“I’ll pick you up tomorrow night. Or is that too soon?”
“You don’t need to be so skittish around me, you know? I’ve agreed to go out with you.”
He grins, seeing my point, and he starts again. “I’ll see you at seven tomorrow night then.”
“Seven o’clock. Fair enough. Are you coming to pick me up here?”
“I sure am. I’m looking forward to it already. It’ll be good. I promise you.”
“Yeah, I believe you.” We share an intense look which flutters all the way through me. A dormant hope breaks free inside of me, dying slowly only as he walks toward the door. “You’re leaving?”
“Yes, I am. I have a lot of planning to do, and I’m sure we both need some time to wrap our heads around it.”
Weirdly, I don’t want him to go. I suppose it’s because the image of the two of us walking around the baby shop buying things for our child is in my mind. And not because he can afford things I can’t, but because of him. I want him to be in the image, whatever he can or cannot do, because we were so good.
“Okay. Well, I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“That you will.”
As the door closes behind him, I nearly squeal with glee. This is amazing. I didn’t know I could feel this good. Brock still wants me . . . he finally understands. He wants our baby too. He’s prepared to be the father that our child needs him to be. I need to call Millie up immediately and yell at her and thank her in equal measures. I wonder if she knew this would happen when she went to see him. I don’t understand what she was thinking.
I dig around in the bottom of my kitchen drawer for an old cell phone that I know is there. Hopefully, I can still make calls from it. Getting rid of my phone and Lucas after that awful conversation in the heat of the moment felt good, but now the consequences are here to bite me on the ass.
I dial her number fast and press the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Is that trepidation I hear in your voice?” I tease. “Because you know what I’m about to say?”
“No, it’s because I didn’t recognize the number. Is this you, Jodi?”
“It sure is, and I think we need to have a serious chat, don’t you?”
“I, uh . . .” She doesn’t want to drop herself in it just in case. This is hilarious. “I don’t know . . .”
“Brock has just been to see me. Apparently, he’s had a little visit from you.”
“He has? Are you totally fuming mad with me? I’m sorry, I just hated seeing you unhappy.”
“I’m shocked. I can’t believe you did that, but it actually turned out okay. We finally talked.”
“You did? Oh, thank God. That’s all I wanted to happen. I just wanted him to finally speak to you.”
“Is that why you gave him an ultrasound image?”
I hope she can tell from my voice that I’m not mad.
“I’m sorry, I know it wasn’t my place to tell him, but he’s just such a stubborn fuck, don’t you think?”
“Oh yeah, I know. I would have done the same if I thought he’d talk to me about it.”
“So . . . what did you guys talk about? How did it go? Was anything . . . resolved?”
“Actually, it was, and I need your help for it. He’s taking me out on a date tomorrow night.”
“A date? That seems random. Aren’t you guys a bit past dating? You have a baby coming.”
“We sure are, but this is what he wants so there’s no pressure. A date to see if there is anything there.”