His Change of Heart: Unexpected Pregnancy Romance (8 page)

Ten

     Weeks after the break up, Avery discovered that she had completely lost her appetite. Her favorite foods didn’t appeal to her anymore. And understandably, she blamed her lack of appetite and her very sensitive stomach on going through the motions of the break up.

   And whatever little food she did manage to eat, she had a hard time keeping it down. She had thought of going to the doctor, but other than the bouts of nausea she was experiencing now and then, she had no other health issues, and she was feeling fine otherwise. She had always been healthy, so she dismissed the entire thing to her body reacting negatively to stress. She still wasn’t sleeping well.

     By her calculation, she had lost close to ten pounds off her already slim frame, which resulted in awkward, suspicious stares from some of the teachers at work, and concerned questions about her health from her friends. She told the women at Ellington that she had started a new work out routine to prepare for the college’s upcoming charity run, when they had made unflattering remarks about her being anorexic. It seemed like the best possible excuse she could come up with to satisfy their ongoing curiosity.

   She had said nothing to them about her not seeing Will anymore, because she could see them getting together and gossiping about her if they knew the truth. She didn’t think she could stand the, I-told-you-so, disparaging comments and nasty stares. When the women had found out, through no fault of hers, that she was going out with Will, they had been unreasonably mean to her. And they had wasted no time ridiculing her.

    Will had insisted on driving her to work one morning right after they had started seeing each other, and she had ran into two of the teachers in the parking lot. She hadn’t wanted them to find out. And quite frankly, if she had anything to do with it, they wouldn’t have known about her relationship with Will. But, call it bad luck, or wrong timing on her part, the women had seen her coming out of Will’s red Ferrari, and Will pulling her in for a full on goodbye kiss on the lips.

   That ride and the way Will had kissed her had inevitably sealed her fate with the women. They had stared at her in wild astonishment—actually, with gaping mouths, as she exited the car. She remembered Will had given them a wide, friendly grin and waved at them.

    They had just stared at him, without smiling or waving back. He obviously had a sense of humor, Avery had thought as she took in the entire situation, including the look of utter disbelief and then anger on the women’s faces. He had no idea what they were capable of—what they would do with that piece of juicy information the minute they stepped inside, but she did.

   She had held her head down to hide her embarrassment as she made her way inside the building behind them. She was hoping that the women wouldn’t find out about her relationship with Will, especially after she had given them the specific impression that she hardly knew him, and didn’t have an interest in him.

   The word about her dating Will had spread in no time—as soon as she entered the teachers’ lounge for her morning coffee. The teachers who had seen her in the parking lot with Will, plus the ones they had told, had given her the silent treatment for the rest of that day—whispering amongst themselves when they saw her coming, glancing suspiciously at her, giving her nasty looks when she was around them, ignoring her when she tried to talk to them.

    Avery had decided that they were acting like a bunch of mean high school girls, and she had tried to avoid them. And if looks could kill, Avery sworn she would have died many times that day from the angry piercing stares they had given her. She had tried to ignore their nastiness, telling herself it would pass. But it didn’t.

    The women had confronted her the next day at lunch—they had been extremely vocal with her. They had held nothing back. They had been downright vicious, to say the least. First they wanted to know how it happened—how she had ended up going out with Will—what was her appeal—why he had chosen her and not one of the other teachers who had showed interest in him.

  Avery had buried her face in her garden salad and shoved fork-fulls of it into her mouth, without replying to their rude and intrusive questions. She didn’t think their actions justified one.

Then, they had crushed her with one final blow. They told her men like Will didn’t get serious with women like her, that Will was with her for one reason and one reason only—because she was an easy target who wouldn’t challenge him or think twice about getting into bed with him.

    And he was probably into bi-racial girls. They told her Will would never commit to someone as naïve as her, not by a long shot—she was just a casual fling he would soon be tire of and wouldn’t think twice about dumping when he has had enough of her.

   She had been completely embarrassed by their offensive and officious comments, especially when she realized they were trying to tell her in no uncertain terms that Will had chosen her only because he thought he had a good chance of sleeping with her. She was just another one of his conquests—another notch on his bedpost.

   Then, to add insult to injury, they had the audacity to mention some of the women Will had been rumored to date in the past—actresses, models, a senator, a lawyer, women with as much family connection and money as him. Then they had finally ended their malicious assault by telling her she would be history in a month or two, five to six months at most, because Will would have found the next woman to move on with by then.

     Avery had been appalled at the way the women had attacked her. She had avoided looking at them or replying to them the whole time. She had worked with these women for two years and she had no idea how very little they thought of her.

     She may not be from an influential family or had a sizable bank account, but there were other qualities about her that she was proud of—she was honest, kind, hardworking, intelligent, and most importantly she didn’t have a mean streak in her, like those women did. She knew Will had chosen her because of the person she was, not because of anything else. She also knew she wasn’t just an easy hook up to him—she refused to believe that.

   She really didn’t think the women were capable of such animosity, especially when she had been nothing but friendly and helpful to them. She has always gotten along fine with all of them—she liked and respected them. They were all older then her, either by years or a couple decades. She was talking about women in their thirties, forties and mid-fifties. She had even filled in for some of them on the days she didn’t have any classes of her own. She had no idea where all this hatred was coming from.

    She had put on a brave face, told the women to have a nice lunch, and left the room. She had headed straight to the ladies’ room, locked herself in a stall and cried her eyes out, not because she believed any of the awful things they had said to her, but because she didn’t deserve the awful way they had treated her, especially since she had done absolutely nothing to them.

     She also wanted to believe that there wasn’t any truth to what they had said to her. She knew she meant more to Will than a casual fling. She wasn’t just another woman he took to bed. They shared more than that. He cared for her, in more ways than one. For the times they had been together, Will had never treated her badly.

    He had doted on her at times. He had even nursed her back to health a couple times she had been home sick with the flu. He had cancelled his appointments for the day, drove to her place with chicken soup and orange juice and took care of her. He had even given her a hot bath and washed her hair when she was too weak to do it herself.

    After, Avery told herself that the women were acting out of pure spite and jealousy. They were fuming because Will had chosen to go out with her instead of one of them, especially after they had thrown themselves at him. They were lashing out at her for that very reason. In the end, she decided she would keep details of her relationship with Will to herself. She wasn’t going to discuss any parts of it with them.

  And she didn’t have to worry about any of them finding out that Will had broken up with her. Because, except for the occasional drink she had with them after work, and the once a month lunches at a nearby restaurant, she hardly ever socialized with any of them outside of work. And luckily, she didn’t have mutual friends with any of them. They didn’t move in the same circle. So, she was comfortable that her secret was safe, at least for now.

   And after the nasty run in she had with the women, Avery realized how fortunate she was to have friends like the ones she had. Thankfully, none of them possessed the kind of malice and nastiness she had experienced with the teachers she worked with. They were supportive, respectful and kind. They were doing everything to make certain she was okay.

     On Saturday evening Avery met up with Kat for dinner at Le Flaive. She had jumped at the chance to get out of the house when Kat had called and asked if she was up for an evening out with her. They were grabbing a show at the theatre after. Kat had been wonderful through everything, and although Avery knew she had her unwavering support, Kat had also found a way to remained neutral through everything.

    There were times when Kat sided with her and hit out at Will when she thought he deserved it, and there were other times when Kat would chide her gently when she felt she was being overly unreasonable. Like the time when she had gathered up all the gifts Will had given to her, including several pieces of expensive jewelry and a diamond crusted Cartier watch.

   She was thinking of giving them away to charity, not even selling them on eBay for the money. But Kat had talked her out of it. Kat told her those things were a reminder of the happy times she had with Will, and getting rid of them wouldn’t make the break up any easier on her or make her feel any better—if anything, she might end up feeling worst when she realized what she had done.

    Kat told her someone would end with some very expensive pieces of jewelry, maybe paying less for what they were actually worth, and if she was certain she wanted to do that. Then Kat had offered to keep the pieces for her until she felt she was ready for them.

   Then, there were the times when she had come very short of calling Will a bastard, and Kat had come to Will’s defense, and pointed out that even if Will had been the one who broke up with her, he had done so respectfully. He could have just taken off to Chicago without telling her. Kat said she knew people who had ended their relationships with a much worded text message or on Facebook. After, Avery had grudgingly saw Kat’s point.

    Avery couldn’t deny that Will had been kind to her when they were together. And she had never for once thought that Kat was taking side with him. She knew that both Josh and Kat still kept in touch with Will. It was understandable, because they were friends. They had been friends, especially Josh and Will for a very long time, even before she appeared on the scene. And she didn’t want to be the cause of a rift between them. She also noticed that when she was around, Josh avoided talking about Will. She fully understood why. He was loyal. And the last thing she wanted was to put Josh in an awkward situation.

   “You are still coming to the wedding, aren’t you, Ave?” Kat said to her, as they took their seats at the table. “I hope you aren’t thinking of backing out because of Will. I will be devastated if you do, Ave. I really would. I need you there.”

    “Of course, I’ll be there. Why would you think otherwise? I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world,” Avery reassured Kat with a smile.

    “Good.” Avery watched a huge smile of relieve appeared on Kat’s face as she placed her hand over her chest “I thought you wouldn’t want to come because of Will. He’s Josh’s best man. You would practically be standing and sitting next to each other the whole time. I was panicking. I didn’t think you would want to be in the same room with him.”

  “Don’t be silly, Kat. I can handle seeing Will. People break up all the time, and still have to see each other, why should we be any different.”

  “Are you sure? I know it will be difficult for you seeing him this soon after the breakup.”

    “I will be fine, Kat. I really will be,” Avery lied. “People split up all the time. Besides, this day is all about you and Josh, not about Will and me. Nothing should spoil it. I will be happy to be there.”

  Avery wasn’t certain Kat believed any of what was coming out of her mouth. She, herself wasn’t convinced either, then why should Kat. The last couple months had been extremely trying for her, and she wasn’t exactly certain she could handle seeing Will again, especially mere months after he had walked out on her.

    She wished she could skip the wedding all together, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t do that to Kat, especially not after the way Kat had been there for her. She couldn’t just back out of the wedding—it wouldn’t be fair to Kat. Kat was counting on her to attend.

  “Thank you, for doing this, Ave.” Kat got up, came around the table and put her arms around Avery’s shoulders. “You have made me one of the happiest brides ever.”