Page 13 of This Means War

“It’s from Song of Solomon,” he told me. “It’s like this love letter or something.” He continued reading in a dramatic voice, “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep.” He laughed again. “Here read it for yourself.” He shoved the Bible towards me, but for some reason my eyes landed on a different part of the passage.

“I found the one my heart loves.”The words tripped over themselves in their haste to enter my brain. An unexpected shiver ran through me.

“Cole? Hey, did you read it?” Josh prodded me, and I quickly forced myself to read the passage he’d intended for me to read. But even as I let out a reluctant laugh, I couldn’t get the other verse out ofmy head.I found the one my heart loves.

A minute later Josh set the Bible aside and asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride, but even as he argued with Lydia about whether or not she could come, I still couldn’t stop thinking about those words.

Maybe it was because I was an only child and my parents primarily showed their love by pushing me to work hard and be perfect; but even at twelve, the idea of having a person like that, who you could say unequivocally was your person, the one your heart loved, had appealed to me.

Now it looks like I may never find that person. I got Lydia Hamlin pregnant, and I’m pretty sure the only thing she feels unequivocally towards me is hate.

Chapter 11

Lydia

SOMEHOW I MAKE it through the rest of the wedding weekend, but I’m so relieved to be home in my own bed that I collapse without changing into my pajamas. I do make sure to take my Unisom and B6 though, because tomorrow I have to go to work, and I absolutely do not want to throw up there. Sure, the Unisom made me sleepy, but it also took the edge off the nausea. That and the orange juice Cole brought. It took me completely by surprise that he noticed something like that, and I was once again forced to confront that he may not be all bad. I should see this as a good thing considering he’s the father of my baby. I mean, I don’t want to give birth to Enemy Number 1 Junior. But truthfully, it just makes me feel all sorts of nervous. I can’t afford to like him. It’s too dangerous.

After he kept his promise to make sure I didn’t fall asleep at brunch, we exchanged phone numbers, and he told me he’d be in touch about—as he put it— “things”. This is good, because I have a lot of “things”I need to talk to him about too.

Jamie wakes me up Monday morning for our usual run, and since I haven’t told her about my pregnancy yet–nor do I know how to–I force myself to stumble through three miles before coming home and throwing up with the shower on full blast in the background to hide the noise. That’s when I decide I can’t wait for Cole to text me. I need to meet as soon as possible. The stress of hiding a pregnancy is getting to me, and I’ve only been doing it for two days. I shoot him a text telling him I want to meet today, then hop in the shower and start outlining all of the bullet points for our discussion.

When I get out of the shower he’s replied, telling me to come to his office at 6 and we’ll talk. It isn’t until I arrive at his office that evening to find a man in a suit studying me gravely, that I realize my bullet points are not the important part of today’s meeting. Nope. Today’s meeting has a political agenda.

“Lydia, hi,” Cole greets me as if it’s normal to have a third-party present for a discussion about how to handle your unplanned pregnancy.

“This is her?” the ominous-looking man says, before I can reply to Cole.

“Yes, Tom, this is Lydia Hamlin. Lydia, this is my campaign manager Tom Grant.” His campaign manager. Lovely.

“Nice to meet you, Tom.” I try to keep my tone level. “Sorry, I left my guy at home.”

“What?” Cole furrows his brow in confusion.

“I missed the memo,” I go on, “the one about how we were supposed to bring our sidekicks with us. Perhaps I can call Batman and see if he’ll lend me Robin.”

Tom sighs, clearly unamused, but Cole doesn’t blink. “Sorry, I guess I should’ve mentioned Tom would be here. When I told him the situation, he thought it would be best for us to all meet.”

I eye Tom, who nods. “Ms. Hamlin, I’m not sure you quite understand the predicament you’ve put Cole here in.”

“Excuse me?” I do not like Tom. And I like most people. “The predicamentIput Cole in. I’m pretty sure it takes two to tango.”

“No need to be crass, Ms. Hamlin.”

“That was actually me not being crass,” I retort.

“Tom, Lydia,” Cole interjects, “let’s not fight. We’re all on the same team here.”

“What is it with you and teams?” I cry.

“Ms. Hamlin, this feisty attitude really isn’t going to work in your favor once you become part of Cole’s campaign. We’re going to need you to tone it down a bit. Voters like relatable people, yes, but they also like happy marriages. Do you see what I’m saying here?”

I study him with unblinking eyes for a minute, then turn to Cole. “I’m sorry, but did your campaign manager just propose to me?”

“C’mon, Lydia,” a muscle in Cole’s eye twitches. I’ve dried up his patience. I do not care.

“Ms. Hamlin,” Tom interjects once again, “youmust see that this is the only path forward for you. Marriage, I mean. Cole has a political campaign to think about, one that will very likely be destroyed should this scandal come out; and you—it’s my understanding—don’t have a whole lot going for you as a future single mother. I understand you work at a Christian school.” Tom shakes his head with faux regret. “They surely won’t approve of your poor life choices.”

I wish I could argue with him, but he’s basically voicing my fears right now, like some sort of devil on my shoulder.

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