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“I get it if you don’t want anything to do with me,” I said when Brett still didn’t say much. “I’m telling you now so that you can leave if you must.”
Brett frowned, and it looked like he snapped out of his stunned surprise. “What?”
I looked at him. I knew he’d heard me.
His shock turned to irritation. “Don’t be ridiculous, Erica. I’m not leaving you over this.”
“But what about your image? And the company?”
Brett shook his head. “I was willing to lose the company for you if that was what it took to be with you. Having a baby—babies—with you won’t change that.”
He stood up and stepped around the table to me. He put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me.
I hadn’t expected him to react this way, and I was relieved. Brett was being amazing, but I was still worried. There was so much that could go wrong.
I tried to carry on working when we returned to the office, but I was still unsettled. Brett had been amazing, but there was still one person who didn’t know what was going on. I was even more scared to tell my mom than I had been to tell Brett. But I had to get it over and done with.
I phoned her. I didn’t have the courage to see her face-to-face.
“What!?” my mom cried out when I told her. She was furious immediately. “This is exactly what I was afraid of. After everything I warned you about, you still threw away your life.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “I’m much older than you were, Mom. And I have Brett. He’s not going to leave.”
“That’s what he says now. But he’s your boss, and the moment he doesn’t like his new life as a dad, he’s not only going to dump you to raise your baby alone, he’s also going to fire you. Then where will you be?”
I was on the verge of tears. My mom was freaking out even though the news I was sharing wasn’t bad. It was mostly good in fact.
“Why can’t I ever live a normal life?” I asked. “Why is it so hard for you to be happy for me?”
“Because happy endings don’t exist, and I can’t idly stand by and watch you throw away everything for the sake of some man who took advantage of you.”
I slammed the phone down before she could say anything else that would cut me even deeper. I couldn’t hold back the tears, and I hiccupped in my efforts to bite them back. When I couldn’t regain control of my emotions, I left the office. I fled without saying goodbye to anyone.
Chapter 27
Brett
On Sunday I was with Erica at her apartment. She had left on Friday without saying goodbye or even letting anyone know, and I had known right away that something was wrong. When I had called her to find out what was going on, she had told me that she had told her mother about what was happening.
It was a lot to do in one day—to tell me and to tell her mom. She hadn’t known how I would react, but I knew that her mom was the tough one. Since Erica and I had gotten close, she had told me about how her mother had raised her and how her father had left them before she was born. I understood that telling her mother must have gotten the worst reaction.
I had come to see her because I had told her I would be there for her, and I had meant every word. Yes, it was terrifying to think that I was going to be a father. I had only just gotten used to the idea that I was in love. It had taken me a while to accept that I felt love. Now, I was going to have babies. Plural. It was a lot to wrap my mind around, but I was still adamant that I was going to be there for her, no matter what.
“It’s going to be all right,” I said to Erica, sitting down next to her on the couch.
She shook her head and stood, walking away from me. “It’s not going to be okay. You don’t know her. She’s never going to forgive me for this.”
“It might only be a matter of time,” I said. “She’s your mom. She’s not going to shut you out forever.”
I walked to where Erica was standing and tried to put my arms around her. I wanted to be there for her, to chase all the bad things away. I wanted to protect her. But Erica shook her head and put her hands on my chest, keeping me at arms’ length. Why was she pushing me away?
