“Sounds fine. At this point, I wish we hadn’t.”
“Me, too. Goodbye, Oliver.” Turning on her heel, Lucy barely missed a collision with the waiter as she nearly ran from the restaurant.
Oliver made a point of not watching her go. Instead, he calmly accepted his wine from the waiter and sipped it, ignoring the stares of the nearby restaurant patrons. After all that, he needed a glass of wine. Or some scotch. Anything he could get his hands on, really, to dull the pain in his chest and chase away the angry tears that were threatening to expose themselves in the restaurant.
The first large sip seemed to settle him. The blood stopped rushing in his ears and he was able to take his first deep breath since he arrived at the restaurant. That was a start. Wine couldn’t undo the mess he’d just found himself in, but it would get him through this painfully uncomfortable moment.
“Sir.” The waiter hovered awkwardly nearby. “Will the lady be returning?”
Oliver shook his head. “She will not.”
“Very well. Will you be staying to dine with us tonight?”
He might be known for being cool under pressure, but even Oliver couldn’t sit here and eat as though his world hadn’t just disintegrated in his hands. “No. I think I’ll finish my drink and free up the table if you’d like to run the bill.”
“Yes, sir.” The waiter disappeared, as visibly uncomfortable on the outside as Oliver was on the inside.
Oliver went through the motions to wrap up, finished his cabernet and stuffed his wallet back in his suit pocket. Pushing up from the table, he made his way out of the restaurant and onto the noisy street. Once there, he felt his anger start to crumble into disappointment.
Why? Why had he let himself get involved with Lucy when he knew she was just playing him, and everyone else? Instead, he’d let himself get wrapped up in her smile and her freckles. He’d lost himself in the warmth of her body and the softness of her touch. And now she was going to have his child.
His child.
Oliver sighed and forced his feet down the sidewalk toward his building. It was a long walk, and he’d normally take a taxi, but he needed the time to think. It pained him to realize that as much grief and blame as he’d heaped on his father, he’d made the same mistake. He’d fallen for a woman and let himself be used. And he’d enjoyed it. Every single second. He supposed it was karma’s way of teaching him that he wasn’t any smarter than his father when it came to love.
Love? He didn’t dare even think that word. It wasn’t love. He didn’t know what to call it, but it wasn’t love.
One thing he did know, however, was that if Lucy was carrying his child, Oliver would be in his or her life whether Lucy liked it or not. It wasn’t about money or child support or anything else but being a good father. Oliver knew what it was like to grow up without one of his parents. Cancer had stolen his mother away, greed had taken Danny’s mother from his life, but Oliver had no excuse not to be there for his child.
So whether Lucy liked it or not, he would be.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sitting at Alice’s desk, Lucy picked up the sonogram photo again, staring at the fuzzy black-and-gray image and wondering why the Fates got so much amusement by messing with her life. This tiny photo, these blurry little blobs, no bigger than a sesame seed, were about to change her life forever.
Twins, the doctor said. Not just pregnant. Pregnant with twins. She’d laughed hysterically as she looked at the two fat little circles side by side on the monitor. It was that or cry until she ran out of tears. Fraternal twins. Because a single baby wouldn’t be enough of a challenge for her to raise on her own.
The doctor was concerned by her response, not entirely sure if she was happy or sad or freaking out. Honestly, it was a combination of all three spinning in her head so fast she could hardly keep up. It was early in the pregnancy, he’d warned. Things could change. One or both could fail. Both could last to term. Be in “wait and see” mode, he’d said. Perhaps wait until her twelve-week ultrasound to confirm the twins before announcing it to everyone.
That wouldn’t be a problem. Lucy doubted she could say the words aloud. She’d hardly known what to say to him and the nurse anxiously watching her in the exam room. All she could do was lay there in her crinkly paper dress and watch her world start to crumble around her.
Putting the picture aside, Lucy focused on sorting through the apartment brochures she’d brought home from Yale. It was hard to believe how much her life had changed since she’d gotten on a train and toured that first apartment with Harper. Now, she was not just going back to college, she was doing it while pregnant. Hugely pregnant. She was having twins by herself. And even that was hard to focus on while she was also completely heartsick.