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Dane steps forward and shakes her hand and nods.
“Can we talk, privately… inside?” She asks quietly.
“I was just gonna get going anyways. I’ll call ya later. Tatum, nice to meet you.” Dane practically runs to his car, parked in front of the vehicle Tatum got out of.
I inclined my head towards the house.
“Didn’t think I’d see you again.” I simply state nonchalantly leading the way.
I’m conflicted with how I feel about seeing her, about her showing up. If I was the dick that I usually am, I would attempt another go to hump and dump her. But she seems troubled, and now I’m curious as to why she’s here. Another part of me is angry with her, even though her actions were the actions that I had done to many women. Overall, the new leaf that I turned in rehab has me being the better person that I’m working towards being, so I plan to go into this conversation with an open mind, then maybe I’ll go for a drive along the coast on my new bike.
“Yeah well, neither did I, but it would seem like forces are bringing us together.” She says.
I look at her with a puzzled look. That’s a weird statement. And I motion to the living room for us to sit. She takes the recliner and I take the couch and face her.
“Before we start, do you want anything to drink?” I ask standing back up, suddenly feeling nervous.
“This is a weird request, but would you happen to have any pineapple juice, or pineapple anything?”
I walk into the kitchen and look in the cupboards. We have a small can of pineapple slices, that I usually use for my pulled pork sandwiches. I get myself a glass of water and retrieve a fork from a drawer and I head back to the living room where Tatum, the girl who left me a Dear John letter after a what I would assume was a wild night of sex that for the life of me, I can barely remember.
“Thank you.” She whispers taking the can and fork from me.
“So, last week you stayed in the car when you and your friend picked up my brother. Why?” I ask.
“Pride.” She says placing a piece of pineapple in her mouth.
“But here you are right now, sitting in my living room, eating pineapple and wanting to talk now?”
“Before, we didn’t have anything to talk about. If I would have come inside, it would have been awkward. Hey, remember me – we hooked up and I left while you were in the bathroom. Yeah, that would have been awkward, especially in front of your brother, who I happen to work with and Sammie.”
“That’s a good point.” I look at my watch. “So you said before but now, you imply that now there’s a reason you want to talk?” She’s not looking directly at me, but focusing between the can in her hands and at the window off to the left of me. She’s chewing on her bottom lip and her eyes are slightly glassy like she’s about to start crying.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, but I feel that you should know that I’m pregnant.” Her bottom lip is back between her teeth as she’s looking me dead straight in the eyes. “Before you ask the standard questions, yes I’m sure because I’ve taken at least 20 tests this past week. I’m 100% sure that it’s yours because you’re the only person that I’ve had any sort of sexual contact with in the past 6 months and I honestly don’t remember if we used protection or not.”
I feel like a cartoon character where the jaw hits the floor.
“I need a milkshake.” I say standing up and walking back into the kitchen. Tatum is definitely confused with my reaction as her jaw seems to have hit the floor too. She stands and follows me.
As I’m readying the ingredients, I look to her. “Would you like one?” I offer.
“No thank you.” She’s confused and I should probably explain to her why the sudden need for a milkshake but the front door opens and Davis walks through. He’s whistling some odd tune and when he comes into view of the kitchen with Tatum and myself in it, he stills and practically drops his bag and keys.
“Hey, Tate. What’s going on?” He asks, with a concerned look on his face as he looks back and forth at the two of us. Then he looks at everything that I have out on the table along with the pineapple can in her hand.
He knows!
“Is everything okay?” He asks looking at me.
“Yeah, um Tatum came over here to talk. And I need… I need a milkshake.” I stammer out.
Davis nods in understanding. “Okay, um… I’ll let you guys talk. I’ll be um… in my room if either of you need anything.” He turns and walks towards the hallway.
“Does my brother know?” I ask, wanting to get that out of the way first.
“I think he’s piecing the pieces together. Max, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spring this on you, so that’s why I wanted to…” The blender basically cut her off. As soon as everything was blended, I shut it off.
“I need a milkshake before we can continue this conversation.” I explain as I grab a glass. “Do you want more… pineapple? I think I have another can in here.”
