“Yes. Sort of.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Actually, I don’t know. Kai hasn’t come home from work yet. He’s not answering his phone, and neither is Kevin,” I say, walking back to my apartment. The phone trembles in my hand as I try not to drop it with my shaking fingers.
“Really? You’re not in labor, are you?” I hear shuffling in the background like she’s sitting up from her bed.
“No.”
She lets out a sigh. “That’s good. Do you want me to come over?”
I lock my door behind me and pace around the living room again. “No. I needed someone to talk to,” I say with a shaky voice.
“Are you sure, B? I can tell from your voice that you’re really worried.”
Tears burn behind my eyes. “Yes.”
“Maybe they got held up at work and have bad cell reception. It’s only been… what, a few hours since he was supposed to be home? I wouldn’t worry too much.”
We’re still talking an hour later, and it’s helping to distract me.
I’m now getting even more upset that he hasn’t called to say anything. Regardless of what is going on, he can’t leave his pregnant girlfriend at home alone wondering what the hell is going on. That’s not fair to me. I’m thinking more rationally and feel like nothing has happened to him. Because if something did, I for sure would get a call from someone by now. It’s a little past midnight. If something happened, it would have been during the day. It gives someone plenty of time to call me.
I sit straight up as I hear the front door opening. I haven’t left the living room since I started talking to Paige.
My eyes widen in disbelief when Kai walks through the door. But then, the look on his face makes my face drop. His puffy eyes and red nose show he’s been crying. The smell of metal and vodka lingers on as he passes by me into the bathroom.
“Paige, he’s here. I got to go.”
Why hasn’t he said anything? I knock on the bathroom door. “Yeah.” I hear sniffling.
“Can I come in?”
“It’s not locked.”
I slowly open the door. Kai’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub with his head in his hands.
“What’s going on?” I focus my gaze on him. He keeps his head down and mumbles something I can’t understand. “What?”
He lifts his head, eyes red and glossed over. “My dad is dead,” he says, his voice unlike I’ve ever heard it; it’s so deep and shaky.
I gasp and my heart sinks. Not knowing what to say, I walk closer to him. He leans his head onto my stomach and wraps his arms around me.
His back shakes as his sobs echo throughout the bathroom.
“I’m so sorry, Kai. What can I do?”
He shakes his head.
Silence surrounds the bathroom, filling the air with a stillness that amplifies with each sob.
I say nothing else. Instead of talking, I let him cry on my stomach as he lets it all out. It sounds as if he held it in all day. The best thing for him right now is to let him be.
“Mom, this is Blakey, the girl I told you about.” Kai wraps his hand around my waist.
This is the first physical touch we’ve had since I found out about his dad’s passing. I’ve barely seen him the past week. He’s been busy helping his brother plan his dad’s funeral. His mom was doing bad because of the split, and now this.
“Blakely, this is my mom, Emily.”
She swipes her sunglasses off her face and looks me up and down. We make eye contact, but she looks at me as if she’s in a daze. Not entirely focused on me. “Hi,” she whispers. Her blue eyes narrow when she glances at my stomach. “I guess a congratulations are in order.”
“Thank you,” I say.
