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Realizing he wasn’t going to learn any more about his wife, Karl walked to the kitchen, setting the newspapers and the bag of bagels on the counter. He was putting out plates when she came out of her room.
“Oh.” She stopped short at the sight of him, blinking. “I didn’t hear the front door.”
He turned his back to her and poured two cups of coffee. “I know.” When he turned back to face her, she hadn’t moved. “Sit down. Have some breakfast.”
She clasped her hands together, twisting them. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know you don’t know where your father is and that you’ve not told him you lost your job. Or that you’re pregnant. Why?”
A quick, frightened glance at the bedroom door gave away her thoughts.
“Is there a reason the fact of your father’s ignorance might induce me to kick you out of the apartment?”
“No.” Her hands fell to her sides and she inched to the breakfast bar. She gave him one more cautious look before sitting down. “I have good reasons for not telling my father about losing my job.”
He pushed a cup of coffee to her. “And for not telling him that you’re pregnant.”
“That, too.” She wrapped her hands around the mug, but didn’t drink any coffee. Karl waited. “I’m not going to tell you what those reasons are right now, no matter how silent you are.”
His laughter surprised them both. “The tactic loses some of its effectiveness when you put it so baldly.” That he was continuing to help her didn’t disturb him—she was pregnant and he didn’t believe in punishing a child for the sins of the mother, whatever the sins she was hiding might be—but how little he cared about her secret scared the hell out of him. Her attractiveness wasn’t enough to justify his feelings. He liked her, simple as that. “At least tell me that you’re not keeping a secret from me because you did something illegal.”
“I didn’t do anything illegal.” The matter-of-factness with which she said those words left a myriad of other secretive possibilities undenied.
“Does the secret have to do with why you were fired?”
“I don’t want my dad to know I’m pregnant because I don’t want him to have extra incentive to come looking for me.” Topic of conversation seemingly changed with the vague answer, she reached for a bagel, but Karl wasn’t satisfied.
“Because?”
Vivian put the bagel on the plate with a sigh. “Because he’s trouble, and I’m too old to go on thinking it’s fun.”
“Shouldn’t it be a parent’s prerogative to know if they’re going to be a grandparent?”
“Have you told your parents about me yet?” she asked.
“Parent. My dad died when I was sixteen.”
“I knew that. I’m sorry.”
“The people responsible for his death are the ones who should be sorry. You didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“But I’m not the only one keeping secrets from one of the baby’s grandparents.” She looked out the window before reaching for the tub of cream cheese. “My dad is better off not knowing.” Scrutinizing her bagel as she smeared it with cream cheese, she continued, “He wouldn’t care that much anyway.”
Interesting. She had the same tells when she was lying to herself as she did when lying to other people.
He took his time choosing his bagel and spreading it with cream cheese, enjoying her wary looks as she tore small bites off hers and chewed them slowly. If she didn’t want to continue worrying about what would happen if he knew her secrets, she should spill them and get the pain over with.
His coffee was barely hot as he washed his breakfast down before changing the subject. “Speaking of a parent’s prerogative and whether or not she knows about you, my mom planned a family dinner for tomorrow.”
* * *
VIVIAN COUGHED, BUT managed to choke down her mouthful. Couldn’t he have waited until after I’d swallowed before laying that on me?
“Am I invited?” Did she want to be invited? She didn’t want to be a dirty secret locked up in a basement somewhere, but meeting Karl’s family had seemed less scary when it was an abstract idea. Or when bumping into his brother-in-law at the library without the chance to escape or the opportunity to worry about it beforehand.
