Page 6 of Lost in Yonkers

“Yeah, I figured that was why you were standing over me, watching me sleep. How long have you been standing there?” she asked.

“Long enough to know that you snore,” he said. For a second, she thought that he was actually teasing her, but from the frown he wore on his handsome face, he wasn’t.

“You should have figured that out when we spent the night together on Christmas,” Wren countered. Two could play his game, she just wished that she was more awake to take on the challenge that Yonkers always gave her. He was as hardheaded as they came.

“I have some questions,” Yonkers said, cutting to the chase.

“I’m sure that you do,” she said. “Let’s have them.” She sat back in the bed and patted the spot next to her. Yonkers hesitated and then sat down next to her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Really, that’s what you’re starting with?” she asked.

“What did you expect me to begin with?” he countered.

“I just expected you to dive right in and not start with something easy. But I feel fine. Tired, but fine,” Wren said.

“Well, if you can answer a few more questions, my mom has made you some food, and then, you can get back to sleep,” he offered.

“That wasn’t a question,” she teased.

“No,” he agreed, “it wasn’t.”

“But I really appreciate the fact that your mother is letting me stay here and is willing to feed me on top of it all. I mean, I did just show up on her doorstep,” Wren reminded. “Will she be okay?”

“I hope so,” Yonkers said. He looked upset every time she asked about his mother and her illness. “I had no choice but to come home,” he said. “I should have ended things with you properly before coming here, but I was a coward.”

“You were going to end things with me once you were done babysitting me. Was that your plan the whole time?” she asked. “You were going to just fuck me and dump me?”

“Don’t say it that way,” he insisted.

“How else would you like for me to phrase it, Chris?” she asked. “We spent the night together and I thought that meant something to you like it did me,” she whispered that last part, not sure if she wanted to say it aloud or not.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, honey, but I told you that we were a bad idea,” he reminded. “I told you that I’d end up hurting you.”

“I remember, but I didn’t think that you’d actually do it. I was hoping that you were just playing the big, bad biker; trying to scare me away so that you didn’t piss Blade off.” She knew that Yonkers worried that their sleeping together would hurt his relationship with her brother. It’s why he kept his hands to himself for so long while he was watching her and keeping her safe from Trixie’s stalker.

“Protecting Blade was part of it, but my main issue was protecting you—from all of this,” he said, wildly waiving his arms around. She cradled her belly with her hands, almost as if protecting her unborn child from Yonker’s words.

“I don’t need you to protect me, Chris. I can take care of myself. And as for the baby, I can take care of her too. Neither of us need you to do us any favors,” she spat.

“That’s not what I was getting at, Wren,” he insisted. “I want to do the right thing and be there for our daughter. I guess you just caught me off guard,” he said.

“Yeah, you keep saying that, but sooner or later, you’ll catch up, right?”

“Well, I hope so,” he grumbled. “You’ve only been here for a few hours.”

“I get it, and I showed up here five months pregnant with your baby. It’s a lot, but I’ve been dealing with everything since you left. I’ve had to deal with our baby all alone. Deciding to tell you about her wasn’t my first thought. Honestly, I wanted to keep her a secret from you, but then I realized that you might be back in Huntsville at some point and put two and two together and come up with the fact that my baby is yours.”

“I’m not sure that I would have ever gone back to Huntsville. In fact, I bought a house two days ago about a block down the road from my mom’s house. I want to be close to her, but we both like our space,” he said.

“I see,” she said, although she didn’t see. Nothing that he was saying made very much sense to her. “So, you’re staying here then?” she asked.

“For now, yes. I need to be here for my mom while she has her treatments. I was just a kid when she had breast cancer for the first time. I really didn’t help her. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I only added to her stress. This time, I want to be there for her and take care of her. I guess it sounds corny, but I need to do this,” Yonkers said.

“No, it doesn’t sound corny at all. I think that it’s nice that you want to help her. She’s lucky to have you,” Wren insisted.

“I can’t be in two places at once,” Yonkers said. “I can’t take care of both of you.”

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