Page 61 of Snowed In with My Best Friend's Dad

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Miranda

Iawoke the next morning ready to start my life as usual but then remembered my life wasn't usual anymore. I was supposed to be resting, which meant I wouldn't be doing student teaching.

It was probably just as well. My life was in turmoil. I wanted Brett out of my life, but I knew that wasn't a possibility. Not now that he knew about the baby. I needed to use this rest time to figure out what I was going to do to protect my rights.

Looking at my phone at the side of my bed, I saw it was nearly eight in the morning. Dad would have already left for work, which meant I had the house to myself. I got out of bed, stopping by the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, and then made my way to the kitchen to fix myself tea and maybe some toast.

I nearly came out of my skin when I saw someone sitting at the kitchen table. Brett. What was he doing here?

He looked up at me, his eyes taking inventory of my body. It wasn't a sexual look. More like he was checking to make sure everything was all right.

I crossed my arms. "What are you doing here?"

"You know why I'm here."

I huffed out a breath. "I'm not an invalid. I don't need a babysitter."

He watched me for a moment and then let out a breath as he stood. "Can I make you some tea?"

"I don't want anything from you."

"I was about to make myself some eggs and toast. I can make some extra for you as well."

I gaped as I stared at him. "So now you're going to disrespect me by ignoring me?"

His jaw ticked, his eyes flashing with pain. "I'm not trying to disrespect you. You and I both know that I'm not going anywhere. I want to help you recover, and I want to make it up to you for how badly I treated you."

"You know that's not possible, right?" I couldn’t see any scenario in which Brett was able to redeem himself in my eyes.

“I know, but that's not going to stop me from trying." His expression morphed into one of guilt and shame, and I wouldn't deny feeling happy to see it. To know that he understood just how vile he'd been. "I'm so sorry for all the things I said and did going all the way back to the cabin, and New Year's, and the other night. I've never met a woman like you. Someone who makes me feel things I don't understand."

His words tried to worm their way into my heart and soften it, but I locked it down tight. "Do you always verbally abuse things that you don't understand?"

He shrugged, looking helpless. "This is all new territory for me. And I get that you will never be able to forgive me—"

"It's not about forgiveness, Brett. I would never be able to trust you. How could I? By your own admission, you don't understand why you do what you do."

He gave a single curt nod. "I understand, but you and I are going to have to find a way to work together for the baby." He gave me another sad stare. "If it weren't for the baby, I would absolutely do as you want, and I would be out of your life. I don’t want to hurt you. It guts me to see the way you look at me."

I scoffed. "You’re trying to make me feel bad for you, for the man who called me a gold digging whore?"

He winced. "No. I deserve your anger and mistrust. I deserve the disgust and revulsion, the hate that you feel for me. I'm sorry for what I did to cause it. And I'm sorry that I can't give you what you really want, to disappear off the face of the earth. I'm going to be here, in your life, if only peripherally, to help raise the baby. And before that, I want to be at all the doctor’s appointments. I want to be there for the birth. And I will do my best to stay out of your way as much as I can, but for right now, at least until your next doctor's appointment, I'm here. Especially when nobody else is with you."

I realized I wasn't going to be able to get rid of him, so I turned on my heel and went back to my room.

For the next two days, I woke and started my regular routine, only to discover Brett sitting in my kitchen working on his laptop. Each time, he offered to make me breakfast, and each time, I got mad and left him there.

I spent my days studying and researching my parental rights in my room, coming out only to make my own meals. In the evening, my father would come home and make dinner, which I would spend complaining to him about Brett babysitting me. My father told me he wasn't sure about Brett and at the same time, he supported Brett coming over and taking care of me during the day. Traitor.

Twice, Lindsay stopped by. I wanted to complain about her father to her but didn't and was relieved when she didn't bring it up either. Instead, I listened as she chatted about Liam and her concerns about the crowd he'd started hanging out with.

On the fourth morning, I was prepared to enter the kitchen and see Brett, so it was a surprise when he wasn't there. Finally, he got the message.

"Would you like me to make you some tea?"

I jumped as Brett's deep voice spoke from behind me. "God, you scared me to death." His hands reached out to my arms to steady me.

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