“I can’t understand how you can love this guy, Ry.
And don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not trying to be a dick. I just don’t understand. I want to go dig his grave right now.”
I snorted and traced his fingers with mine. “He wanted me to have an abortion if the baby turns out to be yours.”
“I’m afraid if you let him talk you into that, I would dig his grave.”
I picked my ringing cellphone up from the table. I answered it. I wasn’t hiding anything from either one of them anymore. If that sent them both running to the hills then so be it.
“I just wanted to make sure that you made it home okay,” Drew said on the other end.
“Yes. I’m home.” That’s all I said. I didn’t know what to say to him.
“Are you flying back to North Carolina or do you want me to send for your car?”
“I’m staying here for a while, but you don’t have to send someone to drive my car. I have my Honda. My mom said that it was fine there.”
“You’re not driving my baby around in that jalopy you call a car.”
“My car is fine until I go out there. I promised Caroline I would come back before school started.”
“I promised her I would go sea glass hunting with her next week. We were supposed to go spend a couple of days there, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” I didn’t say any more than that again. He picked up on it. He knew.
“He’s there, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“That didn’t take two minutes. I’ll talk to you later, Morgan.”
I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. My phone was blinking, call ended, two minutes, twelve seconds in my hand.
“You know what, Riley?” Dawson said, taking my hand and holding my knuckles to his lips.
Oh, boy. Here it comes.
“Hmm?”
“I think that you have been through enough shit for ten life times. I think you should divorce him, marry me and let me take care of you and my baby for the rest of your life.”
Shit, maybe I should just do the paternity test. I had a feeling that I would be hearing this from both fathers for nine months. I didn’t respond and only smiled.
Dawson never left me that night. He didn’t try anything that involved being naked, and I was glad. I think my vagina was on strike anyway, I never heard a peep.
Dawson held me close all night, caressing my back and planting soft, sweet kisses on my forehead. I knew that Dawson made the most sense. I knew that Dawson would be the simpler of the two solutions if there were a simple solution.
I woke late to an empty bed. Dawson had left for work. I lay in bed reviewing my options for a long time.
For whatever reason, I decided at the moment that I was going to stop fretting over any of it. I wasn’t going to try and decide anything. Whatever happened, happened. I really needed to clean the ceiling fan.
I got up, started coffee and did just that. I cleaned the ceiling fan, drank coffee on my deck while listening to Lauren and Levi. I even laughed when Lauren told a caller that she was a black, Jewish girl from Kentucky. I went to town and had lunch at Millie’s, stopped and visited with Star, and then walked along the beach.
I was slowly settling back into my life in Maine. I had a man that adored me, friends that loved me, a house that I treasured, and an ocean for solitude. Drew did have my car driven to me, but I didn’t drive it. I drove my old Honda. The BMW was a little out of place there, and I felt more like me in the Honda. I wasn’t some rich girl that doted on the finer things of life, well technically I was a rich girl, but I didn’t feel like one.
I hadn’t heard from Drew for almost two weeks. I felt in my heart that I was doing the right thing. Dawson loved me, and I loved him. I had fun with Dawson, and yes we were having sex. It wasn’t anything like Drew, and I had, not even close. Dawson was in it for the love making which was fine by me. He made sure that my needs were met, and took his sweet, slow time. I didn’t need the fucked up sex life that Drew and I shared. This was what I needed, right here in nowhere Maine, where life was simple.