Perfectly Unexpected - Finished

Chapter Five - Helping A Friend

Two months of dating Sam had gone by rather quickly. We sent text messages back and forth daily, resulting in a lot of sly looks at each other through office windows. I had flowers delivered to my house at random often, and we had many make out sessions with closed curtains in the office – a risky move that was just begging to get us fired. We spent most nights together, taking turns between staying at my apartment and his. I would come over after Ellie was in bed. We'd even had a nice double date with Sam's wife, Shannon, and her boyfriend as well. I often wondered why they stayed together if they were so much happier with other people, but Sam insisted he loved her, and they had a very loving marriage outside of their separate relationships. Plus, they didn't want their two year old daughter, Ellie, to be passed back and forth. I understood this, despite my own parents still being together.

Long conversations in closed doors, flirting at the office when no one was looking and a lot of date nights were normal. We stayed together almost every night, and I had grown used to sleeping with my head resting on his bare chest, listening to his breathing and heartbeat. Nights we spent apart were lonely and filled with a sense of anxiety. When Sam and I weren't together, I felt out of place. I felt an uncomfortable feeling gnawing in my stomach until we were together again.

I understood his role as a parent and respected how well he balanced his time. I tried to never get in the way of him being a father and didn't complain when needing to spend time away. I let a lot of my anxiety about him leaving me come to the surface when I was alone. Even just two months into the relationship, I didn't feel like I could be without him. He was everything I wanted. He was funny, he was kind, he treated me well. What more could I want? I knew, though, that he was going to leave eventually. His wife could make that happen in seconds.

“Did you hear me?” Jasmine said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“No, sorry.” I answered.

“OK, I said to turn here, we're at the airport.”

I turned into the airport as she said. I was taking her so she could fly back to Maine. She was leaving for six weeks to be at her little sister's graduation and then help her get moved into college. I pulled to the front and helped Jasmine pull her bags out of my back seat.

“I'm going to miss you!” I told her, handing her the last of her bags.

“I'll miss you too. Keep an eye on Daniel and don't let Sam get the best of you.” She said.

“I know.” I told her.

We hugged, and then she waved as she walked off. Her mint green tank top popped against her dark skin, her dark hair in a million tiny little braids. Six weeks would be a long time to be away from my best friend.

The drive home was pleasant and it was a beautiful Saturday morning in Seattle. When I got back to my apartment, I made a mimosa and decided to sit on my balcony to scroll through my phone. Seattle was cold a lot of the year, so I didn't get a ton of use out of my balcony. I spent a lot of the first few weeks of warm weather worrying a spider would drop on my head.

As soon as I got settled, my phone rang. Daniel.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hi... are you busy?” He asked. He sounded stressed.

“No... Why? What's up?”

“Do you want to come over? I'm not in a great place. I'm safe, but I need a friend.”

“Yeah absolutely. Text me your address, I'll be right there.”

*

After a grand tour of Daniels cozy two bedroom home, we sat on his couch. He was wearing a loose fitted tee shirt and a pair of sweats, a big change from dress shirts and ties. His blonde hair was flat against his head, also a large change from his usual well-kept look.

“OK, I know you didn't call me here to show me your house. What's going on?” I finally asked after a few moments of silence.

“You're right. It's my ex wife.” He said. He rubbed his hands over his face.

“What'd she do now?” I asked.

“She had the baby... He came a little early, and has to go into the NICU. She called me to tell me about it.” He told me.

“Why would she call you?” I was sitting on the couch across from his, and watched him ponder his response.

“You know... I think she feels like she owes me. I thinks she feels like she has to tell me. I'm glad she tells me, because I feel weird about not being there. We should have been doing this together, we wanted to do this together, and it's like... I don't know what happened.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We were married for nine years. We got out of high school, each earned a four year degree and got married right out of college. We were 22, we were in love. We both wanted a baby and we started trying as soon as we got married. It didn't happen, and it didn't happen. After six months, we saw a doctor. She said we were young and to focus on other things. Then we were 26. It wasn't happening, we saw a different doctor who suggested fertility drugs. We tried for another year, and saw another doctor who wanted to do testing. It was expensive, insurance didn't cover it. We decided to work and save up. During that time, we discussed our options. If it was her that couldn't have children, we'd try to use my sperm with a donor egg and do in-vetro. That's where they make the embryo outside of the body and place it into her uterus. Maybe we'd try a surrogate. If it was me, we could easily use donor sperm.” He took a pause. “We were 30, and finally did all of the testing that they wanted. I was close to 31 and I knew that we didn't have a lot of time left to conceive. The tests came back that my sperm count was almost non-existent and the quality wasn't good. I'd likely never have children. She left me that day, no discussion, nothing we discussed happened.” 

“I'm so sorry, Daniel... You didn't deserve that.” I told him.

“When I found out she was three months pregnant only three months after she left, I knew she must've been cheating before we truly split. I should have known, things weren't good. I still thought when she got pregnant she was going to come back, and it was all going to be some awful plan of hers so we could have a baby.” His voice was shaking. “Now the baby's here, she gave the baby his last name, and I'm not there. All I am is a phone call, I'm not his father.”

“Daniel, some day you're going to find someone who will make it work. Adoption, surrogacy, maybe she'll have kids you'll love even though they aren't biologically yours. Don't rule that out.” 

“I know, but I'm 32, I don't know when that will happen. And right now, it just hurts in the moment.”

We talked late into the night until he was feeling better.