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One full minute passed before Fredericka turned to her all of a sudden, her face pale. “What if I really am pregnant?”
Alyx gave her cousin an awkwardly encouraging smile. “Then you’ll do what you think best.” She patted Fredericka’s hand in an equally awkward fashion. “You’re strong and smart, Freddie. You’ll know what to do.”
Fredericka shook her head slowly. “If it turns out I’m pregnant,” she whispered between bloodless lips, “I’m screwed.”
“You’re not screwed,” Alyx said loyally. “But you are in this because you, err, screwed.”
Fredericka’s mouth opened and closed.
“Well, itistrue.”
Fredericka sighed. “Has anyone ever told you you’re bad at comforting people?”
“All the time,” Alyx didn’t hesitate to admit it.
“And you don’t plan to improve or maybe even consider changing your method for comforting people?”
“No.” Alyx gave her a serious look. “I’m already too cute as I am now. If I become less prickly, I’d be perfect, and that would be horribly boring.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at Alyx’s deadpan delivery, and despite everything, she could feel the tension ebbing from her shoulders as Alyx’s joke effectively lightened the mood. But when the doctor’s secretary called out her name, Fredericka’s tension returned with a flash, and when they left the clinic two hours later, she felt like a ton of bricks had just tumbled down on her.
Fredericka looked at Alyx. “I, umm, need to go for a walk. I’ll meet you later, okay?”
“Are you sure you’re okay with being alone?” Alyx asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry.” Fredericka managed a wan smile. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid. I just need some time alone to clear my thoughts and figure out...stuff.” It was the most coherent excuse she could manage when honestly all she could think about was running to the closest garbage bin so she could puke her guts out.
Alyx impulsively reached for her cousin’s hand. “Just call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
And then she was alone.
She walked and walked, unmindful of where she was going, and she only stopped when her legs were aching too much and her throat was dry and parched. Casting a tired look at her surroundings, Fredericka realized she was at a park, and just a small distance away was someone selling hotdogs and drinks.
She paid for a sandwich and bottled water, and taking a seat on one of the benches, she drank thirstily, emptying the bottle by half in mere seconds. Sheforced herself to eat after, knowing that now was the worst time to go on an impromptu diet.
An indefinite amount of time must have passed when someone joined her on the bench, and without even looking up she already knew who it was.
“How did you find me?”
Sergei didn’t answer right away. It had been over a month since the last time he had seen her. And that was the morning she had run out on him, and leaving nothing but a hastily scribbled note that told him she needed some time and space.
It was the first letter of its kind that the billionaire had received in his entire life, and he was honest enough to admit that the letter was more a serious blow to his ego than anything else. And for the first two weeks he had allowed his hurt ego to dictate his actions, staying away from her like she asked, even knowing that what they both needed and wanted was to be together.
He knew her far better than she knew herself, but unfortunately that was more the problem than the solution. Because he knew her, he knew that staying away would be more a punishment for Fredericka than for himself. Him staying away would make Fredericka think that she might have made the same mistake as her mother did, and that she had slept with a younger guy who couldn’t be trusted to understand any kind of commitment beyond what a one-night stand entailed.
He had known it would hurt her, and that was why he had stayed away.
And now he bitterly regretted it, after what Alyx had told him.
“I’m sorry I stayed away for so long,” he said quietly.
“You don’t have to be.” Fredericka stared down at her worn pair of ballet flats, unwilling to raise her gaze to the billionaire’s. If she did, she had a terrifying suspicion her hormones would get the better of her, and that would be too embarrassing. “I asked you to stay away.”
“But I still shouldn’t, and the only reason I did was because I know it would hurt you more.”
Ah.From there, she could easily add one and one to get two, and her lips twisted in a humorless smile. “There are really times when I think you’ll make the better prosecutor between the two of us.”