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Padraig nodded. “She still planning to keep the sperm donor? And the timeline?”
Colm sighed. “Yeah. I told her it was time for us to figure some shit out since she’s set this damn holiday break as go time.”
“Did you ask for more time?”
Colm shook his head. “At first. But I knew she wouldn’t go for it. So I asked to be the father.”
“Wow.” Padraig’s amazement didn’t really match the huge-ass grin on his face. “Talk about taking an abrupt left turn. Weren’t you the guy who wasn’t tying himself down to just one woman until he was at least forty?”
“You and I both know that was me talking out my ass. Trying to make myself feel better because love was eluding me.”
“And Kelli rejected your offer?”
Colm shrugged. “Yeah. At first. Then…”
“Let me guess, you went full lawyer on her ass and started wearing her down with all your arguments.”
Colm leaned back in his chair, scowling. “I simply reminded her that there was precious little she didn’t know about me. I don’t know why she thinks we need any more time to,” Colm finger-quoted, “‘get to know each other.’ Jesus. We’ve known each other our whole lives. What else is there to learn?”
Padraig lifted his hands in surrender as Colm became more impassioned with each word. “Hey, Bro. Listen. I’m on your side. I think you and Kelli are perfect for each other. But the truth is she’s stubborn and headstrong, and once she’s made up her mind about something, it’s hard for her to back away from it. She’s had this single-mom plan swimming around in her brain for the better part of a year. She’s made the lists, the plans, studied the pros and cons. Then, the second she takes the leap and sets things in motion, you crawl in bed with her in the middle of a blackout and boom! Everything is tossed on its ear.”
“I’m not trying to talk her out of having a baby. I just want it to be our baby.” Colm finished his Guinness.
Padraig refilled it. “The thing is…Kelli is always waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Colm recognized the truth in that statement. Especially when he recalled her comment that everyone leaves eventually.
He considered those words from her perspective because he’d never heard her say anything with such outright assurance, and such…pain.
That was when he realized it wasn’t everyone who had always walked away from her.
It was just one person.
Her dad hadn’t just left her mom. He’d left Kelli. The asshole had been in town a few months ago and hadn’t even bothered to call his daughter.
Colm had assumed that didn’t bother her because she’d never let on that it did. But he could see now that her pride wouldn’t let her reveal her feelings about the matter.
Her dad’s departure had hurt her, and he wasn’t sure Kelli had ever faced up to it.
“I’m not her dad,” Colm said. “I wouldn’t leave her. Wouldn’t leave our kids.”
“And I’m sure Kelli knows that. Deep down inside. But she’s had precious little luck with love, so I have no doubt you dropped those three little words on her and she freaked out.”
Colm froze. “Shit,” he muttered.
Padraig frowned. “Wait—you said them, right?”
Colm shook his head. “No. I…fuck…I said everything else.”
Emmy stopped typing and looked straight at him, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. “You did all that arguing for a relationship and babies and you didn’t tell her you loved her?”
“I should have told her,” Colm moaned, realizing he’d dropped the ball in closing arguments.
“Dude,” Padraig said. “You should have led with that.”
Emmy sighed. “Rookie mistake.”
Colm ran his hand through his hair. “I’m an idiot.”
