Page 18 of Keeping Promises

“What the fuck is so funny, Lex?” my brother asks. “There’s seriously nothing humorous about this situation.”

“First of all, don’t take that tone with me, Bentley Michael Harrington. We all just need to calm down, okay? I’m not the bad guy here.” She places her hand gently on her chest. “And neither is Hadley.” She turns her attention towards me. “She’s scared.”

I interrupt her. “And I’m not?” I throw my hands up in the air.

“Fuck, I knew this was going to happen.” Lex walks around the counter and places her hand on my shoulder. “Look, I told Hadley keeping this from you wasn’t the best idea, but she told me that she would tell you.” Well, at least my anger toward my future sister-in-law dissipates slightly. It sounds like she may have had my back here, surprisingly. “Her past is complicated, and she was worried about how you would react mostly.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse, and you know it.” I stand, nearly knocking over the stool, but Lexi doesn’t back down.

“Is it?” Lexi crosses her arms and looks stern with me. “And how did you react with her? Huh?” She pokes me firmly in the chest. “That’s my point. How you reacted was probably exactly how she thought you would.”

She begins to walk away. “Lexi,” Ben calls out after her.

She pauses. “I love you, but I need to go make sure my best friend is okay. I’ll be home later.” She walks over to him and presses a quick kiss to his cheek, and with that, she’s gone.

The kitchen is tense and silent. Neither my brother nor I know what exactly to say.

The barstool beside me scrapes against the floor as my brother’s figure comes into my peripheral vision. The clink of two glasses and a bottle of Macallan 12 against the counter fills my ears. He pours one tumbler and passes it to me before doing the same with his own.

“You honestly didn’t know, did you?”

I sigh, down the amber liquid in one gulp, and hold out my glass for a refill. This time I savor it. As I bring the glass away from my lips, I shake my head. “Nope. She tried to tell me once but changed her mind because I had a date with me.” I scoff. Well, at least that’s what I assume was her reasoning. She said that she planned to tell me the night at Unwined, and while I don’t remember everything from that night, I do recall her pulling me aside to talk about something but then clammed up as soon as Lindsey showed up and was hanging all over me. “She had the nerve to tell me that she was letting me off the hook.”

Ben is silent for a few moments as he takes a long drag of his drink. “What are you going to do about it?”

I stare at the counter, swirling the liquid in my glass. “I don’t know. Any advice you want to give me?”

He chuckles. “Well, I think the time for listening to my advice has come and gone. Clearly, the whole ‘wrap it up’ didn’t work out so well in the end.” He places his hand on my shoulder. “But you need to decide what’s next for the two of you in the future.”

“I’m not ready to marry her,” I admit honestly.

“Woah, who said anything about marriage, Asher. You two don’t even need to be in a relationship, but you do need to co-parent. You two decided to—well, to put it bluntly, fuck, and now you’re dealing with the consequences. Not that a child is a burden, but you two do need to figure out your shit, or only the child will suffer.”

Silence fills the space once again, but it’s not as tense as before, both of us lost in our thoughts.

Ben clears his throat, breaking the silence. “You know I don’t know too much about Hadley’s past. I know that she didn’t have both parents in her life, and I don’t have to remind you of your upbringing. I think, all in all, that child deserves to have both parents love them, even if you guys aren’t together. People nowadays have come along way with co-parenting. Just think about it. Nothing needs to be decided right at this second.”

With that, he gets up and leaves. Lexi returns a few hours later, and behind closed doors, I can hear her and Ben arguing. I know he’s hurt because she lied to him.

My phone buzzes beside me on the bed with a message from the last person I expected to see—Hadley. Is she ready to yell at me again?

Hadley:I’m sorry.

Two simple words, holding so much weight in them. The three dots appear, so I wait to see what else she has to say before responding.

Hadley:I’m scared, and I went about this all wrong. I should never have doubted you. I should have told you from the start.

Hadley:And I should have made more of an effort to tell you. You are a part of this just as much as I am. You deserved that much.

Whatever Lexi said to her this afternoon, I’m thankful because she seems to have changed her tune.

Me:I don’t really know how to do this.

Hadley:Being a parent? Yeah, me neither.

Me:No, I mean a relationship.

Hadley:Asher, I’m not asking you for that or anything really.

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