Not Sorry

He laughs like it is the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard. “How do I know it’s mine? You’ve been with who knows how many men since me, and you were probably cheating with who knows how many men. It could be anyone’s.”

My mouth drops a little at the shock of what he said. Of all the ways I imagined this conversation going, I didn’t imagine it going like this.

“The baby is yours.”

He laughs again. “I don’t believe you.” He starts to close the door again and says, “Don’t come back here again unless you are bringing brownies. That was the only thing you were ever good at anyway.”

He slams the door shut in my face while I’m frozen at the door.

I’m on my own. Owen doesn’t care. And I don’t know if that makes me incredibly happy or incredibly sad. I’m happy that I don’t ever have to see Owen again, but I’m incredibly sad that my child will grow up without a father. I know the feeling.

But I do have to thank Owen for one thing. He just gave me an incredible idea and the motivation to make it happen.

23

Sean

“What is going on?” Jamie asks. “You’re falling completely apart on me. Do I need to come into work to help you out for a bit?”

“No. You need to stay right here on this couch, relaxing, like the doctor told you to,” I say as I rub her feet on my lap.

“I don’t know if I can. I thought I was leaving my company in the hands of the best two people in the world, but one quit on me, and the other one is falling apart,” Jamie teases.

“What do you mean, one quit?”

“Olive quit. I’ve been expecting it for some time. Real estate and management have never been right for her. It’s one of the reasons I never gave her a raise. I was hoping it would motivate her enough to find something else.”

“That’s not fair. Olive would have made a great manager,” I say.

“I know that she would have. She just wouldn’t have been happy. She needs to find something that truly makes her happy on her own.”

“Olive never left before because she felt like she owed you. She was trying to be loyal to you.”

Jamie bites her lip as she thinks for a moment. “You might be right. But it all worked out in the end. I think the thought of having a baby finally pushed her to find something that truly makes her happy.”

I nod. I wasn’t sure that Olive would leave. I thought she might stay and ask to open an office to run somewhere else. But she’s gone. And I can’t decide if it makes my life easier or harder.

“You’re tickling me,” Jamie says, laughing, pulling her feet out of my lap.

“Sorry,” I say, looking at her again.

“Stop looking at me like that. You are freaking me out,” Jamie says.

“Have you ever thought about us getting together again?”

Jamie frowns and sits up on the couch with her feet on the floor. “Why would I think about that?”

“Olive told me about what happened when we broke up. That it was all just a big misunderstanding. I didn’t really cheat on you.”

Jamie bites her lip. “I knew you didn’t cheat on me.”

“You mean, Olive told you?”

“No, I mean, I knew when she showed me that message that it was from your mom.”

“I don’t understand. Then, why did you break up with me?”

“Because I wanted the white picket fence, the house, the baby. And you didn’t.”