Page 9 of Shameless
A tear I had been holding back slid down my cheek, and I stood. “Sorry. I should go.”
Eddie said nothing as I walked to the door. Why did I think showing up at his home would go over well? I had been almost certain I was pregnant with his child, but he was right; it could be Blake’s. Had I messed everything up? What if I was having Blake’s baby, and we could be married and starting our family? I should have known the moment Eddie and I fucked in my childhood bedroom, everything would come crashing down. How stupid was I to think I could forget I had cheated on Blake?
More tears streamed down my face as I rode the elevator to the ground floor. Where could I go now? I could go to my mom’s and she could turn Blake away, but that would only make me feel worse because I was a coward and drowning in my own doings. Maybe I should use the ticket to Mexico I already had and never come back to the United States. I could start over in Cabo. Have a new name, a new job, a new place to live. I had money in my bank account I could use to get on my feet, but was it enough to start over with a baby?
Exiting the building, I wiped my face and made my way back to Molly’s car. My cell was still in the car and I didn’t know what to do except call my mom. She was probably worried since it had been several hours and was now dark.
“Stace! Wait!”
I turned and looked over my shoulder to see Eddie jogging after me. “Yeah?”
“Shit.” He ran his hand through his light brown hair. “Don’t go.”
I stopped and faced him. “Don’t go?”
“I can’t let you leave.”
I blinked. “Why?”
“It’s getting late and I don’t want you to drive in the dark. Just stay here tonight. Okay?”
I hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”
After grabbing my phone from the car, we fell into step with each other and he asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
Once we got back up to Eddie’s condo, he gave me a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt to wear instead of my wedding dress. He ordered us pizza and after it arrived, we sat on his couch and watched an Astros game while we ate. We didn’t say much and didn’t speak any more about the elephant in the room.
When I turned on my cell phone, text messages and more text messages dinged as though it was a race to see which one could be delivered the fastest. My parents and Molly had left multiple voicemail messages, but one text had me on the verge of tears again.
I’m staying at the hotel and I’ll be at the airport for our flight in the morning. I won’t be mad if you show and I hope we can talk it out in Mexico. Or if you want, call me and I’ll come to you. Just please talk to me
I knew I should call Blake, tell him I was pregnant and scared, but I was three hours away in another man’s home. Even though he said he wasn’t mad, I knew hearing the truth would piss him off. So, I ignored him.
“He doesn’t know?” Eddie asked.
I looked away from my phone. “What?”
“Blake. He doesn’t know you’re here?”
I shook my head and whispered, “No.”
“When do you plan on telling him?”
I looked back down at the text from Blake. “When he gets back from Mexico.”
Eddie hesitated for a moment and then asked, “Was that where you were going on your honeymoon?”
I nodded.
Was it bizarre that I was talking to my ex about where I was going to go on a honeymoon with someone else? All of it was strange, and I was trying to process how I had turned my life upside down in a blink of an eye.
“All right. I’m going to bed. Feel free to shower in the guest bath. I put some towels in the spare room for you.”
Eddie left and a peculiar feeling washed over me. When we were dating, we went to bed together. I used the shower in his room and we slept together. It was silly of me to think it would be like that as I stood from the couch and made my way down the hall to the foreign room.
I slipped inside and texted my mom and Molly that everything was fine and where I was. Then I showered, crawled into the strange bed, and cried myself to sleep.
