Page 40 of Night and Day
“Hey,” she said.
He tossed the shirt on the pile in the hamper, gaze scouring her face. “You okay?”
Nodding, she nervously rubbed her hands together. “Sort of.”
“Sort of? Is there something wrong with your business?” She’d been working with the temps a few days now. He’d thought for sure everything had been going well.
“No problem with the business, but we need to talk.”
Uh oh.
Apprehension balled up in chest. “Whenever a woman says we need to talk, that’s never a good thing.”
He softened the words with a smile, but when she didn’t return the smile, the corners of his mouth fell into a straight line. Now he was really worried. “What’s going on? You look like you’re about to cry.”
“What I have to tell you is really serious,” Tamika said, rubbing her palms together.
“Okay,” Anton said slowly. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and held his breath.
“I care about you a lot. And whatever you have to say, when I tell you what I have to say, I completely understand. Because this is a lot. I know.”
“Spit it out, Tamika. You got me worried.”
“I-I’m pregnant.” She whispered the words, staring at the carpet, standing before him with her hands clasped together.
“Pregnant?” Stunned, all Anton could do was stare.
She lifted her gaze. “Like I said, I don’t expect anything from you. I mean, obviously I would expect you to be a responsible adult because it takes two to tango, but —”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, slow down.” Anton stood. “You have to know by now that I’m not the kind of man to walk away from my responsibility.”
Tamika nodded.
“Do you want to keep it?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He swallowed, the rate of his heart accelerating. What was she thinking? How was she feeling? He couldn’t be sure because she didn’t give much away, though she didn’t exactly look happy. At least she wanted to keep their baby.
“We’re in this together, Tamika.”
“Sure.”
She rushed out of the room.
“Where you going?” Anton followed her through the door.
“I’m going to Layla’s. I wanted you to know, and I can be out of here—”
Anton’s heart jolted in panic. “Out of here? What are you talking about?” He grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around and face him. What the hell was going on in her head?
“You didn’t sign up for this, did you? You helped me out by giving me a place to stay, and now look at this mess.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was trying to convince him to break up with her because of the baby—to lay the blame at her feet, as if he hadn’t been a willing participant.
“First of all, I didn’t ask you to move in simply to give you a place to stay. I wanted you here, as part of my life. You already know that. Second, you didn’t get pregnant by yourself. I kinda had something to do with it because, as you pointed out, it takes two to tango. We were both careless, and we both knew what the consequences could be. I don’t want you to leave tonight or any other time.”
She let out what could only be described as a relieved breath. “What are we doing, Anton? I’m pregnant. It’s not like we planned it. This was a mistake. ”
