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“What are you going to do if he comes around here?”
“For his sake, I pray he doesn’t.”
23
“Where have you been?I feel like I haven’t seen you in two days.”
Those were the words John said to Beau as he walked into the apartment, but he was too tired to answer. Instead, he simply walked to the fridge, got out a beer, and walked into his room. He needed to be alone, and despite the two-hour drive back home, stuck with nothing but his thoughts, he hadn’t actually made any rational decisions or had a rational thought. All he could think about was how Vee had refused to see him, how her voice had sounded so hollow and flat. She had believed every single word Lisa had uttered. How in the hell was he supposed to get her to see sense?
There was a tap on his door, drawing him from his thoughts.
“Leave me alone,” he called, sucking back half of his beer.
Ignoring Beau’s request, John opened up the door but didn’t come in. “What’s going on, man?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
John stared at him for a long minute before disappearing back into the living room. He reappeared with two beers in his hand. Stepping just inside the room, he took a seat against the wall, holding one of the bottles out to Beau. The bastard was not going to give up and leave. With a snarl, he stood up and snatched the bottle away.
“Talk to me.”
Hesitant, resistant, he shook his head. Speaking out loud about the damage Lisa had caused would only make Evangeline’s rejection weep like the fresh wound that it was.
“Is it about Vee?”
Beau cursed but nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, what happened?”
Beau finished off the beer in his hand and started the other one. Then he told John everything that had happened. When he was done, John’s mouth was opening and closing like he wasn’t quite sure what he would say.
Eventually he said, “Fuck!”
With a nod, Beau said, “Yeah.”
John looked at him, with pity in his eyes, with sadness... with regret. “I’m so sorry, Beau. What are you going to do?”
“Well, if a blood test proves positive, then I’m going to do the right thing by Lisa.”
“You stupid bastard.”
Beau looked at his friend, the sharpness of his tone and the words catching him off guard.
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t seriously be considering that.”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s exactly what Lisa wants.”
Slamming his bottle down onto the ground at his feet, he asked, “Do you think I don’t know this? Do you think I can’t see that this is what she wanted to get out of this whole fucking thing?”
“Then don’t give her what she wants.”
“If she’s carrying my child, I want to be a part of its life.”
John’s voice softened as he said, “And what about Vee, huh? She’s not going to play Mommy to Lisa’s kid, even if it is—possibly—half yours.”
