Feeling lame, desperate, and slutty she sagged against her desk, dropping down until her butt found the floor and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, he’d crouched down on her level somehow in the cramped space. He touched her cheek. She took his hand, holding onto it as she let the tears flow.
Finally, he pulled her to her feet, gathering her close, and held on, letting her sob it out like he knew to do. She grabbed the back of his shirt, sensing herself float away on a cloud of conflicted remorse, willing her life in reverse for the millionth time.
“Shhh,” he whispered, swiping at her wet cheeks and pushing her hair out of her face. “Don’t. I can’t take anymore. Can I ask one question?”
“No,” she mumbled, before grabbing the tissue he held out to her and blowing her nose. “Not if it’s the question I think it is.”
He folded her in a warm, friendly embrace—friendly being the key word. She pressed her face into his chest, sucking in deep breaths, memorizing him.
“Fair,” he spoke into her hair. They lingered long enough for the air to clear, her tears to dry, and for someone to knock on the door, asking after her. He grinned and chucked her under the chin in a way that sent what remained of her heart skittering down to her feet. She exhaled and forced the words out before he could open the door.
“I broke up with you because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what? Me? I’m the least scary of the whole clan, you know that.”
“Don’t joke.” She still tasted him, and willed him gone so she could breathe again. “I didn’t want to be that girl who married her high school sweetheart. I needed to experience things, you know? To see what else there was? Besides, my mama married her sweetheart from Lucasville High and we all know how well that went.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you tell it that way to me then? You told me you didn’t love me anymore. That you’d never loved me. All sorts of verbal tidbits I will never forget, thanks much.”
She winced when her stomach cramped. “I know. I was really—”
“A heartless bitch, really.” He held up both hands when she opened her mouth to reply. “No, listen. I gotta get this off my chest now, Cara, since we’re being all honest or whatever. You dumped me without so much as a second thought. You slammed the door on me.” He ground his teeth and looked down at the floor.
“I know. I’m sorry. I...I never stopped loving you.”
“Huh, funny you should mention that now. Being engaged to some rich jerk of a lawyer who’ll make you move to Louisville and fill his McMansion with spawn.”
“I know.” She dropped into her seat. “I know.”
Thumbing her chin, he bent and put his face close. Too close. “I never stopped loving you either. Guess we’re both a day late and a buck-and-a-half short.” He stopped. They glared at each other a few seconds. Cara sighed when he touched her lips with his fingertip. “But you know what? You never were easy to satisfy. Something tells me you’d have dumped me somewhere along the line.” He hovered, and she wished he’d kiss her. But he retreated and tugged his shirttail out over his shorts.
“Don’t talk like that.” Her voice sounded small and weak.
“Like what? Like a realist? I have no woman, no car, no job, nothing really. You have a future husband, a bun in the oven, and a huge bank account to pad the rest of your life as a housewife.” The tone of his voice nearly killed her.
“That’s not fair.”
“No, probably not.” He heaved a sigh. “Go on, call Mr. Perfect Lawyer, tell him to pick you up from work, go home, and give him the blow job you were about to give me. That’ll ease your conscience, right?”
“Now you’re being an asshole,” she said, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“Yeah, well maybe if I’d been more of an asshole earlier in my life I’d not be in this place right now, admitting to my high school girlfriend that I still love her, like the lamest douche-bag on God’s green earth.” He banged the back of his head against the door once, twice, then again.
When she tried to get out of the chair, a bolt of pain sliced through her lower abdomen, forcing her to grip the desk. “Holy...cow...ow...ow....” Her body stayed clenched in a long agonizing cramp. When she saw blood darkening her blue scrubs, terror gripped her as a wave of nausea rolled through her gut.
“Mama!” She heard Kieran yelp as the room got gray around the edges.
Cara was soothed by Lindsay’s cool, calm voice for a second until the next cramp gripped her so hard she fell to her knees. “Honey, let Kieran carry you out. We’ve called an ambulance.”