Page 21 of Need You To Choose Me

Blake Walker.

That was his name.

Blake Walker.

The father of my unborn child.

My heart is thundering inside my chest as I stare at the screen, still trying to wrap my head around it.

It took everything in me to gather my wits and focus on my job once he left the classroom. I’m still not sure how I managed to do it. The whole morning was a blur of events as I was counting down the minutes until I could get the kids off to the cafeteria for lunch and get a few minutes to myself.

And now I had it.

After all these months, I finally had a name to put to the man who changed my life in one night.

I often thought about him since I found out I was pregnant. I even went back to that bar a few times in hopes I might run into him, but of course he never showed up. Why would he? The main reason why I agreed to our little arrangement was becauseI was sure he was just passing through, and I wouldn’t have to see him again.

I wondered what I’d do if I knew his name.

Would I be able to find him? How would he react? Would he want the baby? Would he ask me not to have it, or would he want to be involved?

There were so many questions. So many possibilities. And only one reality.

Until today.

Until he walked into my classroom and changed everything.

With shaky hands I grab my phone and press the call button. I hold my breath as the phone rings in my ear for what seems like forever until my best friend picks up.

“Sav?” Becky asks, a trace of worry in her voice. “What’s going on? Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be?—”

“He’s here,” I whisper softly.

There is a pause for a heartbeat. “He? What are you talking about? Who’s here?”

“He’shere, Becky!” I hiss, all the uncertainty and fear I’ve been pushing down since I saw him is bubbling to the surface, and there is no holding it back any longer. “The guy I hooked up with. He’s here. In Bluebonnet Creek.”

“Your baby daddy?” she yells so loudly I have to pull the phone away from my ear. “Shit! How? When? Where? I don’t understand. Didn’t you say that he was just some random guy you met at a bar?”

“That’s what I thought, but he’s here. As in heliveshere.” My fingers curl around the phone to the point of pain as the panic rises inside my chest. “What the hell should I do, Becky? What if he thinks I did it on purpose? What if he thinks I tricked him in some way? What if he doesn’t want my child? But what if he does? Or worse, what if he tries to take my baby from me? He can’t do that, right?”

The words spill out of me in a rush, and with each question I can feel my throat constrict tighter, making it hard to breathe, until the only thing I can hear is the sound of my thundering heart echoing in my eardrums.

“Sav? Take a deep breath for me, okay? You’re having a panic attack.”

My eyes water as I suck in a gulp full of air.

“I d-don’t know wh-what to d-do,” I wheeze out.

“Breathe. I just need you to breathe. This isn’t good for the baby.”

I nod, forcing myself to slowly let the air out of my lungs, and breathe in once again, slower this time.

In and out.

In and out.

Slowly.

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