“There we go, there’s a good girl. That’s it, there we go. Just need a little bit of water if you’re gonna keep running around. You want a snack? Huh? Yeah, of course you do, I don’t even know why I asked. You love snacks just about as much as I do.”
I giggled as Rue practically inhaled her water, then I dug around in my purse for a couple of treats. It felt good to be back at the dog park, especially since you-know-who hadn’t even cropped up. I wasn’t even sure what I had expected. Did I really expect Cole to simply be sitting here with Opie, waiting for me to show up in all of my glory?
Nah, he had too much pussy to slay and too many hearts to break for that shit.
“There we go,” I said as I softly scratched behind Rue’s ear, “you’re such a good girl. Yes, you are.”
She nuzzled my belly with her nose and it made me smile. Rue would be so good with Bryson. She had already gotten into the habit of nestling up tightly at my side with her head resting softly on top of my stomach, as if she were protecting both me and the baby. It made my heart skip a beat every time I woke up and found her like that. While Bridget didn’t think I should get Rue in the habit of sleeping with me, I honestly didn’t care.
It comforted me to feel something next to me whenever I woke up first thing in the morning.
However, in all of my cooing and all of my doting, I didn’t hear anyone walking up to me. It didn’t occur to me to take a hard look at who Rue had been running around and playing with. After all, Bridget was still bombarding me with shit we needed for the places we had to choose from. And as we texted back and forth, I didn’t even bother looking up until Rue rushed back off to play.
I didn’t even bother looking up until a shadow loomed over me, blanketing me from the sun.
But when the shadow finally spoke, all I wanted to do was die.
“Hey there, Molly.”
The sound of his voice made my nipples pucker. The strength of his timbre made my knees tremble with weakness. And as I slowly gazed up into his beautifully stoic honey-colored eyes, dread filled my gut.
“Cole?” I asked softly.
His eyes fell to my stomach. “It’s uh… good to see you.”
I blinked. “I wish I could say the same.”
He cleared his throat. “I suppose I deserved that.”
I stood to my feet, my breathing still coming in shallow spurts. “Well, I know you deserved it, so if you don’t mind me, I really need to collect Rue and get—”
“Is it mine?” he blurted out.
My eyebrows slowly rose. “Nice tactic there, Cole.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’s just—I looked up and saw you across the way and you’re just… well you’re so huge, and it caught me off-guard, and I thought—”
I scoffed. “Thanks for the compliment.”
“No, no, no!” he exclaimed as he gripped my arm. “Just—just stay and talk with me?”
Rue growled off in the distance. “I’d release me before Rue comes running. She doesn’t like it when people she doesn’t know touches me.”
He quickly dropped my arm. “Sorry.”
I shrugged off his touch and cracked my neck. “Does it even matter?”
He furrowed his brow. “Does what matter?”
“Whether or not the baby is yours. Does it even matter?”
He blinked. “Of course, it matters. If you’re pregnant with my child, I deserve to know.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “And again, are you sure about that?”
“Why the hell would you think otherwise? You didn’t strike me as the kind of girl to keep that from someone.”
“Says the man who won’t check his voice messages, his texts, or return any of my calls.”
He closed his eyes. “I swear, there is a perfectly good explanation for all of it. Is the pregnancy what you were calling me about?”
“Actually, I think I’d like to know your explanation first.”
“What?”
I motioned toward him. “Your explanation. This massive reason why you can’t use your hand to answer your phone. I’d like to know what it is.”
“Molly, that isn’t—”
“Is it another woman?”
He sputtered. “I—what—you—uh, no? Why in the world would you—”
I tapped my foot against the warm grass. “Did you simply get bored of me?”
He sighed. “No, Molly, I didn’t get bored with you.”
“Was the sex not good enough?”
His eyes held mine. “The sex was fantastic, and you know it.”
“Yeah, I do.”
He licked his lips. “So, it is mine, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “You don’t get the satisfaction of hearing me say anything until you tell me—”
“I can’t tell you, Molly! Okay!?”
He raised his voice at me so loudly that everyone around us stopped to stare. And that was when I made the decision. That was when I decided that I deserved better. Bryson deserved better.
Maybe Cole walking away was the best thing to happen to all of us.
“Come on, Rue! We need to go home!” I exclaimed.
Cole shook his head. “No, no, no. Please, Molly. I’m begging you. Don’t do that.”
I snapped my fingers. “Come here, girl! There’s a good girl. We need to get you home and take a nap. How’s that sound?”
He gripped my upper arms. “Molly, I’ll get on my knees and beg if that’s what it takes.”
I glared at him. “Take your hands. Off me. Now.”
He sighed as he released me. “Molly, I swear there’s—”
I held up my hand. “I’m done with you.”
He scoffed. “Molly, come on. You and I both know—”
I pointed up into his face as my voice hissed at him. “You don’t know shit about me, Cole. Remember that. You were in my life for less than a couple of weeks and then you were out the fucking door and I haven’t seen you for six fucking months. And now you wanna roll up on me with your guard down acting like the wounded puppy dog when you’re the one who shattered my heart on the side of the street and left me for dead. And you want me to accommodate you? How pompous and arrogant can you get, you absolute asshole?”
He clenched his jaw. “I swear, beautiful, if you just sit and listen to me, you’ll underst—”
I slapped Rue’s leash on her. “Just leave me alone, Cole. That’s all I’m asking at this point.”
And without another word spoken, I walked away from him. I walked away from the man I had been missing and pining over for months. I walked away from the father of my child, the man who made me come alive, and the one person I had wanted to see for weeks upon weeks on end.
Because at the end of the day, I deserved better. I deserved someone who would stick around. Who wouldn’t try to blame their bad decisions on excuses, no matter how warranted the excuses were. I deserved a man, not a boy. So, I walked away from the boy that Cole had turned into, hoping that someday he’d approach me like the man I knew he could be.
Then maybe—just maybe—we could be the family I had been dreaming about every night for the past six god damn months.
