All this time, I thought this was forever. I know it hasn’t been that long, but I believed Ethan when he said this was real. We were going to be a happy family. Turns out I thought wrong and he doesn’t really want me. He is just using me to make his father proud and now I’m left alone and pregnant.
When the office door opens and I see Ethan rushing toward me, I push myself off the ground and dash for the door. It’s still snowing out so I should grab my coat, but I’m in such a hurry I don’t care. I run straight for my apartment across the street.
“Kelsey, stop!” Ethan yells behind me, but I don’t listen. “Stop!”
There’s so much I want to say right now. I should just lay it out there and get the whole situation over with. I start to turn mid-step, but my foot catches a patch of ice and everything goes black.
Ethan
I keep pacing back and forth in the waiting room at the hospital. Watching Kelsey slip wrecked me. I rushed to try to catch her, but I didn’t make it. Her head bounced off the icy pavement, and I didn’t question what to do. I laid her in the backseat of my truck and brought her straight to the emergency room. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have left her and called someone. If she has a concussion, I might have made things worse.
I need to call Sara. I need to call a lot of people. It’s time I confess what’s going on. Even if Kelsey didn’t remember what happened, I won’t lie to her. I will tell her everything. I will tell her the truth. But what if she doesn’t remember anything…or anyone? I run my hand through my hair and begin to pace some more.
I’m alone in the waiting room, which is a good thing. I could go off at any moment and having someone around to witness it or become my punching bag isn’t a good idea. When I hear the door to the waiting room open, my fists are in balls before I’m fully turned around to face the newcomer.
Logan takes a step inside, closing the door quietly behind him. He takes a breath.
“The nurse out there says she’s going to be fine. She woke up, but they say she needs to rest. They want to keep her overnight just to be safe. All in all it’s just a rough bump on the head and nothing to worry about.”
I nod and take a seat. Not worry about her? I can’t do that. She’s always on my mind. Knowing she’s lying in that room because of me and I can’t do a thing to help her, it tears me apart.
“I called Sara,” Logan adds as he sits in the chair next to mine. “She was already back in town so she will be here soon.” He lets out a deep breath. “You’re going to have to tell her everything you know. Sara won’t accept that this was some freak accident. I think there is a reason Sara is already back, something to do with Kelsey.”
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with Kelsey?’ I ask, rising from my seat.
“Calm down, okay?” Logan says as he also stands. He puts a hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off and step away from him.
“Look, man. You both have secrets. Hers are just a little more recent than yours. But you both need to grow the hell up and start being honest with each other. Your relationship won’t make it if you keep things from each other.”
I know what he’s saying is right. I knew it before he had to say it. I just never did anything about it.
“That’s if we still have a relationship. You didn’t see her face when I walked out of that office. She heard everything and … well, I don’t think she’s going to forgive me for this.”
“She also thinks you were using her. We both know that isn’t true,” Logan points out.
“I never used her. Everything we had was real,” I say through clenched teeth. Shit. Logan’s only agreeing with me and I’m being a dick. I sit and lean my head back against the wall, closing my eyes. I don’t know how to control the way I feel right now. My whole life is lying in a hospital bed. Without her, I’m nothing.
We sit in silence; no one comes into the waiting room and neither of us leaves. Logan’s cellphone chirps and minutes later Sara’s bursting through the door.
“You,” she growls, pointing at me. “What did you do?”
I stand quickly as Sara marches up to me. She’s less than half my size, but when she’s mad, she can be a real terror.
“Before you try to beat him up, you should hear him out,” Logan tells her as he steps in front of me. “And I mean hear him all the way through. No cutting him off mid-sentence.”
Sara pins him with an intense glare but reluctantly takes a seat next to Logan. I sit down on his other side and tell her everything. Including the part where I fell in love with Kelsey Brian.
Chapter Twenty-four
Kelsey
I wake up to the sound of a machine beeping next to my head. I’m glad the noise is soft because I have a killer headache. My eyes flutter as I attempt to open them. Large windows to the right of my bed fill the room with sunlight, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. There’s a round table in the far corner under the window that has flowers filling the entire surface. Sara is sitting in the blue chair next to the table, her arms wrapped around her legs as she hugs them close to her chest, her head buried behind them.
The bed squeaks as I try to push myself into a seated position. I give up quickly and grab the remote next to my bed. I always wanted to use one of these. I just didn’t want to be admitted to do it. Sara lifts her head and squints at the light until she sees me and moves to stand next to my bed.
“You’re awake.” She smiles at me. “The doctors thought you would wake up again last night, but you just kept sleeping. I was getting worried.”
“Did you stay here all night?”
“Yeah, Logan called me.” She looks down at her watch. “It’s a little after seven now. I should probably go let someone know you’re awake and call your parents,” she says and leaves the room.
How long have I been in here? I remembering falling, but I don’t remember coming here. Sara returns followed by a nurse who looks like she isn’t much older than us, with bleached blonde hair pulled into a bun and wearing pale blue scrubs.
“Hi there,” she says. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired but I feel good.”
“That’s good news. You suffered a mild concussion when you bumped your head, but things are looking better. It looks like you were quite exhausted. We’ve just been waiting for you to wake up so we can run a few tests and send you home. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake. Can I get you anything in the meantime?”
I shake my head to let her know I’m fine. When really I’m not fine because I know what conversation Sara wants to have and I’m not ready to have it. I thought I knew what I was going to do about the baby, but now – after what I heard – I don’t know much of anything anymore. The nurse closes the door behind her and, with one leg bent on the bed and the other hanging to the floor, Sara takes a seat to face me.
“I know things probably seem really unbalanced right now, but I think you should still tell Ethan what’s going on.”
“I don’t want to talk to Ethan.” Yes, I’m mad at him. I’m angrier than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I want to scream at him, hurt him the way he hurt me. I don’t want to share the news that not twenty-four hours ago made me the happiest and most scared person on earth. He doesn’t deserve to be happy too. He used me.
Sara releases a heavy sigh. “Look, Kels, I’m mad at him too, alright? He’s been up to some super-shady behavior, and I’m not going to forgive him easily for it, but he has the right to know.”
I don’t have time to argue with her before the nurse returns. She has a clipboard in her hand and she’s writing something down.
“Okay, Kelsey, I just need to ask you a few more questions before we run those tests.” A knock on the room’s door stops her mid-sentence and we all turn to see who it is.