Page 31 of The Moment You Know

“Do you think she will?” she finally asked.

“Press charges? I don’t know.”

“You didn’t ask?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because asking her would’ve made me an asshole. And anyway, I’m sure you’ll be the first to know if she does.”

“That’s not funny.”

“None of this is. This entire night has been a complete shit sandwich thanks to you.”

He drained his beer and then stepped around her to put the bottle in the recycling bin, not even bothering to be quiet; Jacob slept like the dead.

Then, without looking back, David left Ashley in the kitchen and went to Jacob’s room to check on him. David wasn’t surprised to see his son was sleeping on his stomach with his head almost off the side of his twin bed; more often than not he ended up sleeping sort of sideways. Like he did almost every night, David maneuvered Jacob back to a normal position on the bed and fixed his bedding, all without waking him. Looking down at the sleeping boy, David knew without a doubt that the best part of him and Ashley wasn’t him and Ashley. It was Jacob.

When David stood up, he found her watching him from the doorway.

“So you and Paige were going to have a baby?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered, stepping around her and into the hall.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

With her trailing behind him, David went to the linen closet and opened the door. “Because that’s not something I talk about.”

“Not even with me?”

Especially not with her. “Not even with you.”

“Is that the real reason you didn’t want me to get an abortion?”

“No. I just really don’t believe in abortion.”

Ashley tilted her head. “You named our baby after the one Paige miscarried.”

He didn’t say anything as he looked through their linens before grabbing a set of sheets and a blanket.

“You should have told me,” she said.

He pulled a pillow off the top shelf, then shut the closet door. But when he tried to move down the hall, she blocked him.

“So, every time you say Jacob’s name, are you thinking about Paige and the baby you were going to have with her?”

“No.” Technically it wasn’t a lie. He didn’t think about Paige and their baby every time.

This time, when he went to move down the hall, she didn’t stop him. She did, however, follow him to the living room, where he unceremoniously dumped all the bedding on the couch.

Ashley put her hands on her hips. “Are you seriously so pissed at me that you’re going to sleep on the couch? Jesus, I said I was sorry—”

“Yes, I’m seriously that pissed at you. But I’m not sleeping on the couch. You are.”

“What? Are you kidding?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” he asked blandly. “I pay the rent. I pay for the electric, the water, and the cable … do I need to keep going, or do you get the picture? I pay for pretty much everything, so I get the bed. Which I also paid for, by the way.”

---