Page 8 of Waiting for Her

“Fine, I promise,” he mutters and my eyes soften, a slight smile playing at the edges of my lips.

“Everything was fine in the beginning. I never planned on having a baby like this, at least not with someone still in college.” I rub my belly absently, silently promising my baby that I will never abandon it the way their father did. “But it happened and even though I was scared out of my mind to tell Brendan, I also knew that this was meant to happen.”

Max nods, his eyes sad. “Was he upset when you told him?”

I shake my head, smiling at the memory.

“He was actually really excited. He told me he hoped it was a boy because then he could teach him how to play football.”

Max shakes his head, both of us knowing what’s coming.

“But then something changed.” It’s not a question because it’s my reality. But if only it were that simple.

“It wasn’t like a switch was flipped and he just all of a sudden stopped calling. It was gradual. First, he just stopped texting me back right away. He would take days to get back to me and gaslight me into believing I was too clingy. Then he would say he’s coming over only to ghost me for days. He told me it was because he knew I was feeling the worst of my morning sickness at night and he didn’t want to be around that.”

Max growls low in his throat, his eyes murderous. “That piece of shit.”

I want to tell him to keep listening because it gets worse, but instead, I just keep talking.

“When he missed three ultrasounds in a row, I knew what was happening. I knew he was having second thoughts, so I just waited, bided my time until he told me himself. Apparently, his father was spewing out lies that I was after their money and that I got pregnant on purpose.”

“Fucking what?” Max’s eyes furrow and I lean back in my chair, playing with the crumbs on the table.

“Yeah, his parents come from money and obviously I don’t, so they kind of made that assumption on their own and stuck to it.” I shrug as if it’s no big deal, but at the time I was dying inside.

“You should have told me.”

I can’t help the laughter that bursts out of my chest.

“And tell you what? That Drew was right? That he’s a piece of shit and I trusted the wrong man once again? No thank you. I can do this alone, and as much as you guys don’t think I can, I will. I don’t have any other option.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart. You don’t have to do this alone. You will never have to do this alone.”

My breath shudders as I remember begging Brendan to stay, hating how desperate I sounded, but knowing without him, I was utterly and completely alone.

“I never told anyone this, but after I got the text that night, the one where he told me he wanted out, I called him and begged him to stay.” My eyes cast down, tears welling in my eyes as Max takes my hand and brings it to his lips, lightly kissing every finger.

“Why?” he whispers, our eyes locking.

“Because I wanted my baby to have a family.” The tears spill silently down my cheeks as the words spill out.

“But it will. You have Drew and Kate, Cash and Hannah and Mark and I. Lucas will help, even though we both know that man is terrified of children.”

I laugh through a wave of tears.

“Addison, you are the strongest person I know, and this baby is the luckiest child in the world to have you as their mother.”

I shake my head, feeling the weight of my failures crushing me.

“If the baby was lucky, it would have a happy family, not a broken one.”

The silence is too much for me as I untangle myself from his hold and stand, leaving my plate on the table and walking away. Max tries to stop me, his words gliding over me as I walk toward the stairs, and as much as I want to believe the affirmations he’s throwing my way, I’m not there yet.

Max

If this baby was lucky, it would come from a happy home, not a broken one.

That sentence has rattled around my brain for the last week and I can’t wrap my head around it. How can she think something like that when I can see clear as day how lucky her baby is and will be once they’re born? I’ve sat up at night wondering what I can do to get those thoughts out of her head and right now the only way for me to do that is to do something I know she’s not ready for… yet.

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