Pretend We're Over (Pretend 2)

“He’s not dangerous, is he?”

“No, he would never hurt me. He just wants me back.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen. You’re mine.”

“What can I get you two to drink?” the waitress asks.

“Two white wines,” I say, looking to Oaklee for clarification. We have shared many meals at this restaurant before, and we almost always enjoy our salads while sharing a bottle of white wine.

“Actually, uh, just water for me,” Oaklee says.

I stare at her like she’s just grown horns. I don’t ever recall Oaklee turning down wine, which only signals I’m going to need alcohol to get through this conversation.

“Just the one glass then,” I say, and the waitress leaves. I lean in across the booth. “Spill.”

“What? You know I’m pregnant, I want to hear about how your honeymoon went. And how you’re living with a gazillionaire in his incredible penthouse.”

I did not know she was pregnant. She must have told me the night of our wedding. I attempt to wipe the shock off my face and distract her with an innocuous question.

“How do you know Sebastian is a gazillionaire?

Oaklee rolls her eyes. “Everyone knows.”

I sigh. “Stop trying to distract me. You already know how the honeymoon went and living together is great, but we are so different, and everything moved so fast. I’m not sure it’s going to work out. Just look at you and Boden. You’ve been together forever, and it didn’t work out.”

Oaklee turns somber.

“Are you two back together?”

“No.”

“The baby is his, right?”

“Yes.”

I nod, assuming already that it was. There is no way she could have fucked another man and found out she was pregnant by him after the wedding. And she’s not a cheater.

“I know it would be better if we had gotten married, but I just couldn’t…” She stares down at the glass of water in front of her, and I notice the tears watering her eyes.

“Oh, Oaklee.” I run around to her side and hold her again, holding her head against my chest. “It’s going to be alright. It’s going to be better than alright. You are going to have a baby. You’ve always wanted a baby, and you’re going to make a great mom.”

I stroke her back as she sobs a little. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He wasn’t supposed to cheat. He wasn’t supposed to hurt me. After I saw them together, I just couldn’t go through with the wedding. I can’t be married to a cheater.”

I nod. “Of course, you can’t.”

Oaklee sits up slowly, and I wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Don’t,” she says.

I frown and pull my hands into my lap. “Why not?”

“Because I have more to say.” She doesn’t have to finish her sentence for me to know the rest of her sentence is going to hurt me. She has the same expression she did when she told me in the fifth grade that she accidentally killed my fish she was watching for me while I was on vacation.

“Sebastian was the one who set Boden up. He got him drunk. He found the women. He bought the hotel rooms. He’s the reason Boden cheated.”

I suck in a breath—asshole. But then, I already knew that. I know that Sebastian helped his friend cheat. And yet, it seems so out of character for Sebastian. It seems strange he would throw away ten years of sobriety on one night that led to his friend cheating.

I wish more than anything I could remember that night. I wish I could remember the events that led to Sebastian and I getting drunk, getting married, fucking in our hotel room. I wish I could remember it all because I know that there has to be an explanation for it all.