mirthlessly.
“A whole lot less than what you’ve been doing. Obviously.” She indicates her cellphone on the table. “Have a look at what the private investigator brought me.”
“A private investigator? What the hell? You had me tailed?”
OK, he’s furious now, but something tells him to hold back – that Abby isn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with something as mundane as the intrusion of his privacy. If she ever really understood it in the first place.
“Have a look.” Her head lolls on her neck, and he has to resist the urge to go to her.
He picks up her cellphone instead.
“Press ‘play’, honey,” she drawls.
The video app is open on the display, and so he presses the ‘Play’ button. He is becoming increasingly disturbed.
Moving images of him entering the fertility clinic with Elise flicker into being. The angle looks as though it’s been taken from the other side of the street. Cut to a scene of him and Elise sitting awkwardly there on their chairs, waiting for his turn to be called.
Gawd. The videographer was just sitting across from him. He or she could have been any one of those couples which were staring at him and Elise in the waiting room.
He turns to Abby, still moribund on his couch.
“You had me followed,” he accused.
She laughs again. “Of course I did. Who can trust you? You lied to me.”
He begins to say something, and then thinks the better of it. “I didn’t lie to you.”
“You said she was here on vacation. Liar. She’s here for a whole different reason and you know it.”
“I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would go off the deep end like this.”
“Damned right I would. She’s going to have your child.” Abby’s voice rises to a shrieking pitch. “That’s huge, in case you haven’t noticed. So you’re going to have a child with this woman and you were not going to tell me about it?”
Justin knows that he’s trapped, and there’s no way out of this. Abby is right, of course. Him fathering a child with his former girlfriend is huge, and there’s no way any woman he’s currently in a relationship with would not be freaking out the way Abby is right now. It’s not exactly as if he has cheated on her, but he hasn’t come up smelling like roses either.
And he didn’t exactly lie. He just omitted to tell her the truth.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
She pushes herself up from the couch groggily. He doesn’t dare help her. He’s afraid she would lash out at him like a livewire.
“So when were you going to tell me?” she says, her body trembling. “During the birth when you have to fly out to wherever to watch your child being born? During his first birthday party?”
For some reason, he feels his anger simmering beneath the surface.
“You had no right to have me followed.”
“You had no right to lie to me.”
“So where do we go from here?”
“You tell me.” Her eyes flash. “I want you to stop seeing this woman. Forever. I want you to stop this charade, and if you haven’t impregnated her already, I want you to stop it right now.”
He is dead calm.
“What if I don’t want to?”
Tears blur her eyes. Her face is contorted and splotchy with desperation. He feels sorry for her, but he still wills her to say it:
Then it’s over between you and me.
He realizes – with the alacrity of a truck slamming into him full frontal – that he wants her to break up with him.
I’ve had enough of this so-called relationship. Break up with me. Go on. Tell Daddy it was all your idea.
Abby stares at him. Tears spool from her eyes.
“I love you, Justin. I love you so much, can’t you see that?”
His chest constricts. “Abby . . . you are smothering me. I can’t do anything without you tailing me. You’re even having me followed, for Chrissake. You’re violating my privacy . . . who I am.”
“I want you so badly, Justin. I need you. I can’t live without you. Please, please come back to me. I can’t live
“A whole lot less than what you’ve been doing. Obviously.” She indicates her cellphone on the table. “Have a look at what the private investigator brought me.”
“A private investigator? What the hell? You had me tailed?”
OK, he’s furious now, but something tells him to hold back – that Abby isn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with something as mundane as the intrusion of his privacy. If she ever really understood it in the first place.
“Have a look.” Her head lolls on her neck, and he has to resist the urge to go to her.
He picks up her cellphone instead.
“Press ‘play’, honey,” she drawls.
The video app is open on the display, and so he presses the ‘Play’ button. He is becoming increasingly disturbed.
Moving images of him entering the fertility clinic with Elise flicker into being. The angle looks as though it’s been taken from the other side of the street. Cut to a scene of him and Elise sitting awkwardly there on their chairs, waiting for his turn to be called.
Gawd. The videographer was just sitting across from him. He or she could have been any one of those couples which were staring at him and Elise in the waiting room.
He turns to Abby, still moribund on his couch.
“You had me followed,” he accused.
She laughs again. “Of course I did. Who can trust you? You lied to me.”
He begins to say something, and then thinks the better of it. “I didn’t lie to you.”
“You said she was here on vacation. Liar. She’s here for a whole different reason and you know it.”
“I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would go off the deep end like this.”
“Damned right I would. She’s going to have your child.” Abby’s voice rises to a shrieking pitch. “That’s huge, in case you haven’t noticed. So you’re going to have a child with this woman and you were not going to tell me about it?”
Justin knows that he’s trapped, and there’s no way out of this. Abby is right, of course. Him fathering a child with his former girlfriend is huge, and there’s no way any woman he’s currently in a relationship with would not be freaking out the way Abby is right now. It’s not exactly as if he has cheated on her, but he hasn’t come up smelling like roses either.
And he didn’t exactly lie. He just omitted to tell her the truth.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
She pushes herself up from the couch groggily. He doesn’t dare help her. He’s afraid she would lash out at him like a livewire.
“So when were you going to tell me?” she says, her body trembling. “During the birth when you have to fly out to wherever to watch your child being born? During his first birthday party?”
For some reason, he feels his anger simmering beneath the surface.
“You had no right to have me followed.”
“You had no right to lie to me.”
“So where do we go from here?”
“You tell me.” Her eyes flash. “I want you to stop seeing this woman. Forever. I want you to stop this charade, and if you haven’t impregnated her already, I want you to stop it right now.”
He is dead calm.
“What if I don’t want to?”
Tears blur her eyes. Her face is contorted and splotchy with desperation. He feels sorry for her, but he still wills her to say it:
Then it’s over between you and me.
He realizes – with the alacrity of a truck slamming into him full frontal – that he wants her to break up with him.
I’ve had enough of this so-called relationship. Break up with me. Go on. Tell Daddy it was all your idea.
Abby stares at him. Tears spool from her eyes.
“I love you, Justin. I love you so much, can’t you see that?”
His chest constricts. “Abby . . . you are smothering me. I can’t do anything without you tailing me. You’re even having me followed, for Chrissake. You’re violating my privacy . . . who I am.”
“I want you so badly, Justin. I need you. I can’t live without you. Please, please come back to me. I can’t live
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