Part 59 (1/2)

”I promised her I would go sea gla.s.s hunting with her next week. We were supposed to go spend a couple of days there, remember?”

”Yeah, I remember.” I didn't say any more than that again. He picked up on it. He knew.

”He's there, isn't he?”

”Yes.”

”That didn't take two minutes. I'll talk to you later, Morgan.”

I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. My phone was blinking, call ended, two minutes, twelve seconds in my hand.

”You know what, Riley?” Dawson said, taking my hand and holding my knuckles to his lips.

Oh, boy. Here it comes.

”Hmm?”

”I think that you have been through enough s.h.i.+t for ten life times. I think you should divorce him, marry me and let me take care of you and my baby for the rest of your life.”

s.h.i.+t, maybe I should just do the paternity test. I had a feeling that I would be hearing this from both fathers for nine months. I didn't respond and only smiled.

Dawson never left me that night. He didn't try anything that involved being naked, and I was glad. I think my v.a.g.i.n.a was on strike anyway, I never heard a peep.

Dawson held me close all night, caressing my back and planting soft, sweet kisses on my forehead. I knew that Dawson made the most sense. I knew that Dawson would be the simpler of the two solutions if there were a simple solution.

I woke late to an empty bed. Dawson had left for work. I lay in bed reviewing my options for a long time.

For whatever reason, I decided at the moment that I was going to stop fretting over any of it. I wasn't going to try and decide anything. Whatever happened, happened. I really needed to clean the ceiling fan.

I got up, started coffee and did just that. I cleaned the ceiling fan, drank coffee on my deck while listening to Lauren and Levi. I even laughed when Lauren told a caller that she was a black, Jewish girl from Kentucky. I went to town and had lunch at Millie's, stopped and visited with Star, and then walked along the beach.

I was slowly settling back into my life in Maine. I had a man that adored me, friends that loved me, a house that I treasured, and an ocean for solitude. Drew did have my car driven to me, but I didn't drive it. I drove my old Honda. The BMW was a little out of place there, and I felt more like me in the Honda. I wasn't some rich girl that doted on the finer things of life, well technically I was a rich girl, but I didn't feel like one.

I hadn't heard from Drew for almost two weeks. I felt in my heart that I was doing the right thing. Dawson loved me, and I loved him. I had fun with Dawson, and yes we were having s.e.x. It wasn't anything like Drew, and I had, not even close. Dawson was in it for the love making which was fine by me. He made sure that my needs were met, and took his sweet, slow time. I didn't need the f.u.c.ked up s.e.x life that Drew and I shared. This was what I needed, right here in nowhere Maine, where life was simple.

Lauren took a week's vacation about a month after I was home and she and I spent a week with my mom on the beach. Lauren loved it. She was a bigger kid than Caroline was and spent her days hunting sea gla.s.s, playing dumb little girl games, sitting on the beach with binoculars searching for dolphins and shopping. Caroline loved her just as much as Lauren loved Caroline. It was funny. I never pictured Lauren being good around little girls. She was.

My mom made sure that Lauren and I had a room so that we didn't have to bunk with Caroline although Caroline camped with us all but two of the six nights we were there. It was mid-August, and one night Caroline insisted that we sleep on the beach and watch the meteor shower. It was the perfect night for it. We all lay out on the beach, including my mom, on top of sleeping bags and watched the fireball sky. The last count that we had was somewhere in the ballpark of a hundred. Some of them were quick and small, and some of them felt like they were coming right at us. I had never watched a meteor shower before. It was amazing, and Caroline had so many wishes. It was comical. I myself made only one wish. I wished that the baby growing inside of me would be Dawson's.

On the fifth day that we were there Drew called.

We were eating breakfast on the private deck, goofing off with Caroline. My heart sank when I saw his name. What the f.u.c.k. I needed him not to call. I needed to stay as far away from him as possible, and I sure as h.e.l.l didn't need to hear his voice right now.

”h.e.l.lo,” I cautiously answered.

”Hey, where are you?” he asked, no hey beautiful, I miss you, nothing just a cold tone. I should have been happy that he wasn't being nice. It should have made it easier, but it didn't. I wanted him to want me. It was dumb, but none the less, it was what I wanted.

”I'm at my mom's with Lauren. Why?”

”I'm flying there so that you can sign a power of attorney,” he said.

”For what?”

”So that I can work. I have a stack of s.h.i.+t on my desk that needs your signature. I need you to sign a power of attorney so that I don't have to rely on you to take care of it.”

”Okay,” I replied. I didn't care about that. I wouldn't know what I was signing anyway. ”When are you coming?”

”I should be there by three.”

”Today?!?” I asked shocked. I didn't mean to sound so surprised. It just came out that way.

”Is that a problem?”

”No. That will be fine,” I answered. It wasn't fine.

I didn't want to see Drew. I couldn't see Drew.

”See ya later then,” he replied and hung up.

I called Dawson and told him that he was coming.

I wasn't going to feel guilty for him being there and hiding it from him. I was done with that. Dawson was okay with it. He trusted me.

Stupid boy...

The only thing that Dawson was concerned with was me signing something that was going to leave me with nothing and I would give it all to Drew. I didn't care. I didn't want any of it. I had a four thousand dollar a month trust fund for the rest of my life without having anything to do with diamonds, stores, stocks, negotiations or conference calls. That was more money than I had ever had in my life and more than enough to live on.

I was a nervous wreck the entire afternoon. I'm not sure why. I had a feeling he would pop in and out. I bet that he didn't mention the baby or anything else about us. I was right.

I was in Lauren's and my shared room, taking a shower and getting ready. I knew it was stupid, but I wanted to look nice for him. I pulled on blue short shorts and a pink cami that made my b.r.e.a.s.t.s look bigger than they actually were. Well, maybe they were a little bigger. I was just finis.h.i.+ng up with my make up when I heard the tap on the door. I thought it was Caroline. It wasn't even two yet.

”It's open,” I called, spritzing a dab of perfume on.

I froze. I wasn't expecting to see Drew.

Really v.a.g.i.n.a?

I hadn't had that response in quite some time, and I had almost forgotten all about the arguments that I had with my own s.e.x. He looked good. I mean really good. I had lived with the man for six years and never saw him in a pair of jeans. He was in jeans that looked delicious on him, a tight gray t-s.h.i.+rt that showed that he was ripped. He had been using the new equipment in the gym. I smirked a little. I knew he had dressed for me too. He had a thin beard almost in a line along his jaw line. It was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l.

His eyes scanned my body and then back to my eyes. He closed the door, and my heart started to beat out of my chest.

f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k and f.u.c.k...

He walked to me with half a smile while I still stood like some sort of stupid, dest.i.tute derelict. He picked up the black sea gla.s.s hanging from around my neck and smiled as if he was saying, I own you. Jesus H.