacing the floor but I stop. "You're sure about this? You really think Lars was telling the truth?"
"Yes. But just to be sure, I'm having Alexis ask Lauren about it."
"Wait—Alexis knows?"
"She didn't until this morning. I told her my theory and she said she'd ask Lauren about it tonight. She's over there right now, helping Lauren pack."
"Lauren's not going to admit to it."
"She might not, but it's worth asking." Star's phone rings. "It's Alexis."
"Put her on speaker but don't tell her I'm here."
Star nods as she answers. "Hey, Alexis."
"Hey, I just left Lauren's place."
"And?"
"She wouldn't tell me anything."
Star's shoulders slump as she looks at me. "Nothing? I thought she'd at least give you some clues."
"She said Lars is just a friend. What'd you find out? Did you talk to Lars?"
Star repeats what Lars told her as I pace the floor, shaking my head. I can't believe Lauren cheated. That's not something I ever thought she'd do.
"It's gotta be Lars' baby," Alexis says.
"Not if she used a condom," Star says.
"I'm sure she did sometimes but not always. She's not as perfect as you'd think. She can be careless sometimes, especially when she's tired, and she's always tired. The girl never sleeps."
It's true. Lauren got careless when she was tired. It's why I used to tell her to sleep after her shift instead of going to spin class. But now I know she was going to that class because Lars was there. Maybe they didn't even go to class. Maybe they just went straight to his apartment. Or maybe they went to mine. They better not have done it here. Just thinking they might have makes me even angrier.
I go over to Star and grab the phone from her. "Where is she?"
"Who's this?" Alexis says.
"What are you doing?" Star whispers, trying to take the phone from me.
"It's Corbin," I say to Alexis, pacing the floor again. "Star told me about Lars. Did you really not know about this?"
"No. I swear. Lauren never said a word to me about it."
"And you asked her about it tonight? You asked her if she'd been with Lars?"
"I wasn't that direct. You know how Lauren gets if you accuse her of something."
"So what did you say?"
"I told her I thought Lars was really hot. Then I said I always see him looking at her when we go to the deli and how he totally wants her."
"And what'd she say?"
She laughed and said he's not her type. I told her he doesn't have to be her type to fool around. It's just sex. She brushed me off and said they're just friends, then changed the subject."
"She's really trying to cover this up if she doesn't even tell her best friend."
"I know, which is why I think Lars might be the father."
"Just because she didn't tell you doesn't mean he's the father. She didn't tell you about Lars because she thinks you'll tell Star which will get back to me."
"That might be it, but it also might be that she's trying to cover up the fact that Lars is the father. Star said Lars didn't even know Lauren was pregnant. I'm telling you, Corbin, she's trying to make you the father because that's what she wants. Having a guy like Lars be the father is her worst nightmare. He may be good for a fling but he's not who you want to father your child."
"But that isn't something she can hide. She knows I want a
paternity test. I need one in order to move forward in getting legal rights as the father."
"Maybe she thinks she can fake the report. Who knows? When Lauren's desperate, she's capable of anything."
"Where is she right now?" I ask as I walk to the elevator.
"At her parents' house. Why?"
"I'm going over there. If you find out anything else, let me know." I end the call and put Star's phone on the table.
Star races up to me as the elevator opens. "You're really going over there?"
"I need to talk to Lauren. It can't wait."
She nods. "Okay."
I lean down and kiss her. "I love you."
"I love you too."
When I get to Lauren's parents' house I'm greeted by Eve, Lauren's mother. I've never liked her. She feels the same way about me, even though she pretended to be thrilled at the idea of me marrying her daughter. It wasn't me she liked, but my family's money.
"Corbin." Her brows draw together. "What are you doing here? And at such a late hour?"
"I need to talk to Lauren."
"She's asleep." She shoos me away. "Go. You can speak with her tomorrow."
"I need to speak with her now." I go around Eve, walking into the house and straight to Lauren's room.
"Corbin!" Eve calls out, but when I look back she's not following after me. She knows she can't stop me.
I knock on Lauren's door.
"Mother, I'm busy," Lauren yells.
"It's not your mother," I say. "It's Corbin. Open the door."
She does, but just barely. She's in her pajamas, her hair in a ponytail and no makeup on. She actually looks better that way than when she's all done up. I used to tell her that but she never believed me.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Lauren asks. "It's almost nine. I'm going to bed."
"Doesn't look like it," I say, pushing the door open as I go in her room. Her bed is covered in clothes and there are suitcases all over the floor.
"I was going to move them," she says, folding her arms over her chest. "As you can see I'm in the middle of packing. I don't have time for visitors."
"I'm more than a visitor. I'm the father of your child. Isn't that right, Lauren?"'
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