“Yeah, alright, but we need to talk at some point. Call me when you have time. Even if it’s the middle of the night.”
“Yeah, sure.” I hung up and paced a bit as I worked to catch my breath. As the shock waned, it was replaced by anger, then by rage. What was Petal thinking? Why wasn’t she going to tell me?
I hit the speed dial for Lora.
“Cy, is everything alright? I’m at work now.”
No. Everything was fucked up. “I’m sorry. Listen, I need to fly to Bismarck for a night. Maybe a day. I hate to ask you at last minute—”
“I’ll come stay with her. I don’t work tomorrow so if you need a day, that’s fine.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I considered maybe Lora was the woman I should be pining over. Yes, she’d met someone while I was gone, but at least she’d told me. Unless Jude was mistaken, Petal was pregnant with my child and hadn’t bothered to tell me. I had feelings for the wrong woman.
“Thanks. When can you get here tonight?”
“I’m off in thirty minutes. I can be there in an hour,” she said.
“Perfect. Thank you, Lora. Really. You’re amazing.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked again.
No. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in an hour.”
I booked the next flight that would get me to Bismarck, which required me to take two different planes, but by nine o’clock that night, I was being dropped off by an Uber driver in front of Petal’s bakery.
I tried the door to the building but it was locked. I poked the buzzer, laying on it as my anger radiated out of me.
“Hello?” Petal’s tentative voice came over the speaker.
“It’s Cyrus.”
I heard her gasp and the speaker cut off. I’d kick the door down if I had to, but a buzzer sounded and the lock released. I opened the door and charged up the stairs.
The door to her apartment was open, and she was moving back away from it with fear in her eyes as I stormed in.
“Do you think I’m going to hurt you?” The idea that she was afraid of me only made me angrier.
She shook her head.
I shut the door behind me. “What the fuck Petal? Am I the father?”
Her head jerked like I’d slapped her. “Of course, you are.”
I was so pissed, so I didn’t care if I offended her. “Why ‘of course?’ It’s not like you weren’t on the market for another man. Maybe it’s Paul’s.”
“I told you, there wasn’t anyone else. Just you, Cy.”
I hated hearing her say my name. There was a familiarity that suggested affection, but she couldn’t feel affection for me. She didn’t think enough of me to tell me I was going to be a father.
“So, you just weren’t going to tell me? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you really think you’d steal my child from me?”
Her head was shaking and her fingers were nervously moving about. “No.”
“I don’t believe you. Jude knew before me. He was offering to help take care of you and my child. MY CHILD. What the fuck, Petal!”
She swallowed. “I…I didn’t…I…”
She was shaking and finally it occurred to me that she was a pregnant woman with a former Navy SEAL bellowing at her. She said she wasn’t afraid of me, but clearly something was up.