Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I nearly collapsed in relief, feeling like I’d finally gotten a cool breeze after a stifling hot day. “Thank you. I really, I don’t have words for how much I appreciate it.”
We moved onto other topics as we ordered and ate, and Brooke told me all about Theo’s television show. I hadn’t watched it because I’d known that it would just piss me off. Apparently, Brooke felt the same way.
“It was the biggest load of bullshit you’ve ever seen,” Brooke said, her voice getting heated in a way that I hadn’t heard from her in… well, not since three years ago when her mom had left her dad for Theo. “I couldn’t believe it. Like, okay, so Theo is obviously an asshole and my mom was awful for screwing over Dad and me like that but I didn’t expect them to be so pathetic? I guess. They were pathetic, really, like wow. I barely even recognized them. I was ashamed to know them.”
Brooke went on about it for a while, actually, all through dessert and paying the check. I wanted to ask about Michael. I’d forgotten when the show aired and I hadn’t been about to look it up and give it more views, but I’d worried about it. About him.
I expected Brooke to leave after lunch was finished, but she insisted on taking me shopping for some baby supplies. “I know that you’re on a budget. Let me help.”
Well, how could I say no when she was so earnest about it?
I agreed, and we got a crap ton of diapers - no pun intended - and a baby crib, and a sling, and baby bottles, and other things.
As we loaded it all into Brooke’s car and then took it to my apartment, Brooke told me more about the restaurant. “Things have been getting so much better there, Stevie, you wouldn’t believe it. People are coming back in, after that slump with the critic’s review it was just that, just a slump! I wish you could come back and see it.”
“Maybe when I have more time off,” I replied. I had no idea how to feel about this.
On one hand, I was glad to see that I had been right. My food was damn good, and the critic had just been some idiot with a stick up his ass. I had been right the whole time and now the restaurant was finally going to be the success that Michael deserved for it to be, even if I couldn’t be around to see it. That didn’t matter, I mean it did, but not as much as knowing that Michael would finally get the successful restaurant that he deserved.
On the other hand it made me weirdly glad that the critic had trashed the place. Because if it wasn’t for that… my disappearance, as far as everyone knew, was because I had quit the restaurant and wanted a change of pace. But if the restaurant had been doing well, then that would’ve led to confusion over my leaving. I never would’ve thought that I would be grateful for that shitty review and yet here I was, glad for it. It gave me the excuse I needed.
Brooke helped me with putting all the supplies away, figuring out where the crib should go, and all the other things that a wonderful best friend like Brooke would do. But the whole time, I had to work to hold in my sadness.
I didn’t want to be doing this with Brooke, no offense to her. I didn’t want to be doing this in my studio apartment, in a city that I didn’t care about, without any of my friends or family around me. I wanted to be doing this in a proper home, one that I shared with the father of my child - with Michael.
God, he would be so fucking good at this. I mean, I had proof. He had done an excellent job of raising Brooke. Brooke was a kind, thoughtful, considerate, and hardworking person. She was the kind of daughter that any person could be proud of raising. I knew that Michael would be an amazing dad to my child as well.
But as much as I wished things were different… there was nothing that I could do. Michael didn’t want another family. He had made it clear that he didn’t even want a relationship with me, I could only imagine how horrified he would be at the prospect of being a father once again, and so suddenly. Wishing didn’t make it so.
Not to mention that Michael had enough on his plate. I wanted to ask how he was feeling about Theo’s TV show, but I didn’t dare. That might lead to me betraying myself with my voice or a look. I couldn’t afford that. Aside from the TV show, he also had the restaurant to run, and his grown-up daughter, and his whole life to get back on track. A life that didn’t include me.