Page 88 of The Moment You Know

“That was the plan, but I decided I wanted to talk to her about it first,” he explained patiently. “I couldn’t reach her by phone—which shouldn’t be a surprise to you, since you’re the one that blocked her number—so I went by our old house.” He didn’t tell her he’d done that the night before because that part of the story really didn’t matter. “But she wasn’t there because she’d sold it, so I had to go see her at work. Which is when I found out she’d been blocked.”

She didn’t say anything to any of that and David watched her for several moments before asking, “How did you get into my phone?”

“I knew what your passcode was.”

He wasn’t surprised by this. “When, exactly, did you block her? And why?”

She held up her hands. “Look, it wasn’t like I decided one day to get into your phone and block her. It wasn’t like that—”

“Then what was it ‘like’?”

“I had just found out I was pregnant and our relationship was still really new. She called one night when you were in the shower and left a message, and …”

“And what? Did you listen to it?”

“Yes.”

Of course she had. “Why would you do that?”

“I wanted to know why she was calling you.”

“Did it ever occur to you that it was none of your fucking business?”

“Yes, and I didn’t care. I had to find out if she was trying to get you back.”

Her unapologetic response floored him; he’d been expecting her to at least fake it a little bit. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I was pregnant, David. And I wasn’t taking any chances that she might be saying something that would make you leave me and run back to her. Losing you was not an option.”

“So you went behind my back and invaded my privacy to find out,” he said coldly, feeling unbelievably violated.

Ashley nodded slowly.

“Well? What did she say in her voicemail?” he asked. He already knew the answer, but he was curious to see if she would tell him the truth.

“She said she needed you and wanted you to call her.”

“Was that it?”

“Yes.”

“She didn’t say why she needed me and wanted me to call her?”

“No. But she was crying and sounded sort of upset, like she’d been drinking. I thought she was drunk-dialing you.”

“You thought. You didn’t know that for sure.”

“No, but it seemed pretty obvious.”

“Uh huh. So what happened to the message?”

“I deleted it.”

“Even though, as far as messages go, it was fairly benign? I mean, she didn’t ask me to pack a bag and run away with her, right?”

“I was afraid that if you heard it at all, you’d feel sorry for her and call her back and it would lead to … more.”

“More? Like me packing a bag and running away with her? Even though I had a baby on the way with you?”

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