Family plan. The word hit her like a punch to the face.
She’d made it clear they weren’t a couple and he’d gone and made them a family. With his cellphone in her pocket, the hovering would start. Where was she? What was she doing? When would she be home?
Beth slowly closed the fridge door—so she wouldn’t slam it like she really wanted to—and turned to face him. “A family plan.”
He shrugged. “That’s just what they call it. Like I said, it’s no big deal.”
It was a very big deal, but she was starting to think having this conversation with Kevin was like beating her head against a good-looking, T-shirt-clad brick wall. “It is a big deal and the fact you still don’t get why it is tells me I was right about you.”
“Right about what?”
“That you’d try to take over my life.”
“Well, excuse the hell outta me for being a nice guy.” He threw up his hands and anger tightened his jaw. “What do you want me to do, Beth? Ignore you? Pretend you don’t exist until it’s time to send you a child support check every month?”
She could do angry, too. “So there’s nothing between ignoring me and sharing a family plan?”
“You need a goddamn cellphone!”
“No, I don’t. And if I did, I’d buy my own goddamn cellphone.”
“What if you need help? What if you think something’s wrong with the baby?”
She wasn’t going to be manipulated into caving by his using her pregnancy against her. “Women gave birth in this country for almost four hundred years without cellphones.”
He laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “That’s a great argument, Beth. You plan to go squat in the woods when your water breaks, too?”
Before communications broke down any further, Beth turned and took a deep breath. She wanted to say something reasonable—if not quite conciliatory—but she couldn’t think over the word family echoing through her mind.
And Kevin didn’t give her a chance. “News flash for you—that baby you’re carrying is my responsibility even if you think you’re not, so I need to know you can call for help no matter where you are or what time it is. So I bought you a damn cellphone.”
He went to the door to let himself out, but stopped to look over his shoulder. “I’ll try to be more of an asshole from now on if that’ll make you happy.”
As if to prove his point, he pulled the door closed behind him so hard she felt it vibrate through the floor.
“Dammit.” Beth returned to the couch, sinking onto the soft cushions with a weary sigh.
She hadn’t meant to be such an irrational bitch. At least, she thought maybe she was. It’s not like he’d dictated what clothes she should wear. Or bought her a minivan. Or locked her in her apartment so she couldn’t go anywhere.
He’d bought her a cellphone. Not to take over her life but because he worried about her and the baby and knowing she had a phone would bring him some peace of mind. And he knew she didn’t have a lot of money so, instead of pushing her to get one, he’d added her to his plan.
His family plan.
And there was the word that had scared the crap out of her which, unfortunately for Kevin, manifested itself as an extreme fit of bitchiness he didn’t deserve. He really was a nice guy and the way he’d adjusted to a surprise pregnancy and impending fatherhood was nothing short of a miracle. So he’d bought her a phone. A simple thank you would have sufficed.
She picked up the phone and started thumbing through the menus. Her apology would have to wait until he wasn’t so busy—she’d already dumped enough on him—so in the meantime she’d get comfortable using it. There was Kevin’s number, just as he’d said, and marked as her emergency contact.
Besides the numerous members of his family and Paulie, he’d put in the bar’s number and the restaurant where she worked. The pharmacy. And he’d even put in her doctor’s number. Every number she could possibly need, already programmed in. It must have taken him a while, too.
Tears blurred her eyes, so she leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. She’d apologize in the morning and thank him for the gift.
And try not to dwell too much on the word family.
***
Kevin was shaving the next morning when his phone announced a new text message with a cheerful doorbell tone. Good thing it was out of arm’s reach or he might have smashed it.
Cheerful, he wasn’t.
A few more swipes of the razor and then he rinsed his face. The phone had moved on to a much less cheerful reminder beep by the time he was done patting dry and he flipped the thing open with a curse.
It was from Beth. I’m sorry.