Perfectly Unexpected - Finished

Chapter 11 - Settling

Jasmine, Daniel and I were sitting in Daniel's living room. Normally on a Saturday night, the three of us would be out at the bars, drinking ourselves into oblivion. We'd go home barely knowing our names, and wake up wondering how we'd gotten home. One of us would take an Uber of Shame to go get our cars, and pick up the other two. Now that I was pregnant, it wasn't a possibility, so we stuck to much more tame activities, like monopoly.

We were glad to have Jasmine back, and I was grateful for both of them. I thought Daniel was getting sick of listening to me despite his insisting on the contrary. It was nice to have a girl to talk to about the things that were happening to my body.

“How did the talk with the rents go?” Jasmine asked me, pouring herself a glass of wine. They could drink, and I appreciated them doing it at home so I could still be included.

“It was... good. I called and told my mom everything. She offered for me to come home. How was your trip?” I asked.

“Good. CiCi was beautiful at graduation and I was really happy to get to help her move in to her dorm. But what do you mean? Are you moving home?” Jasmine asked.

“I thought about it. I hate living alone, I hate having no one around to hold my hair back while this baby makes me puke my guts out. I hate the thought of being all alone in my apartment at night, just me and the baby, no one to consult with. It's tempting... but my dad has cancer.” I choked up. “I don't think I want to be home and watch him die. He has a year at best, I don't think seeing that will be beneficial to my pregnancy.” I said. Hot tears streamed down my face. In truth, I felt guilty for not being there for my parents, but I knew that stress wouldn't be healthy.

“Why don't you move in here? I have an extra bedroom.” Daniel said.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Yeah I'm serious. It'll be fun. You can save up, look for your own place, and we'll hang out in the meantime. You won't be alone and you'll have more space than you do in your apartment.”

*

Before I knew it, I was moving my things into Daniel's apartment. He and a few of his friends from golf had my apartment in a moving truck and into his spare bedroom before I could even register what was going on.

We had worked out the details when he was more sober. His offer had been genuine. He was lonely and looking for a roommate. He wasn't charging me a ton in rent because he didn't need the money but he did need the company. I was equally as happy to be sharing a space with someone again.

Daniel cooked most of the meals. I helped with cleaning and laundry.

My pregnancy was growing complicated more and more as the time went on. I was horribly sick, and could barely pick my head up most mornings without throwing up. Daniel had gotten into the habit of getting a glass of water and my toothbrush ready so that I could rinse out my mouth. He made sure I was eating, he made sure I was drinking enough water.

At night, he'd have a beer while we watched TV at night. I'd sit on the opposite couch and lounge, getting lost in whatever game show he had on. It felt good to be distracted from Sam.

“Have you heard anything from Sam?” Daniel asked, as if on queue.

“No. We seem to be ignoring each other quite well.” I said.

“Damn. You never saw this coming?” 

“No... not at all. Honestly, pregnancy never even crossed my mind. I was taking birth control religiously, didn't miss a beat. I didn't really consider pregnancy a possibility and figured even if we did have kids... it would be way later on. I never thought in a million years he would ditch his kid though. When I found out I was pregnant, I thought when I told him, he would say like, we'll figure it out. I thought we would make some kind of plan. We'd both agree this wasn't ideal, and we'd agree to make the best of it.” I said.

“Well that's what any reasonable person would do.” He said. “I know I'm not a parent, but I feel like the only logical, moral thing to do if you get someone pregnant is be there for them. Even if you're not sure what you're doing, even if you're scared as hell, even if you aren't ready, you do what you can.” He said.

“He had an agreement with his wife not to have kids with anyone else.” I said.

“Have you thought about telling her?”

“Plenty of times.”

“Why haven't you?”

“Some strange sense of loyalty.” 

“Yeah... I get that.” He said. 

We ended the night continuing to chat by the TV.