Page 64 of Best Friend Burden

“Timing didn't work out.”

“Oh,” he said.

Was that disappointment in his voice, or relief?

“I'm only at about six and a half months.”

Lie two.

He nodded. “I thought you said it would just be a few weeks on the news.”

"Did I?” I asked. “I must have misspoken. I meant months.”

Lie four.

Anyone with eyes and even a passing knowledge of pregnancy could tell I was deep into the third trimester.

“So, who is the father, then?”

“To be honest, I'm not sure,” I said.

Lie. Lie. Lie.

“You know how LA is. Unless you're fighting it, it's not difficult to fall neck deep into dick.”

It was childish thing to say, but I always used terrible humor in awkward moments. I figured this would solidify his decision to leave and take this opportunity to do what he was meant to do. This is exactly why I didn’t tell him about Olivia to begin with. I didn’t need to manipulate him into sticking around. Forty years from now, he’d regret not going.

“Oh, yeah, okay, I guess,” he said, looking at the ground as he walked.

We stopped at a stoplight, and he pressed the button for the crosswalk. No cars were coming. We could have just kept going and chanced jaywalking, but I wasn't in the mood to waddle out of the way of an oncoming car.

“Shouldn't you be packing right now?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Probably,” he said, “but I figured there was time for a goodbye before I left.” his voice was laced with confusion and sadness, the worst way I had ever heard his voice sound.

As we were walking, I couldn't help but notice I was leading him in a circle back to the food court. It was unconscious, but I could have made another turn if I really wanted to. The fact was that I just wanted to be done with the conversation because all of this hurt too much.

We arrived back at the court, and I felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest.

“Well, goodbye, I guess,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

We looked at each other, staring into each other's eyes. There was so much talking without any words actually being said, but neither one of us wanted to be the one who said things first.

So, we didn’t say anything more, and that let me know that he understood all he needed to from our interaction. Sometimes a question didn't need to be a sentence. It could just be an action. And I gave him an answer, even if it wasn't the one he would have hoped for.

“Goodnight,” I said.

“Goodnight,” he said with sadness behind his eyes, and with that, he walked away.

Kiefer was gone from my life for at least six months. As far as I was concerned, that was an eternity.

CHAPTER28

***KIEFER***

Ihad an old shop teacher in high school who used to say, “I may have been born yesterday, but, hell, I stayed up all night,” and his voice repeating that mantra filled my head as I drove back to my apartment. How stupid did Melody think I was? There was no way she was only six months pregnant. But why would she lie about that?

The only reason I could think of was that she didn't want me to think I was the father. Did that mean that I was for sure the father? Maybe not, but I had a strong hunch. People change over the course of a decade, but not that much, and I had a pretty good sense of who Melody was.

---