“Which part?” I peered up at him. “You being an uncle or me a mom?”
“Seems like they’re about even.”
I laughed. “I’m going to have to agree.” We swayed like that for a minute before I drew back. “Okay, I’m definitely going for that shower.”
“Thank God.” He rubbed my arms. “Lu?”
“Hmm?”
“Is that a stripper pole?”
I swallowed a laugh. “Yep.”
“Just tell me that’s not how you support yourself.”
I patted his cheek. “I’ll be back.”
“That’s not an answer,” he called after me.
I laughed for the first time in days as I headed down the hall.
Fifteen
I was single again.
Unofficially but really freaking officially.
She’d sent me a Dear John note. I’d heard of those on reruns of old sitcoms. Naturally, I’d never experienced such a phenomenon before in my life. I used to be the one sending those notes, full of apologies and requests to still be friends.
I was still friends with some of them. They were generally more understanding people than I was. Because if Luna dumped me, I couldn’t see myself being her buddy.
Especially if she thought she was going to date and find some other dude while she was carrying my baby.
“Carrying your what?” Lucky demanded while I paced a new tread around the desk in my classroom.
It had been more than two hours since I’d received Luna’s message. She’d sent it before then, when I was still fully occupied with parent-teacher meetings. The cynical part of me suspected that was why she’d sent it then. If I didn’t know she was leaving, I couldn’t stop her.
Not that I’d tried. I was practically a desperate, lovesick fool, but I’d taken enough college psychology classes to know which approach would not work. If I begged her to stay, she’d run farther and faster.
So, I still hadn’t responded. What the hell was I supposed to say?
Sure, fine, go ahead. Go find yourself in Joshua Tree or Salem or Hawaii or wherever. If you still need time when the birth approaches, I’m sure you can handle it without me. You know, the father.
Didn’t that give me rights? I was all about a woman’s body, her choice, but my kid was currently a captive to her decisions.
“Carrying what, jackass?” Lucky shouted into my ear. I’d forgotten he was even on the phone. “I must’ve misheard you.”
I sat on the edge of my desk. “Luna’s pregnant.”
“Wow. Did you know she was seeing other— Oh. Oh.”
“Were you actually going to ask me who the father of her child is? Really?”
“Well, you didn’t say it was yours,” he said defensively. “And hello, I’m trying to watch the damn game. The Giants are actually up for once.”
“So sorry to interrupt you.” I clicked off and debated flinging my phone into the wastebasket in a proper tantrum.
But I didn’t do it. I was a mature adult who’d just hung up on his best friend.