Page 78 of Playing A Risk
“Let me get this straight. She was out in public on a date with her boss?”
“I’m not sure. Her best friend was with his brother. They all left together, so I’m not sure how it was presented. All I know is she got in his car and refused to talk to me. I called, and she hung up on me.
“When I got home, I went to his floor to speak to her, but he’s got security guards lining the walls. She’s made it clear where she stands, and I don’t stand a chance with Hunter in the picture.”
My chest grows heavy. Even though this is my fuck up, losing Dori is just another loss my soul has to bear. I suck in a stabilizing breath, wishing I could rewind time.
Chuck shifts to get comfortable. “Do you think her love for you will waver since she’s with him?”
“Unfortunately, I do. Right before she found out about Aricin, she told me she still has deep feelings for Hunter. She’s leaning on him to get through this. He’ll do anything to gether back, so she’ll do what she always does and move on with the other guy.”
Chuck looks me over. “Jamison, I’m sorry you’re going through this, but I’m going to give you some advice.”
I raise a brow. “And if I don’t want it right now?”
“You need to hear it anyway. You’re blaming Dori for going off with the ‘other guy’ when all this could’ve been avoided by telling her in the first place. You’ve talked to her about her miscarriages but didn’t tell her about your son. Can you understand how she must feel?”
I want to roll my eyes, but Chuck’s right. This lands on me. I push off the couch and peek into the kitchen. Lauren has her earbuds in and is doing the dishes. I go over to the tree and take the ornament off that has Aricin’s name on it.
I fist it in my hand. “How was I supposed to tell Dori something I can barely face? I can’t even get myself to clean out his room, let alone explain it to someone.”
He glances at the ornament. “You’ll heal in time.”
“I don’t know if I will.” I take another look at it. “He deserves to be remembered.”
“I never said you would forget him. I said you’ll heal.”
Something behind me catches his attention, so I glance back.
Lauren stands in the opening of the room. “How do we do that?”
She ambles in to join us, her eyes glued to Chuck. He rises to his feet and moves over to the tree. He picks up the gift for her from me, hands it to me, and takes the ornament from my hand.
“Start here and go from there. I’ll give you two some time to talk while I whip the cream for the pie.” He brushes by me and leaves the room.
I step to her and guide her to the couch. “Let’s sit over here so you can open this.”
She narrows her eyes. “You got me a present after all the?—”
“Just sit and open it. I’ll explain it when you do.”
I hope this goes well.
Part of me thinks she might just deck me for getting her pregnant because none of this would be happening if it weren’t for me.
Chuck said he thinks she might be moving on from that stage of grief. He’s talked with her daily since the run-in with Dori, so maybe he’s right.
Lauren takes the gift from me and gets comfortable on the sofa where I sit beside her. She glances at me and then opens it.
“Jami, it’s just like the tattoo on your chest.” She runs her fingers around the edge of the heart-shaped picture frame I carved out of wood as she stares at the image of us peering down at our son. He’s wrapped in a tiny blue blanket and lays in her hands. “For just a moment, he was perfect.”
“He was.” I lean over to steal a peek. “He’ll always be perfect.”
She curls into me and cries. “Why did we lose him? Why, Jamison? Why did he get taken from us?”
She shakes in my arms as I do everything to stop myself from breaking down. This time is for her and I promised myself I’d let her mourn with my help as long as she’s not being abusive.
“I don’t know, Lauren. I just don’t know.”
