Page 45 of The Biker and the Gamer
"I'm making your favorite," she says as she stirs something in a saucepan with a wooden spoon. "Smoked salmon and chili-sauce with stir fried vegetables."
She's been doing this ever since I got back. Cooking me dinner, making me tea before bed and coffee in the mornings—playing house. I’m not sure what's going on in her head, but I've been too distracted with my ache for Kendra to pay attention.
Moric, my Doberman, comes barreling from the back of the house, tongue hanging out of his head. I drop my messenger bag and crouch down to pet him.
"Hey there, big guy." I rub behind his ears. "Had a good day today?"
He whimpers and rubs his nose against my chin, loving my hands on him.
Straightening, I pat my thighs, beckoning him to follow me as I turn and head into the open-plan living area.
I live in a modest three-bedroom house in a gated community. I've been "meaning to" sell it and upgrade to something befitting to my net worth, but I keep putting it off because it’s not that important to me.
I throw myself down on the couch and kick my feet up on the coffee table, then pat the spot beside me. Moric leaps up on the couch and sprawls his upper half over my lap. He calms me as much as I calm him.
I watch Jessica across the room as she putters about the kitchen. She pauses for a brief moment, her face pinched, her fists clenched, and then she blows out a breath and carries on. This has been the norm for the past two weeks or so. She’s approaching her due date. She should be in bed, binge-watching TV shows or whatever, but she won’t listen to reason, and despite the protruding belly in front her, she’s still in denial about it.
When she glances up and sees me watching her, she slaps on a brave smile and asks, "Can I get you something to drink?"
I sigh. "Jess, you're not my wifeormy maid. You shouldn’t even be on your feet."
"I know. But—"
"Youneedto call your parents."
"I'll make you some iced tea," she says, as if I hadn’t spoken. "Do you want lemon, raspberry, or green tea?"
"You could go into labor any minute. And what do you plan to do next, huh? Do you expect me to take care of this dude’s kid, too? You wantmeto be in the delivery room?" I ask without animosity, keeping my tone light and even. "I've helped you as much as I can, and I'll always care for you, but that's where I draw the line. It's time for you to call your family. Or at the very least, your sister. That, in there, is new life, Jess. I highly doubt they'll give a damn how it came about."
She ducks her head as tears fill her eyes. With a shaky voice, she asks, "Can you...can you be here with me when I call them?"
I’m itching to walk across the room and comfort her, but I restrain myself. I've been coddling her for too long. I can't continue to be her shoulder to cry on. She betrayed me.
"Of course," I agree.
Her father loves me, so I know this will be disappointing news for him. Though, to be honest, for the three years we were together,I never once thought about having kids with Jessica. Never even crossed my mind. Never thought about marriage or a future with her either.
Yet, I hadn’t even known Kendra for a month when I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm more confident than ever now that the amount of time you spend with someone doesn’t matter. You can spend half of your life with one person and still never truly know what love is. And you can meet another in a day and feel more than you've ever felt in your entire life. And that's how you know. That’s how you choose.
"Why did you cheat?" I've never asked this question before. I've never cared. Still don’t. But now, I'm curious.
Jessica’s mouth falls open as she stares at me with wet eyes from across the room. "You’ve met someone."
I frown. "What?"
"You've never cared enough to ask why I cheated before. I don't suppose you do now either. I think you’re curious to know why it didn’t work with us because you’ve met someone and youwantit to work with her."
Jessica Douglas. She's been such a moping ball of moroseness over the past couple of months that I almost forget that she’s one of the smartest, most intelligent people I know.
"Yes," I admit, "I have."
Though she tries to hide it, she seems almost saddened by this news. "In Denver?"
Yeah, there's no way I'm sharing Kendra with her. "Tell me. Why did you cheat?"
She wipes her hand with a dishtowel before she waddles across the room, and I hold my hand out to help her as she nests herself down beside me on the couch.
“I think we were too…the same, if that makes sense,” she says, rubbing Moric between his ears. “We like the same things, have the same views, agree on everything…There was no mystery, no surprises, no challenge. Nothing to discover. It got boring, you know? We hadtoomuch in common, so it started to feel like we were besties instead of lovers. I guess I was looking for something…different. Something less predictable.”
