Page 27 of Second Chance with Seth
“Maybe you were, but does Everly see it that way?” He strokes his hand over Taylor’s bump. “I mean… a lot can happen in a year.”
“Clearly.”
He opens his mouth, but then closes it again, pulling Taylor even closer. “We’d better be getting home,” he says, and while I’m sure that wasn’t what he meant to say, I can see that Taylor’s tired. And who can blame her?
“It was good to see you both,” I say, and he nods his head.
“You, too. And I hope you work things out.”
I give him a smile and he leads Taylor to his car, helping her in, and then waves to me before he climbs in beside her. I don’t wait for them to drive away, but continue my walk back to the hotel, wondering what else I’ve missed out on while I’ve been away…
I surprised myself by waking late this morning… although I suppose the bigger surprise was that I slept at all. After an evening watching movies – or pretending to – while doing my best not to think about who Everly might be ‘busy’ with, I fell into bed at just after midnight, hoping sleep would claim me. It didn’t, and I stared at the ceiling for ages, missing her. I guessthat was only to be expected. After all, I’ve missed every night for the last year. The thing is, it was more intense last night. That was partly because I’m back here, I think… back where it all started. But it was also because I’d seen her. I’d spoken to her and touched her… and I wanted to do so much more.
The four walls of my room were feeling like a prison, so I came down to the dining room for breakfast, choosing a mushroom omelet, with a side of home fries, and a pot of fresh coffee. I ate in my room last night, unwilling to face anyone, or – worse still – risk bumping into Everly and whoever she was ‘busy’ with.
Now I’ve finished both the omelet and the coffee, I can’t bear the thought of going back upstairs and staring into space for a few hours. Neither do I feel like going for a walk by myself. I came here to talk to Everly, and although I know we arranged to meet later this afternoon, I can’t see that it will do any harm for me to go to the coffee shop now. I get that she’ll be working, but I can sit there just as easily as I can sit here. The coffee will be better, and so will the view.
And who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to persuade her to have lunch with me?
It’s a possibility, and if she says yes, then we’ll have a couple of hours longer to talk.
The decision made, I leave the hotel, walking through the parking lot, wondering how to handle this. Obviously, Everly won’t be expecting to see me, so I need to make sure she doesn’t feel crowded or pressured, while also getting across that I’m serious about this… and that I want her back.
That shouldn’t be too hard at all…
I stride out onto Main Street, words rolling around my head, none of them making much sense, because I can’t work out which order to say them in… whether to start with an explanation of why I’ve come to see her earlier than expected,or to lead with how things felt back then, or maybe even what we can do about it now. I’m mulling over the pros and cons of each approach when I look up and stop in my tracks. Everly is standing by the bookstore. She’s got her back to me and is looking down at something, but I still know it’s her. I’d know her anywhere, and I have to smile. Even from the back, she’s beautiful, her jeans clinging to her legs and ass.
It’s unusual to see her anywhere other than at the coffee shop at this time of day, but I suppose she’s got Owen to help her now, so she probably has more free time.
I wish she’d been willing to get more help when we were still together. It was the thing we ended up fighting about on the day I left, and although it wasn’t everything that was wrong with our relationship, having someone who could take over from her in the coffee shop would have been helpful. Whether I’d have liked her employing someone like Owen is another matter, and I clench my fists, trying to forget how handsome he is, and the way he rushed to her aid yesterday, when she dropped that cup.
I take a couple of steps forward, still wondering what to say to her, and whether I should sneak up behind her, or announce myself from a distance, just as she turns, and I stop dead again, my heart joining my feet in their refusal to function.
She may be right at the other end of Main Street, but I know what I’m seeing, even though I’m struggling to believe it. She’s carrying a baby, strapped to her front in one of those baby carrier things, and my mouth drops open, confusion washing through me, as she brushes her hand over the back of the infant’s head. It’s an intimate thing to do. Too intimate if the baby isn’t hers, which is confirmed when she looks up, her eyes meeting mine, and her face paling to a grayish-white.
Neither of us moves an inch. We just stare at each other for what feels like hours. It isn’t. It’s probably not even minutes,and eventually a couple of people walk past, barging into me, and they turn to apologize, dragging me out of my trance.
Standing here won’t get me anywhere. It certainly won’t answer the very necessary questions I need to ask, and I put one foot in front of the other, making my way slowly toward her. She does the same, meeting me between the beauty salon and Cooper White’s dental clinic.
I gaze into her eyes for a moment, hoping she’ll say something. She seems reluctant to speak, though, and I let my eyes drop to the beautiful baby she’s carrying.
“What’s going on?” I say, surprised when her only reply is to shake her head. “Tell me, Everly.” I nod toward the baby as I speak and Everly takes a deep breath.
“This is River,” she whispers. “And I’ve only just managed to get her off to sleep.”
“Okay.” I lower my voice. “That’s a beautiful name.” It is. I’m not just saying that. I like it. A lot. “How old is she?” I ask. It feels important… for all kinds of reasons.
“Three months.”
I’m in absolute turmoil here and feel like asking if she could be more precise. A birth date might be useful, and although it doesn’t feel right to actually say that, I have to ask, “Does that mean she was born in December?”
“Yes.”
I quickly count backwards, getting confused and starting again. “That means she was conceived…?”
Everly holds up her hand, letting the other rest on the baby’s back. “I’ll save you the trouble of working it out. She’s yours, Seth. It’s not as though I was gonna sleep with anyone else.”
That’s good to know, but I still can’t get my head around this. How can it be? I have a daughter…
