Fate Interrupted (14 page)

His eyes darted
around the room, searching for a simple solution. “Do you want some company?”

She rested a
hand on his knee and leaned in closer, giving him an unabated shot down her
shirt. “This could take a while, but I will make it up to you tomorrow night,”
she said with a mischievous grin. “I promise.”

He watched her
fingers run over the necklace without responding.

“Thank you so
much for the beautiful necklace. I love it.” She planted a quick peck on his
lips and got up. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said, slinging her purse over
her shoulder.

He followed her
to the patio door, pulled the blinds back and slid the glass door open,
allowing the night’s heat to mingle with the air conditioning inside. “Be
careful, and make sure that plumber has the proper credentials before you let
him in.”

“
Credentials
?”

“Yeah
ya
know,
plumber’s crack,
mustache, dirty joke book, stuff like that.”

She laughed and
pressed up against him, a blissful sigh escaping her from somewhere deep down inside
as her lips found his. They kissed for all of the neighbors to see, and, with a
heavy reluctance, they separated, staring into each others’ eyes.

“Looks like I
got pretty lucky, too,” he whispered.

“You better say
that,” she grinned. “Let’s do movie night at my place tomorrow. You pick up the
movies and I’ll make dinner.”

He studied her
face, his eyes getting lost in hers while they still could. “Waffle dogs?”

Evy planted one last
peck on his lips and turned to go. He watched her walk away, wishing it was
tomorrow night already. She stopped at her car, looked back to see if he was still
watching, and flashed him a quick smile.

Dean waved as she
sped off, his heart deflating in her absence. He shut the door and blinds,
rested his hands on his hips and scanned the room where her sweet smell
lingered behind. He inhaled deeply through his nose, savoring the ephemeral scent
like a fine bottle of wine. The TV suddenly seemed like an exercise in futility
compared to what he was feeling inside. Nothing could captivate his attention
like she could.

His world was on
fire and he couldn’t remember ever being happier, even when he had won the
Tolson
case last spring. He started pacing the room and let
his mind wander. She was his and he wanted to shout it from the rooftops. The
framed picture of he and his parents, with the snow covered Rockies behind them,
looked so real, like he could walk over and tell them everything. They would
grin and nod and tell him how happy they were for him. After his parents’
accident he never felt like he belonged anywhere in particular but things were
different now. Now, he belonged to her and her to him, and nothing could ever
take that away.

A soft rap on
the patio door stirred him from his thoughts. He stopped wearing out the
carpet, his heart fluttering with excitement. She was back. Probably to steal
one last
kiss
to get her through the night.
 
He yanked down on the chain. The blinds whooshed
back. His heart plunged off a cliff as he unlocked the door, using more energy to
pull it back than ever before.

“Hi
sexy.”

“Megan,” he
sputtered blankly, the color draining from his face.

She adjusted her
shirt so the v-neck was lower, giving her ample cleavage the due diligence it
so rightly deserved. “Don’t you know
it’s
poor manners
not to call a girl back?”

The coyness in
her voice irritated the shit out of him. He glanced behind her to the parking
lot basking in an orange glow from the spattering of tall lights, terrified Evy
could show up for that last kiss at any second. This wasn’t a game. It was all
he could do to keep from slamming the door in her smug little face.

“What are you
doing here?” His bluntness produced a frown upon her face that gave him a glint
of satisfaction.

Megan pressed
her lips together. “Glad to see you, too, Dean.”

“I’m seeing someone
now,” he blurted, deciding this was no time for kid gloves. “And this,” he
said, using his index fingers to circle the plot of land she was currently
invading, “isn’t cool.”

Her eyes welled
with tears. “I’m pregnant.”

His pulse
pounded, making it difficult to think. Her face blurred with a wooziness washing
over him like a nest of hornets. He swayed in his stance, his heart beating out
of rhythm. “What?”

She replied with
a somber nod, blinking a lone tear down her tanned cheek. “I just wanted you to
know,” she said softly, forcing a smile. “I thought you deserved that much.”

He cringed. He
didn’t
deserve
any of this,
especially now. He took another quick look over her shoulder, unable to shake
the feeling that Evy was watching everything from inside her car. “Come on in.”

She smiled and stepped
inside,
dusting him with a potent dose of a flowery smelling
perfume that smothered what was left of Evy’s scent. He closed the door and
locked it. “Have a seat,” he said, drawing the blinds and trying his best not
to sound rude.

“That’s why I’ve
been calling you,” Megan said matter-of-factly, sinking into the armchair that suddenly
wasn’t as bright as it was two minutes ago. “I saw my doctor this past week and…I’m
pregnant.”

He stood over
her with his hands on his hips and his mouth collecting flies, the taken aback
silence making his ears ring. “What makes you think it’s mine? I mean, I used a
condom.”

She shook her
head fervidly, spilling more tears down her face. “Condoms aren’t a hundred
percent foolproof, and I wasn’t with anyone else during the time of conception.
Only you.”

The crushing
blow drove the air from his lungs like a sledgehammer to the gut. White specks
floated across his vision as the room twirled around him. He plopped down onto
the couch before he could fall. She was lying.
Had to be.
He had used a condom. “What?” he repeated, at a loss for words.

She wiped tears
away with her hands. “I’m so sorry to spring this on you, Dean. It took me a
few days to even know what to do and I’m still not sure.” The dam gave under
pressure, unleashing salty rivers down her face. “I’m so sorry,” she cried, her
breath hitching in wheezy gaits. “I’m just scared.”

His mouth opened
but nothing came out. This wasn’t happening.
Couldn’t be
happening.
Evy flashed through his mind, ripping the necklace off and
throwing it in his face, telling him she never wanted to see him again. He
shook his head, dazed and confused by the heavy blow.

He stumbled into
the bathroom on heavy legs and glanced in the mirror, shuddering at what he
saw. His reflection already looked different.
Aged.
His stomach churned and he turned away.

“Here
ya
go.”

“Thank you,” she
sniveled, taking the box of tissue from him and plucking one from its core. She
tried flashing him a reassuring smile as she dabbed at her eyes and nose but there
wasn’t anything reassuring about any of this. “This isn’t exactly the summer I
had planned.”

He inhaled
deeply through his mouth, avoiding her stinging scent at all costs. “I still
don’t get what makes you think it’s mine.”

“Because I’m not
a whore, Dean!” she barked, startling him. “That’s how! I know who I was with
during the time frame the doctor gave me for conception.”

Dean wasn’t sure
which made him wince more: her sudden outburst or the return of the word
conception
. It made his skin crawl and he
wished she would stop saying it.

Megan released a
weary breath and lowered her voice. “I’m sorry.” She looked up at him with
watery eyes. “Believe
me,
I didn’t want to end up getting
pregnant, especially out of wedlock. My dad is probably going to throw me out
on the street.”

“So…what are you
going to do?”

“I’m keeping
it,” she answered way too fast for comfort, plucking another tissue with
a swoosh
and blowing her nose. A short laugh escaped her,
sending a shiver down his spine. “My dad would kill me if I aborted. That goes
against everything his campaign stands for.”

Dean’s eyebrows
drew together, meeting in the middle of his wrinkled forehead.
“
Campaign
?”

Mascara ran down
her face. “He’s on the city council, remember? I told you he was running for
mayor.”

Dean slowly
nodded, even though he remembered nothing she had said that drunken June night,
which now seemed so long ago. Nothing outside of the
ski mask
thing anyway.

She cleared her
throat and sat up straighter. “Look, I don’t expect anything from you, but I
would never stop you from wanting to be a part of this child’s life.”

He watched her dotingly
rub her smooth belly, her acerbic words cutting him to the bone. Her absolute
assumption he was the father was unnerving to say the least. “What I want is a
paternity test.”

She smiled
thinly.
“Of course.
I asked about that and the
earliest they can do it is during the tenth to twelfth week of pregnancy.

His eyes narrowed
as he did the math in his head. “Which is when?”

Even her shrug annoyed
him.
“Another month or so.”

“Wow,” he
murmured bleakly under his breath.

“I know, but
like I said, Dean, I wasn’t with anyone else during the time of…”

He shot a hand
up into the air. “I get it,” he said, cutting her off before she could utter
the dreaded c-word again.

She nodded faintly,
blinking more black tears into her lap.

His mind reeled,
desperate for a way out. His ship was sinking and time was of the essence. The
air conditioner kicked on, pushing the ear-ringing silence from the room like a
big bully. They stared at each other while cool air washed over them. The
tension was thick. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, unwilling to even
begin accepting such a ridiculous claim. How could he be the father?
Because she wasn’t with anyone else during the time of
conception
?
He called bullshit.

“Won’t
be long now before I’ll really be showing.”
She patted her
stomach and looked up to meet his petrified gaze. “I’m going to tell my family
tomorrow but I wanted you to know first.”

He bit his
tongue to keep from saying something he might regret and responded with a
shallow bob of the head, indicating an understanding that couldn’t be further
from the truth.

She sensed his
disinclination and got up, stuffing the wadded balls of Kleenex into her Coach
bag. “I should go.”

He followed her
to the patio door, praying Evy wouldn’t be standing on the other side when he pulled
back the blinds, her green eyes just as broken as his heart. He swallowed hard
and tugged on the plastic chain like a band aid, sending the slatted shades
noisily colliding against each other. Relief spilled over him when he saw the patio
chairs. He slid back the glass door, beyond ready to get Megan and her pungent
perfume out of his condo.

She stopped in
the doorway and turned to face him. He glanced behind her to the parking lot and
she moved her head to block his view. “Can I call you if I need a ride to the
doctor’s office or…peanut butter ice cream or something?” she asked, trying to
smile.

He sucked in massive
gulps of air that tasted like sterilized medicine, trying to round up a
response that wouldn’t lock him into anything. “Sure,” he lied.

Her face
brightened. “Thank you, Dean,” she said softly, leaning in and kissing him on
the lips.

It caught him
off guard and he hesitated before pulling away. “Don’t,” he said sternly,
holding her at arm’s length by the shoulders.

Her eyes
violated his considerable frame from head to toe. “I’m sorry,” she blushed, fighting
a grin. “It’s just that being pregnant makes you so horny.” Her sultry voice
fanned the flames of his irritation. He wasn’t sure which threw him for a
bigger loop: her ridiculous kiss or the hand suddenly on his dick. He jumped
backwards, holding his arms out to intercept any further attacks. “Megan, I
have a girlfriend now!”

She laughed
sharply, flipping her straight blond hair over a shoulder.
“You?
Yeah right! You can’t even commit to a second date, let alone a
girlfriend
. Don’t think I haven’t heard
about you.”

“Megan, listen, you
are a very pretty girl, but this is...”

“Stop
objectifying me!”

Dean blinked
blankly, a nearby air-conditioning unit humming in his ears. “What are you
talking about?”

She stepped
closer and softened her tone. “I can be different, Dean.”

“Not like this.”

“I can be
whatever you want me to be,” she whispered, placing a hand on his chest.

His brow
crumbled.