Page 21

CHAPTER 21

TATUM

While everyone went to bed late last night, and most likely slept for shit, I find myself padding into the kitchen before the sun rises this morning. My sleep was fitful from waking multiple times, my mind spinning with thoughts that I could be a dad. Thoughts of an almost likelihood of never knowing.

Thank God Ezra found out .

It’s all so insane. The what ifs are messing with my head.

Finding Kevin sitting at the table, I shuffle to the cabinet to grab a coffee mug. “You need a refill?” I ask, my voice husky from exhaustion.

“I read her emails,” he says instead of answering my question.

Turning, I lean against the counter to sip at the practically boiling black gold. “What’d they say? Shit! I need to read what she sent me.”

I’m sure at some point, I’d have checked my social media accounts. I typically do once or twice a year, but what if I couldn’t log in and decided to say fuck it?

Richard walks in without looking at any of us, asking softly, “Read what?”

“The messages she sent me. Kev got the emails from her too. Will you let me read those?” I ask to Kevin. He nods and picks up his phone to open them up. His movements are slow, as if his hands are weighted. I’m sure it’s the heaviness surrounding the tiny bean nestled inside his momma, hopefully sleeping soundly upstairs.

Richard hums, then softly says, “I’d like to read those as well.”

Clearing his throat, Kevin adds, “There’s also an ultrasound photo attached.”

“Fuck, I want to see a picture of our son!” Ezra says happily, marching into the room. I glance over his shoulder to see if Miriam is behind him. He catches me and whispers, “She’s sleeping peacefully with the little seedling. My petal was exhausted after her late night visitor.”

“Why are you so sure it’s a boy?” I ask, opening up my phone to find the message from her.

“Visitor?” Kevin asks simultaneously.

To Kevin, he jerks his head to indicate Richard, saying nothing else to answer him. Instead, he rubs his chin and purses his lips in thought before answering me. “Well, lots of reasons, aside from the fact that I feel it. She’s got a ton of salty and savory foods in her apartment, and when I touched her feet last night, they were cold.”

“What the hell?” I snap out, pausing what I’m doing on my phone. “Jesus Christ, Ez. I told you to stop going into her place!”

Kevin’s head jerks up, and he glares at my best friend. “You’ve been breaking into her apartment?”

Ezra is looking around at all of us, his eyes wide in confusion. “I mean… yeah? That’s how I found out about the baby. And so you all aren’t concerned, I put socks on her feet to keep them warm, so no need to worry about that.”

“I’m pretty sure those are old wives’ tales, buddy,” I grit out, then go back to my phone. I don’t pay attention to the lecture Richard is giving him as I read through the messages Miriam sent me weeks ago.

Hi Tatum,

I’m hoping you’ll remember me, but this is Miriam, the girl from the cabin two months ago. Funny thing, I might have blocked, then deleted all of your phone numbers, never thinking I’d have to get in touch with you again. You know, because you guys were complete assholes, but here we are.

Umm… If you see this, which I’m not sure you will since it doesn’t seem as if you’re very active online, would you message me? I’d say to give me a call, but I don’t know how to unblock a number I’ve deleted. Phones and I aren’t the most compatible.

It’s really important I get in touch with you. I hate the idea of saying why over message, so I’ll wait until I hear from you. Thanks in advance. – Miriam

I’m grinning by the end of her message, chuckling over her admitting to blocking us. That explains why I couldn’t get a hold of her after she left, but I had suspected as much.

Scrolling down, I find one more message from her, then a photo.

Tatum,

I really need to speak to at least ONE of you. I’m not sure what else I should do, but I’m just going to go for it.

I’m pregnant and I’m including an ultrasound to prove how far along I am. If you compare the dates to our weekend, you’ll see they align perfectly. Contact me, or don’t contact me, but someone needs to know. -Miriam

My breath catches when I click on the small photo and it fills my phone. Fuck me. Bean was right. That’s all the little guy looks like. Almost like a cashew. I bring the phone closer to inspect it closer, and I swear, I can see little tiny arms.

“Guys,” I choke out.

Kevin and Richard are arguing with Ezra, but I can’t take my eyes from the photo. He’s growling in anger at them, and I can hear how stressed out they’re making him, but I just can’t intervene other than to try again.

“ GUYS! ”

“What?” Richard shouts, quickly followed by Ezra shushing him and pointing toward the ceiling.

Turning my phone, I show all of them the photo. Richard’s only reaction is widening eyes, but Ezra drops to his knees in front of me, taking my phone in his hands to cradle it. “He’s beautiful! Just a perfect little man.” Looking at me, I can see the fear swirling behind his eyes and he whispers, “I don’t want him to be like me.” He taps his head to stress his point and my heart hurts for my friend.

He struggles so much with his mental health, but he doesn’t realize how strong he really is. Leaning forward, I make sure my words are clear. “He’d be amazing. You’re not fucked up, Ez. You just went through fucked up things.”

I’m not sure I got through him, but he drops his eyes to look at the photo again, still unsure about it.

“I have an appointment next week.”

Kevin is moving before any of us when Miriam’s voice rings out, jolting us out of the intense moment. “Did you sleep well, Miriam?” He’s standing in front of her, cupping her chin to lift her face so he can check her over.

She pulls her face away and walks around him into the kitchen. “I slept.” Casting a quick look in my direction and seeing Ezra on his knees, she lifts a brow and says, “I see you’ve found your messages.”

“We’re reading through all of them now. Please, sit down. I’ll get you something to eat.” Kevin is following behind her, hovering like a momma bear. I would have expected it from Ezra, but not Kevin.

She throws out a warning glare, causing me to laugh, then opens the fridge. “I can’t eat yet, unless you want to listen to me throw up for the next two hours. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be long on my way to my apartment by then. Maybe something to settle my stomach, milk or orange juice preferably. No, definitely orange juice.”

“In the door.” Richard is watching her hard, but he seems less hateful toward her this morning.

Rolling my eyes when Kevin takes it from her hand with a soft order to sit down, which she begrudgingly obeys, he fills a large glass. Setting it in front of her, we all silently watch as she takes a sip. She eyes us over the rim of the glass, swallowing slowly. Pulling it away and hugging it to her chest, she narrows her eyes.

“Stop being fucking weird. Pinches idiotas .”

I catch Ezra grinning to himself and it hits me like a train. I totally fucking forgot he speaks fluent Spanish, and this motherfucker is keeping it a secret from her. Brilliant.

Nudging him with my toe, I silently ask him to translate. Kevin starts asking her questions, so he leans forward and whispers, “Fucking idiots. She really thinks we’re all stupid.”

“She’s probably not wrong,” I reply just as quietly. Sitting back in my chair, I find Richard. He’s standing away from all of us, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders hiked up to his ears. He seems incredibly uncomfortable. “Rich, why don’t you sit down so we can all talk?”

Nodding, he rolls his head to stretch his muscles and sits as far from Miriam as possible. He really needs to get over his shit right now. This isn’t the time to be unapproachable.

“So,” I say loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. “Miriam has an appointment next week. I’m not sure about you guys, but I’d like to go.” To her, I add, “If you’ll be comfortable with that.”

Before she has a chance to respond, Richard continues with a request that has me closing my eyes in frustration. “Will they be able to do a paternity test at the appointment? Or is it too early for that?”

I hook my foot around Ezra’s leg just as he lunges for Richard, not wanting a physical altercation to happen in front of Miriam. Thankfully, she’s not offended by his question.

“I’m pretty sure we can do a test soon. I’m not sure of the logistics, but I’ll be sure to ask. You guys will have to supply a sample as well, so if it fits in your schedule to attend to the appointment, we can all get our questions answered.” She chews on her lip in thought, then says, “I am sorry about all of this. I know it was unexpected, but I appreciate that you’re willing to at least find out.”

“I’m not.” I glare at Ezra, who only shrugs at me. “What? I don’t care if the baby is mine or not. Well, I mean, I do care, but I don’t plan on taking off if he’s not.”

“We’re going to come back to that at a later time, buddy.” Her words are clipped, but she doesn’t go after him for it. “I honestly don’t think there’s really anything else we need to talk about today. You guys know now, which was all I had tried to do before. I need to go home. I’ve already missed work today, which is going to fuck over my paycheck by the way,” she shoots at Ezra. “Plus, my Susu has been blowing up my phone all morning. I want to go home.”

“You can’t! ” Ezra tells her. “It’s not safe!”

Thankfully, Kevin speaks up. “Ezra. We’re not going to force her to stay here. I’ll drive her home and, if you’d like Miriam, I’ll call your employer to let them know there was a valid emergency which caused you to miss work.”

“Thank you,” she mumbles.

Ezra is distressed, but Kevin’s ringing phone interrupts us. It’s in my hand because I read the emails Miriam sent him, so I push it across the table.

“Cooper,” Kevin says, putting it to his ear. Immediately, he looks at Miriam. “So, I know this is going to be weird, and I’ll let her fill you in, but she’s actually sitting across from me right now. Tell her Miriam will call her shortly.” He pauses as he listens, then turns away from us in a poor attempt for privacy. “She’s perfectly fine, I promise. I can talk to you later… Yes, I swear to you she’s okay… Alright. I’ll call you.”

Hanging up, he turns to Miriam. “Susanna had her boyfriend Chester call to tell me you were missing. Let’s get your stuff and get on the road. Then you can give her a call.” To the rest of us, he says, “We’re going to table all of this for now. I’ll get the appointment information on our drive and send it out for those of you who want to attend.”

Standing, he holds out his hand to help her up and I’m surprised when she takes it. Once she’s on her feet, she quickly lets go and rubs her palm against her leg. Her eyes run over all of us, but she says nothing before leaving the room.

“Stay here,” I murmur to Ezra who’s already moving to follow her. I feel terrible about it, but he can’t keep her from leaving. To Richard, I ask, “Are you going to go to her appointment?”

He looks surprised, but nods his head slowly. “Of course. We need to sort this out, and being there is how we do it. I’m going to go to my office. Let me know when you leave. You can drop me off at my car since you gave my keys to Victoria.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer before marching out of the room. Ezra and I hear the door to his office snick shut, then he gives me a pleading look.

“I need to be with her, Tate.”

Sighing, I place a hand on his shoulder. “You think you do, but you can’t, man. Will you trust me on this? We will make sure she’s okay, but it has to happen in the right way.”

He deflates in front of me, but wordlessly agrees. I know this is stressing him out, but if he pushes too hard with Miriam, she’s going to cut all of us out, and I don’t fucking want that. I agree with my friend. It doesn’t matter if the baby is mine. I’m not sure I want to walk away from her.