“Wait. Scarlet! Scarlet, where’re you going?” he asked, finally capable of speech once more.
“I have to the ladies’ room,” I muttered over my shoulder. “My bladder isn’t what it used to be these days, you know.” I stormed away from the table, catching the eyes of several neighboring diners. One older couple in particular openly stared at us, riveted by our drama.
I entered the ladies’ room, where a mother was helping her daughter wash her hands. Feeling a sob threatening to leave my mouth, I bit my bottom lip, holding it in. The mother and daughter glanced at me and smiled on their way out. I did my best to hold it together, nodding and smiling at them in return before locking myself into a stall and trying to simply catch my breath.
Tugging at the roll of toilet paper, I tore off some and gently wiped my eyes. In that moment, I realized I couldn’t return to the table with Tobias. I couldn’t take being around him anymore. I simply couldn’t handle it. He was clearly shaken up, and his anxiety was too much for me. Maybe it was my maternal instinct already kicking in, but I felt that anything that was too much for me certainly couldn’t be good for the babies. If there was ever a time for me to avoid stress as much as possible, it was now.
Besides, as the one whose body was going through all the changes, my attitude could be blamed on hormones. If I didn’t want to stick around for what had quickly become a stressful situation, I felt I was perfectly at liberty to leave.
Deciding that I might as well relieve my bladder, I used the toilet, washed my hands, and then pulled my phone from my purse to call for an Uber driver. I knew on some level I was being childish to leave Tobias so abruptly after delivering such monumental news, but I just couldn’t handle sticking around for the aftermath anymore. I understood that I had been naïve to think he would have been happy to find out that a random woman he’d had a two-night stand with had popped up pregnant by him, with twins, no less. Although I didn’t know him well either, I could tell that he was a decent man who would have never wanted or anticipated starting a family under such dishonorable conditions. But hell, neither had I! So, the least Tobias could have done was show me that he was willing to be supportive.
I wonder if he thinks I intentionally got pregnant because I knew that he clearly was well off?
I suddenly felt nauseous, and my pregnancy had nothing to do with it.
Knowing a considerable amount of time had gone by, I left the restroom and peeked out into the restaurant, looking in Tobias’s direction. He was still sitting at the table right where I’d left him. His head rested in his hands and his eyes were closed.
I hurried across the restaurant, heading straight to the door, and he was none the wiser.
When I stepped outside, my Uber was already waiting for me.
CHAPTER 18
Scarlet
The moment I stepped inside the hotel lobby, the receptionist beamed at me. “Good evening, Ms. Kale,” she said. “How was your date?” She grinned mischievously, as if we were a couple of teenagers about to enjoy a good girl-talk session.
I cleared my throat. “It was fine,” I said, forcing my voice steady.
“Your boyfriend is really handsome,” she said dreamily.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I said automatically.
The reception stared at me for a moment. She blinked and then smiled again. “Well, he should be! You two looked amazing together! What’s not to like about him? From what I can tell, he looks like a keeper!”
I hastily averted my gaze, wishing I had never bothered to start engaging the conversation. I shook my head. “Oh…nothing really. I just…I don’t know him that well.” I’m just having his babies, that’s all.
“Well, I wish you two the best of luck,” she said.
I wanted to say ‘thank you’, but couldn’t force it out. So instead, I just nodded before heading to the elevator, trying to hold it together as much as I could, at least until I was behind the privacy of my hotel room door.
Once I made it back in my room, I stripped out of my dress and stared at myself in the mirror for a while, observing all the ways my body had started to change. My breasts were getting larger, and I had bulge in my abdomen that was starting to make most of my pants fit uncomfortably.
I ran a hand across my belly and sighed, trying to wrap my mind around all the ways in which my life was about to get turned upside down.
Trying to figure out if I was ready for all of this. Inevitably though, I knew I had no choice; I had to be ready. The next several months would fly by just as quickly as the previous four had. Before I knew it, I was going to be a mother of two.
Panic seized me at the thought, and I tried to shake it away, not liking the way it caused my chest to tighten.
I turned on the shower, letting the water run for a minute to warm up. I then carefully stepped inside, closing my eyes as the water cascaded over my skin, while I reflected on how I’d wound up in this situation.
In a strange way, it all went back to Preston. Had I not mistaken Tobias for him, none of this would have happened.
A guy that I hadn’t seen in years had now caused my life to change forever. Unbelievable how life could sometimes be stranger than fiction.
When I finished my shower, I put on my pajamas. My stomach rumbled hungrily despite the luxurious dinner Tobias had treated me to before I’d dropped the pregnancy bomb on him.
Ice cream. I was craving ice cream…