Page 261 of The Baby Twist
“I’m not discussing this now. I’m tired, and I want to take a bath.” I went into the bathroom and twisted up my hair.
“How could you be so irresponsible and let your phone die?” he asked.
“It happens.”
He walked over and gripped my arms. “You just don’t get it,” he spoke through gritted teeth as his eyes stared into mine.
At that moment, I saw something unexplainable in him. He let go of my arms and embraced me tightly. Bringing my hands up to his back, I softly stroked it, unsure of what was going on. I glanced over at the tub and noticed the water was at the edge.
“Um, Charlie? The tub is going to overflow any second.”
“Shit.” He ran over, turned the water off, pulled the drain, and walked out of the bathroom.
“What is going on here?” I walked into the bedroom and threw my hands up in the air.
“Just go take your bath.” He sat on the edge of the bed with his head lowered.
“Can’t now that you let the water go down the drain.”
“I’ll go refill it.” He stood up, and I grabbed his arm as he began walking away.
“Forget the bath. It’s obvious you’re having a meltdown of some sort, and I want to know what your problem is.”
“You really want to know what my problem is, Marley? I care. Okay? There, I said it.”
“Care about?” I cocked my head.
He inhaled a sharp breath as his eyes stared into mine.
“I care about you and those children you’re carrying.”
“You meanyourchildren.” I arched my brow.
“Yeah, my children.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Charlie
My heart was pounding out of my chest. I wasn’t any good at talking about my feelings since my parents died, and I didn’t know how to.
“What do you mean you ‘care?’” she asked.
“I’m not any good at this, Marley.” I paced around the bedroom. “I spent so many years on auto-pilot living my life. This wasn’t supposed to happen—not to me. I had it all figured out.”
“Had what figured out, Charlie?”
“How to walk away and not get involved. How to not feel anything. But then you had to sit down next to me at that airport in Chicago and ramble on and on about your upgrade to first class. Then your seat just so happened to be next to mine. Then we make it back to New York, and I run into you at the coffee shop. And the fucking icing on the cake was that your friend just so happened to be the cousin of one of my employees, and you show up at my housewarming party. Then we slept together, and you got pregnant.”
“Don’t forget the Lake’s party, and you took me to dinner, and we slept together again.”
“Trust me. I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t forgotten one single moment we spent together.”
“But then you were a douchebag and didn’t call me for a month.”
“Because I knew!”
“Knew what?”
