Her brow furrowed. “I thought you weren’t working there anymore because of the baby?”
Bellamy looked between us. They knew my schedule, so knew this was a lie, but kept their mouth shut. “I can give you a to-go cup,” they said to Vic.
“Oh, sure, yeah,” Victoria said, standing up, looking a little put out. “Thank you.”
Bellamy nodded and plodded off to the kitchen to sort out the tea, while Victoria looked at me funny.
“Something’s going on,” she deduced. “You’re not usually so…” she sighed, “…rude.”
I cringed. “Ah, I’m so sorry, Vic. I am so grateful you’ve bought some things, truly. I’m just… I’m in a weird place? Can we park it? Come back around tomorrow, and we’ll go through everything you chose? I’m sure it’s all beautiful.”
Victoria’s face brightened. “I won’t be in the city tomorrow, but I’ll video call you.”
“Deal.”
“Deal.” Her smile glowed.
“Here.” Bellamy handed her the tea in one of our travel mugs, and Victoria took a quick sip.
“It’s delicious,” she said. “What is it?”
“Sticky chai. I can show you—” Bellamy started, but I interrupted.
“Thank you again, Victoria.” I clambered to the door and held it open for her. “I’m running real late.”
Victoria tore her gaze from Bellamy. “Oh, yeah, sure…”
The last thirty seconds it took her to leave were some of the most painful of my life. She ambled to the door, scooped up her handbag and gave me a kiss on the cheek before sauntering off like she had all the time in the world.
When I shut the door behind her and visibly relaxed, Bellamy cleared their throat.
“What’s going on?” they asked.
I turned, my face reddening, chest aching. “Please don’t hate me.”
Chapter Twelve
Harry
Dinnerwasonthetable when Victoria walked through the door. A simple vegetable chilli that used up everything we had in our fridge. Once she left Zora’s, I was sure she’d still be out for a few more hours before coming home. When she traveled into the city, she always came back late, taking full advantage of the shops, the museums and the cafes. Woman could spend a whole day by herself with no issues whatsoever. She worked hard, so enjoyed her time off more than most. It was one of the things I admired about her. I hated being alone. Another thing that made us incompatible
Victoria smiled, weak and warm, kicking her shoes off and striding over with a heaviness, exhaustion weighing her down.
“Hey babe,” she muttered, sinking down at the table opposite me and looking at her plate. “Thank you for this. I’m famished.”
I opened my mouth to say ‘always’ as I often did, but choked it back. There wouldn’t be an always. I was breaking up with her, hurting her heart when I explained the full situation. Everything seemed so insidious now. Making her food, cleaning up her space, they were promises I wasn’t keeping.
Before I left, Zora and I’d decided tomorrow was the day. We’d do it together, face it head-on and deal with the consequences. It was going to be shitty whatever happened.
But that didn’t stop me from being alone with Victoria now. Didn’t stop the pain I was inflicting from being ten times worse by playing this out, by not hiding or causing an argument so we would avoid each other. These would be the moments she contemplated afterward. The moments I was faking it to the most extreme.
“I spoke to Mom today about Zora,” Victoria said, looking sad as she picked through the chilli. “I don’t think she’s going to give her any money.”
This pissed me off. It was Zora’s money, surely. And I told Victoria so, trying to keep my emotions in check at the thought of Zora having to change her plans. She’d spoken to me about them a little, confiding in me that she wanted to go to business school, learn how to run a business and maybe open something of her own one day. Her plans weren’t perfect, but that’s what school was for.
She wished to do everything right for the baby. I did too. I thought about that tiny thing floating in her stomach on the screen, the grayish image with the alien-like baby waving hello. How could we do anything but our very best for them?
“We need to help her,” I said, the words spilling from me without a sensible thought in my head.What was the point in doing this now, you idiot? “Make your mother see reason. It’s madness, Zora’s a grown woman for god’s sake.”
