One Night in London (20 page)

“If you want my honest opinion,” she spoke as she chewed her food, “I think he has a multiple personality disorder.”

I sighed as I rolled my eyes. “He does not.”

“Eat your pizza. I have to go to the bathroom.” She pushed my plate towards me. “If you don’t eat your dinner, you can’t have any ice cream.” She grinned.

Picking up my pizza, I took a small bite and slowly chewed it as I thought about Sebastian. A few moments later, Sienna walked back to the table.

“Umm, Chloe.”

I glanced up at her as she stood there holding the pregnancy stick in her hand.

“You said that Sebastian went to the bathroom in the middle of dinner. I think I found the reason he ran out of here so fast.” She held up the stick.

My eyes widened and my heart started racing. “Oh my God, he thinks I’m pregnant.” I placed my hand over my mouth.

“I would say so. You hadn’t told him yet that your mom is pregnant?”

“No. I didn’t have a chance to. We were talking about that business deal of his. I was going to tell him after.”

“I could totally understand why he thought it was you. I mean, come on. I never would have thought in a million years your mom would get pregnant again.”

“You and me both.”

As the confusion and sadness was swept away by the tide, an anger roared throughout my body. Getting up from the table, I walked over to the counter and downed a shot of tequila. Slamming my fists on the counter, I looked at Sienna.

“So he just ran away?” I yelled. “Like a fucking coward? Instead of asking me or talking to me about it, he took off?” My voice raised so loudly that I was sure the whole building heard.

“Calm down there, tiger.” She put her hands up. “But it looks that way.”

“FUCK HIM!” I shouted as I threw the vase of daisies he gave me at the wall and it shattered all over the floor with water spilling everywhere.

“Okay. Seriously, Chloe, calm down. This isn’t like you. Take a deep breath. Come on. Deep breath,” she spoke as she breathed in and out.

Following her lead, I took in several deep breaths to try and calm myself. After about the fourth one, my heart started to settle down.

“That a girl.” She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m sorry he sucks. You need to tell him that you aren’t pregnant.”

“I’m not telling him anything. If he thinks I’m pregnant, let him think it. It’s over between us for good. He showed his true colors with this and it’s something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive him for.”

“Come, let’s sit down on the couch and be rational about this.” She took hold of my arm and walked me to the couch.

“Are you defending him?” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“No. I’m not defending him at all. What he did was a total douchebag move. But aren’t you the one who said that he was broken inside? You knew exactly what you were getting into when the two of you became a couple. This shouldn’t shock you.”

“But it does! He turned his back on his child and the mother of his child. A woman he supposedly loves.”

She held up her finger. “Now remember, he never told you that he loved you. He just always said ‘me too,’ which, if you stop and think about it, he’s actually saying he loves himself too.”

“Ugh! You aren’t helping!” I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. “He grew up without a family. His parents abandoned him and now he did the same thing.” A tear formed in my eye.

“Hold up. You’re not even pregnant, so technically, he didn’t abandon his child because a child does not exist.”

“But to him it does. He thinks I’m pregnant, so he ABANDONED his child!” I yelled.

“Stop yelling at me, Chloe. Meditate, do something.”

As I shook my head, the tears in my eyes began to fall down my face.

“I can’t believe he would do something like this. I thought I knew him, but obviously I don’t.”

“Aw, sweetie,” she whispered as she placed her hand on my arm. “You do know him and you know how he struggles with relationship things. I mean, he’s trying so hard and now he thinks you’re pregnant and he got scared. You know what babies men are.”

“So you are defending him?”

“No. I’m just trying to make you see it from his point of view. He never had a family and now he has this amazing girlfriend who loves him to the ends of the earth and then here comes baby. Instant family. He’s scared, Chloe.”

“I guess you’re right, but I DON’T GIVE A SHIT!”

“There you go with the yelling again.”

“I’m done. I don’t deserve this. I’m a good person, Sienna.”

“Of course you are. You’re the sweetest, most kind hearted, and giving person I know. But I still think you need to tell him you’re not pregnant.”

“No.” I shook my head. “He can think it all he wants. I’m done with him. Finished.”

“And what are you going to do when he gets back and wants to talk?”

“He doesn’t get to talk. He lost that right the minute he walked out my door. If it’s so easy for him to stay away from me for a week or so, then it’ll be a fuck of a lot easier to stay away the rest of his life.”

“Chloe, I’m worried. This doesn’t even sound like you.”

“I’m hurt, Sienna. Don’t you understand that?”

She kissed the side of my head. “Of course I do. But you don’t have a mean bone in your body. You never have.”

“Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve let too many guys walk all over me all these years. Not this time. He made his bed over an assumption and now he can rot in it.”

She heavily sighed as she tried to comfort me. “I think you mean he can sleep in it.”

“No. He can rot for all I care. In fact, where’s my phone?” I stormed off the couch and into the kitchen.

“Chloe, what are you doing?” Sienna asked in a panicked voice.

When I dialed Sebastian’s number, it went straight to voicemail.

“Sebastian, it’s Chloe. I know why you left New York. I just had to tell you that. Because letting you know that I know in some weird way gives me a sense of peace. When you decide to come back, don’t call me, come to my apartment, the art gallery, nothing. It’s over between us. I will erase every memory we ever made and I will move on with my life. I suggest you do the same. And by the way, if you follow me again like you did last time, I will get a restraining order against you! Consider yourself warned.”

“Jesus, Chloe. I can’t believe you just did that,” Sienna spoke as she stood across the room with her mouth hanging open.

“Sienna, I love you, but I need to be alone right now.”

“Are you sure? I can stay the night.”

“No.” I gave her a gentle smile. “Go home to Sam and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She pouted as she walked over and gave me a tight hug. “If you need me, call.”

As soon as she left, I locked the door, started the water for a bath, climbed in the tub, and cried myself into oblivion.

Sebastian

I
was sitting at the bar in the Terrence Lounge when I finally decided to listen to Chloe’s message. My heart shattered into a million pieces hearing her say those words to me. I spent my mornings running along the water and my days sitting on a bench in Waterfront Park, thinking and watching couples walk by hand in hand, kissing and smiling. I paid even closer attention to those couples pushing their babies in strollers. I watched a father as he held his crying baby, trying to calm down his son. I spent my nights sitting at the same bar, drinking my worries and problems away. Being away from her was so hard. I missed her touch, the feel of her soft skin, and the way her nose wrinkled every time she laughed. But what I missed most was hearing her say that she loved me. And now I would never hear those words again because of what I’d done. I could tell by the tone in her voice that she hated me. She was hurt that I left and somehow she figured out why. Lies always do come back to bite you in the ass.

“Another bourbon, my friend?” the young bartender asked with a smile.

“Sure. Why not.”

“You’ve been in here the past four nights. Are you from around here?”

“Nah. I’m from New York.”

“Ah, I love New York. Bartended there for a couple of years.”

“Oh yeah? Why did you move to Seattle?”

“My girlfriend is from here. We met in New York when she attended NYU. It was love at first sight. She found out she was pregnant right when she took a job here in Seattle. So I moved with her. We’re getting married next month.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “This is my little angel, Christina.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“She’s my pride and joy. Her and her mother. Two best things that ever happened to me my whole life.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks, man. How about you? Do you have a family back home?”

“No.” I shook my head. “In fact, my girlfriend just broke up with me over voicemail.”

“Ouch. Sorry to hear that.”

Just as he was about to walk away, his phone rang.

“Hey, baby. I was just talking about you. Okay, I’ll pick some up on the way home. I love you too, baby. Tell my angel that Daddy will home in a couple of hours.”

Finishing off my drink, I headed back to the hotel and climbed into bed. As I was scrolling through the pictures of us in Hawaii, I came across one that was more special than any others I had. The picture of Chloe sleeping that first night in London. I took it before I left that morning. She didn’t know I took it and she still didn’t know to this day. I traced my finger over her picture as if magically, she’d appear in bed next to me. I looked at that picture every night after London, wondering if I would have stayed if things would have been different. But now, she hated me and threatened to get a restraining order if I came near her. Nonetheless, she was pregnant with my child and that was the one thing she couldn’t keep from me. I knew what I had to do and, in a couple of days, I would return home to claim what was mine.

****

Chloe

B
y time I dragged my sad, sorry ass out of bed, it was one o’clock. The only reason I did was because my parents decided to drop by.

“What’s going on with you?” my mom asked with worry. “We ran into Sienna this morning and she asked if you had talked to us yet, but she wouldn’t tell us anything else.”

“You okay, pumpkin?” my dad asked.

I sighed as I went to the kitchen to make some tea.

“Sebastian thinks I’m the one who’s pregnant. He found the test in the bathroom and flew out of here as fast as he could. He left town and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Come here.” My mom held out her arms.

I should have broken down and cried in her arms, but the truth was, I had cried so much the past couple of days that I didn’t have any tears left in me.

“Why would he do something like that without talking to you?” my dad asked.

“Oh. I don’t know. Maybe because he’s an asshole.”

“Now, Chloe. What have I taught you about calling people names?”

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a couple of tea bags and put them in the teacups.

“Sounds to me like he’s running scared,” my dad spoke as he reached in the fridge for a beer. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

“No, Dad. I broke up with him.”

“But you’re not even pregnant,” my mom said.

“I know that, but he thinks I am and instead of talking to me, he took the cowardly way out and left. I’m taking that as a sign for the future. The universe is telling me to run as fast as I can away from him.”

“No. I don’t believe that.” My mom shook her head. “The two of you are meant to be together. That’s why you found each other again when you moved back here.”

“Well, he hurt me, again, and I’m not playing anymore. This game hurts me, Mom. It hurts so bad that I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to fully recover because I loved him so much.”

“You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder,” my dad chimed in. “Maybe he’ll come back groveling on his hands and knees, begging you for forgiveness.”

“I doubt it. I told him that if he ever came near me again, I’d file a restraining order against him.”

“Oh, Chloe.” My mom placed her hand on my face.

“Enough talk about Sebastian. It’s over, so get used to it. We have other things to focus on, like my baby brother or sister.” I smiled as I placed my hand on my mom’s belly.

Monday morning had arrived and it was the start of a new week. I set my alarm earlier than usual so I could meditate before heading to work. It was a new day. A day where I would renew my soul and create a peaceful mind. A mind that was free from any thoughts of him. He would now become a distant memory of a love I once had. A man who made me feel like I was the only woman on the face of the earth but also a man who broke my heart in two. Just as I prepared myself to meditate, my phone rang and it was Sienna. When I answered it, she was brushing her teeth.

“Oh good. You’re up. Sam brought up a good point last night.” She paused to spit in the sink.

“It’s a new day, Sienna. I don’t want to hear any points. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting ready to meditate before work.”

“‘Ello, Chloe.” Sam appeared on the screen.

“Good morning, Sam.” I sighed.

“Okay, so you know how you broke it off with Sebastian?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he isn’t going anywhere because he thinks you’re carrying his child. So, he’s going to be checking on you from time to time to see how you’re doing.”

“And you know this how, Sam?”

“Because I’m a guy, Chloe. We all think alike. You better prepare that pretty little head of yours because you ain’t seen the last of him. The only way that’s going to happen is if you tell him you’re not pregnant.”

So much for my renewed soul and peaceful mind.

“I have to go, Sam. Thanks for the little pep talk.” I gave him a thumbs-up.

“No problem, love. Have a good day.”

“Talk to you later, Chloe.” Sienna waved in the background.

As I was unpacking some new paintings that arrived, I heard a familiar voice say my name.

“Chloe.”

I stood as if I was frozen in time, unable to move. My heart began to rapidly beat and my palms started to sweat. Staring down at the large wooden carton, I spoke, “Go away, Sebastian. It’s over.”