“I wish you’d told me you lost my number when you saw me,” he says gently. “I waited for you to call for a long time. When I saw you again I thought you weren’t interested in me at all.”
My heart starts thumping again, but instead of anxiousness it’s excitement building inside me. He likes me!
“I was a mess when I lost it,” I say shyly, glancing down at the bread in my hands. I reach for the butter and smear it over both halves of the roll. “I wanted to talk to you so bad and I couldn’t find you ANYWHERE on social media. Are you a hermit??”
Lucas sits back and laughs. His shoulders relax and he shakes his head. He slides his hand across the table and I bring mine to meet his. Our fingers interlace and I feel the warmth travelling up my arm as he smiles at me. His eyes soften and the thumping in my chest gets heavier.
“I have to keep a low profile because of the job,” he explains. “The artists like their privacy and if I was all over the internet it would hurt my career. Anonymity is safer. I wish I’d known you were looking for me.”
I shake my head. “Well we’re here now. And we have less than a day before you leave again.”
He looks pained and he nods. “Let’s make the most of it.” He glances up and around the restaurant. “I might head to the bathroom before the food gets here.”
He stands up and ducks across the table, placing a soft kiss on my lips. It’s warm and electric and sends a shiver through my whole body. When he pulls away his eyes are shining brightly and he winks.
“Be right back.”
I smile and watch him walk away. He wanted to talk to me! He thought I rejected him and that’s why he was cold when we first saw each other last time! I pop a piece of bread into my mouth and sit back as I chew. The bread is warm and doughy with deliciously melted butter all over it. I groan in satisfaction.
Something buzzes on the table and I notice Lucas’s phone. He must have left it on the table. I glance over and see a message flash across his screen. I look up towards the washrooms to see where he is. I can’t help myself, the curiosity is too much. I lean forward and read the message as the screen lights up.
Love you! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
My stomach drops and my heartbeat starts rushing in my ears. I glance at the name - Allie.
He has a girlfriend. Or worse - a wife. He’s here on business, just telling me what I want to hear to get in to bed with me again.
He wasn’t waiting for me to call when he was in LA. Or if he was, it was just to make sure he had a piece of ass in every city he goes to.
I’ve been a fool.
My chest is heaving and my vision is blurry as my eyes fill with tears. He’s played me. Of course he’s played me! The fucking father of my child is having an affair with me. I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid!
I wipe the tears off my cheeks and glance at the washrooms. He’s still not there. I have seconds before he walks out and sees me like this, seconds before I make a scene in this restaurant and scream at him. I have just seconds to decide if I want all these strangers to see me at my worst, yelling at the lying, cheating bastard that happens to be the father of my child.
I can’t do it. I grab my bag and rush to the exit.
It’s not until I’m inside a cab that I let the tears flow freely. My hands are shaking and I can’t even steady them enough to call Jess or Harper. It starts ringing as Lucas calls me and I quickly press the power button to turn it off. I just cry and cry and cry until the cab pulls up outside my house.
Chapter 35 - Lucas
It takes me a while to realise that she’s gone. At first I think she’s just gone to the washroom, and then I think she’s doing her makeup, and then I think something must be wrong. I start looking around the restaurant and it’s not until I see the waiter coming towards me that I start thinking that she’s in trouble.
When the waiter asks me if I still want to eat my dinner I don’t understand what he means. When he looks back at the hostess and they exchange a look, my stomach starts churning. When he tells me she’s gone, the ground falls away and my blood starts to rush through my veins faster than I thought possible.
I say something to him and he walks away, but I’m not quite sure what I said or what he replied. All I can do is stare at the table in front of me and try to process what’s happened.
She’s gone. Why? Why is she gone?? She’d just told me that she wanted to see me even after the first time, that the only reason she didn’t call me was because she lost my number.
I left to go to the bathroom feeling like the king of the world and now she’s just gone?? My confusion turns to hurt which turns to anger. My anger bubbles up until the rage is gripping my throat.
I grab my phone. Allie’s texted me and I swipe the message away. I find Rosie’s number and dial it.
It rings twice and then goes to voicemail.
She hung up on me. I take the phone away from my ear and stare at the screen in amazement.
What the fuck is going on?
I dial her number again and it goes straight to voicemail, it doesn’t even ring once. The anger intensifies inside me and I mash out a text message.
Where are you??
I press send and wait for the little ‘delivered’ to appear under the message. I refresh the screen and still nothing. She must have turned her phone off.
I sit back in my chair and the waiter appears with big styrofoam packs of food. I guess I told him I’d take the dinner to go. I nod and give him some money.
“Keep the change,” I mumble as I grab the bag and stalk out of the restaurant. I glance up and down the street, half hoping to see Rosie coming towards me even though I know she won’t be.
She’s gone.
I start walking in the general direction of my hotel just as the skies open up and rain starts pouring down. I stop walking and look up, feeling my clothes soak through in seconds.
Of course. Of. Fucking. Course.
I can almost hear the rain sizzle as it hits my red hot anger. I walk through the streets towards the hotel with my shoes squelching with every step. I just don’t understand why she would leave without saying anything! And then just cut me out and turn her phone off?
Maybe the whole thing about losing my number was a bunch of bullshit. She could tell I was mad about it and came up with some excuse, and then when she saw that I was into her she ran.
Coward. That’s what she is, she’s a complete coward.
I can’t believe I fell for it again. Not once but twice with the same woman I get played for a fool. I think she’s into me and then she just turns her back on me. Twice!
I walk into the hotel and keep my head buried in my chest as I make my way to the elevator. It’s not until I’m standing under the hot shower that I let my shoulders relax down and I let the anger dim ever so slightly.
I haven’t cried since my wife died, and it feels ridiculous to cry now over a woman I hardly even know. I still don’t know how she’s gotten under my skin or why I even care. She gave me a glimpse of something that was missing in my life and then just turned around and walked away. But here I am, a grown man sobbing in the shower over a woman he never even dated.
The shower washes away my tears and soon I’m able to breathe normally again. My anger fades slightly and I step out of the shower to towel myself off.
She’s gone, and I’m going back to LA. I’ll be with my daughter and I can put this whole chapter of my life behind me. I’m just embarrassed at being rejected twice by the same woman. I’ll recover, I’ll find someone else. Or else I’ll find no one and I’ll be alone. Either way it’s better than feeling like this.
I pull out my phone to text Jake to tell him I won’t make it in to the office tomorrow. If she’s being a coward and running away from me, then I will too.
Chapter 36 - Rosie
“It’s probably not what it looks like,” Jess’s voice comes through my phone. “There could be a perfectly reas
onable explanation.”
“That’s just the typical thing that people say to make themselves feel better when they find out something that is exactly what it looks like,” I shoot back.
Jess chuckles. “Maybe. Or maybe he has a daughter, or a mom, or maybe Allie is a man! Who knows! The worst thing you can do is shut him out. He’s your baby’s daddy for crying out loud!”
“Please stop calling him that.”
“It’s true. You have a baby daddy, and it’s time to come to terms with it.”
“Jess,” I start.
“Rosie,” she answers. I chuckle and I can almost hear her smiling on the other side of the line. “Come on Rosie, just pick yourself up and pick out a great outfit for work tomorrow. Send him a text to apologise and explain. Say you freaked out because you were moving too fast or something! Or just be honest and ask who she is!”
“I thought Allie was a man,” I say as I roll my eyes.
Jess laughs. “Not likely. Come on, Rosie. Chin up.”
“Alright, thanks Jess.”
I hang up the phone and I stare at the blank handset. I should text him. It was wrong of me to leave. Wrong and childish and hurtful.
I’m sorry I left. I freaked out.
I hit send and cringe. God, I’m pathetic. I’ve seen the man three times in my life and I’m already running out and grovelling to come back. What is wrong with me? My stomach grumbles and I realise I haven’t eaten since lunch. I throw the phone down and head to the kitchen to make some dinner.
Cooking calms me down, and I force myself to stay away from my phone. Before I sit down to eat, I check my phone and frown when I don’t see a response. I check the message - it says read, which means he’s looked at it and hasn’t responded.
That’s understandable, I try to tell myself even as it stings to see it. I did walk out on him with no explanation, after all. He’s allowed to have time to calm down. I’m sure he’s mad at me.
But then again, he is the one who has been cheating on his girlfriend with me!!! He should be grovelling to me!
I take a deep breath. I’m going to drive myself nuts. At least I get to see him tomorrow at work. Maybe I can catch a few minutes with him alone and work it all out.
It’s not until I get into work and see Jake that my heart really sinks. Lucas isn’t coming in today, which means I won’t see him at all before he leaves. Not unless he answers my message and agrees to meet before his flight.
The day crawls by and his silence is deafening. Harper notices and keeps shooting concerned glances my way but I pointedly ignore her. It’s not until Jake leaves to catch the plane that I realise it’s all over.
It’s over.
I’m a single mother, and the father of my child is a deadbeat who knocked me up while having an affair. He probably saw the message and realised that I knew about Allie and that’s why he doesn’t want to see me. He knows that he’s a scumbag.
That’s what I tell myself all the way home to stop from breaking down. That’s what I say to Jess when she calls, and when Harper comes over that’s what I tell her too.
He’s just a jerk. He didn’t deserve me. I’ll raise the baby on my own, I don’t want that kind of man in the kid’s life anyways.
The more I say it the easier it is to believe. The voice that screams in my head telling me I’m wrong gets quieter and quieter until it’s easy to ignore it. I can ignore the thoughts that say he’s different, he’s worth fighting for.
He’s not.
He’s just like all the others. A liar, a cheat, a coward. He couldn’t even face me head-on. Harper listens and nods and I see the sadness in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Rosie, I thought he was different. You deserve better.”
Even she knows the script. I nod. I deserve better.
“Yeah, I do deserve better. He’s not different, none of them are,” I say bitterly. “Except Zach, obviously.”
Harper chuckles. “There are some good ones, Rosie, don’t lose hope.”
“Who’s going to want to be with me now?” I say, looking down at my stomach. “Pretty soon I’ll be blowing up like a balloon and I might as well have a neon sign with me that says ‘COMES WITH EXTRA BAGGAGE.’”
Harper’s laughing now. “Rosie, stop. It’s a kid, it’s not a life sentence. Well,” she pauses, “It is a life sentence in a way, but a good one. The right man will be happy to take on both you and your baggage.”
The tears well up in my eyes. “You think so?”
“I know so. Zach is no angel, he ran out on me too when he realised he was a father.”
“Yeah but he came back,” I respond. Harper stays silent. “Thanks for coming over. You shouldn’t be over here, you have a husband and a baby daughter at home, you should be with them.”
“Stop, Rosie. You’re my best friend and you’re going through a hard time. Zach is perfectly capable of being a father and changing a few diapers.”
“Thank you.” It comes out barely above a whisper. She wraps her arms around me in a big motherly hug and I feel a little bit less alone.
Chapter 37 - Lucas
You’d think it would be easier to get over Rosie’s rejection the second time it happens, but it isn’t. The days turn into weeks and I slip into my new job without any major issues. Linda is happy, Allie is happy, and I pretend that I’m happy too.
Every time I see a redhead my heart skips, and then I hate myself for it. I cling onto my anger like a lifeline, remembering how much she’s hurt me whenever I think of how much I miss her.
It gets easier as time passes.
Before I know it, six months have gone by and I’m clapping my hands as Allie beams on stage. She steps forward to accept the trophy for the state-wide Mathletes competition and scans the audience for me. I wave and shout, clapping my hands together even harder. She looks towards me and smiles before raising the trophy above her head.
“That’s my daughter,” I say to the woman beside me. She smiles and nods and claps along with the rest of the parents.
Allie is ecstatic. She runs towards me once the ceremony is over, holding the medal around her neck in both hands.
“Look! Dad! Look! It’s so shiny!”
“Well done, kiddo. I didn’t even know the answers to any of those questions, you are some kind of genius.”
Allie elbows me and stares at the medal, tracing the engraved design with her finger. “Thanks for coming, Dad.”
My heart melts. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Allie.” I put my arm around her and kiss the top of her head.
“I’m glad you took the new job. I like having you here.” She swings her arm around my waist and looks up at me. I wink and her face cracks into a smile.
The bitterness that’s been inside me since I came back from New York disappears for a second. I squeeze her shoulder and she wraps her little arm around me a bit tighter. I hear someone clear their throat and I look up to see one of the mothers in front of us. She sticks her chest out and looks at me through her lashes.
“Congratulations, Allie,” she says without looking at her. “You did a great job up there.”
“Thanks Mrs. Miller,” Allie responds. Mrs. Miller is still looking at me.
“And you must be Allie’s father,” she says, extending her hand. Her nails and sharpened to a point and I try to avoid them as I bring my palm to hers. She squeezes my hand and takes a step forward, placing her other hand on my upper arm. She strokes in and gives me what she must imagine is a sensual smile.
“Nice to meet you,” I say robotically, trying to take a step back.
“I haven’t seen you around much,” she says, eyeing me up and down.
“No, I’m busy with work. But I couldn’t miss this,” I say, looking down at Allie and winking.
Mrs Miller nods. “Well, we’re having a celebration this weekend at our place with all the kids and their parents. I’d be so happy if you could make it.”
&nb
sp; The words drip out of her mouth and she drags her eyes all over my body and up to my face. I feel almost naked, with a cold shiver running down my spine.
“Thanks,” I respond. “I’ll think about it. Come on Allie, we should go.”
“See you Saturday!”
“Right.” I brush past her and bring Allie along. A year ago, I’d have been all over her. Objectively speaking, she’s an attractive woman. She has obviously taken care of herself and isn’t shy about showing her interest.
But now?
Now she’s almost repulsive. I haven’t been able to talk to a woman, let along meet one that holds my interest longer than a couple seconds for months.
“Can we go?” Allie’s voice floats up towards me. I look down at her and my eyebrows shoot up.
“Go where?”
“To the party! The whole team is talking about it. Apparently the Millers have a pool!”
“I’m sure they do,” I answer. “I’ll think about it, kiddo, I might have work to do.” Allie nods but says nothing and I sigh. I should go, if only for her sake. I can grin and bear any conversations with Mrs Miller or any other person at the party if it means Allie will enjoy herself. She deserves it, she’s put up with a lot from me for a long time.
I open my mouth again and sigh. “I’ll make some time for it, ok? It’ll be a good way to celebrate you big win.”
Allie’s face breaks into a huge smile and I laugh. That’s the smile that I’d move the Earth for, the smile I’d cross oceans and deserts to see.
Well, one of the smiles. There’s one other smile in this world that makes my stomach churn and my heart beat faster, but that smile might as well be dead to me. Even if she were beside me, I’m not sure I’d be able to speak to her.
Still, when Allie and I get into the car and I watch the other parents stream out into the parking lot I know that something is missing from my life. I watch couples help their kids into their seats and then get in the front, laughing and talking the whole time. I glance over at Allie who’s still studying her medal. Have I been depriving her of a mother? Has my lack of interest in other women actually been hurting her? She tells me she’s happy, but she’s so quiet and she never asks for anything.
Knocked Up by the Single Dad Page 12