12. Life Is Too Short
Chapter 12
Life Is Too Short
MEGAN
I would laugh if it wasn’t so pitiful.
Every day, there’s a different tragedy. Today, I dropped my fork on the floor, and because of the Frankenstein-sized baby growing inside of me, I couldn’t reach it.
“I’m eating a salmon salad, for God’s sake!” I yell at the universe. “I’m hungry, dammit.”
And now come the tears.
My hormones are raging like a California wildfire, and I’m sure that no one is more sick of me than I am of myself. I’m two seconds away from eating this salad with my fingers when there’s a sudden knock at the door.
“Who is it?” I shout.
“It’s Lena.”
“Why are you knocking on the door? You live here,” I grouse.
“I’m so sorry, Megan, but I think I may have left my key in my bedroom.”
“Well, you’re going to have to wait. It takes me damn near an hour to get on my feet these days.”
“I’m not in a rush,” she chuckles. “I’ll just sit here. I wish all the apartments had an elevator open up into the living room like the penthouse has. Then all we’d have to remember is a code.”
I lean my palms heavily on the breakfast table and push myself to a stand. The moment I get on my feet, the pressure of the baby on my bladder makes me desperately want to pee, but it’s a shorter distance to head to the front door first.
“Almost there.”
“Ooh, I think the baby’s grown since I saw you this morning,” Lena says with a smile as I let her inside our apartment. She rubs my stomach, something that’s become somewhat of a daily ritual now that I’ve moved back in here.
“Were you crying?" She asks, concern etched on her forehead.
“Yep.”
“Aww, what’s wrong? Are you missing my brother by chance?”
“Uh, not at all. I dropped my fork, and I couldn’t bend over to pick it up,” I say as I walk towards the bathroom.
Lena picks up the fork and washes it in the sink for me. “Problem solved.”
After using the bathroom I return to find that Lena has brought home some Caribbean food and has reset the table.
“Is that curry?” I ask, my eyes widening.
“I made some for lunch.”
“You’re making curry chicken at the club?”
“I’m working on a recipe for a small puff pastry filled with curry, sort of like a turnover but lighter.”
“What would we charge for them?”
“We could serve two maybe and charge twenty bucks.”
“Twenty-five,” I say, savoring my first bite of the scrumptious chicken. “Anything with puff pastry is going to be good. They can pay twenty-five.”
“I’ll recommend your pricing to the acting manager.”
“Who is?”
“That would be Gage.”
I nod my head in approval. “He’s a good choice. He understands the clientele, he’s good with the staff, and your brother trusts him. Honestly, he’s a way better choice for manager of the club than me.”
“That’s not true.”
“I’ve lost all credibility with the staff, and you know it. I’m pregnant with the boss’s child. I’m exactly who they think I am.”
“If I were to think like that, then the only reason why I’m leading the kitchen is because I’m his sister.”
“Well, there is some truth to that.”
“Thanks a lot! How quickly you forget that Billy recruited me on his own back when I was Lacy and not Lena.”
“Mm, that’s right. Forgive me. It’s this baby brain I have.”
“Speaking of that,” Lena gets up and grabs us both some cool bottles of water from the fridge.
“Speaking of what, baby brain?”
“Speaking of the baby you’re having.”
“I don’t want to talk about Hunter, Lena. I thought I explained that the topic is off limits.”
“I don’t want to necessarily discuss your relationship. I just want some advice in dealing with him.”
“Advice about what?”
I take a long swallow of the water, regretting it almost instantly because I know it’s only going to send me back to the bathroom in about thirty minutes.
“I think I may have a little crush on someone he knows.”
“Christian,” I scoff. “Do you really think nobody knows?”
“Has Hunter said anything to you about it?” she asks with a deep-seated look of worry in her eyes.
“There’s been a lot going on, Lena. The last thing that Hunter and I have discussed is your love life.”
Ugh, that came out meaner than I intended.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.” She stands and clears her dishes, clearly hurt. I feel bad that I’ve made her feel as if she needs to leave.
“I’m sorry. I’m in such a shitty mood lately. I apologize. Nobody tells you at the obstetrician’s office how pregnancy can and will affect your mood. Please sit back down. Tell me more about Christian.”
“It’s silly really. I'm talking about one of my brother’s friends as if anything could ever happen between us.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He thinks of me as a little sister, and then there’s the whole Hunter factor. Even if I thought Christian liked me a little, Hunter would never allow it to happen.”
“You and I are practically the same age, and so are Hunter and Christian. What’s the difference?”
“You know there’s a difference. I’m his best friend’s little sister. I wouldn’t be worth the risk.”
“Then what are we talking about the possibility for? If that’s how you feel about yourself, then why bring it up?”
“Megan, you're being so mean! I bring you home a delicious dinner and ask for your advice and this is what you say to me?”
“Listen, girl, I’m pregnant. I broke off my engagement. And I was kidnapped by my best friend’s father. I have zero fucks to give about anything but this baby growing inside me. If you are attracted to Christian, tell him. If he reciprocates those feelings, explore them. If Hunter has some shit to say about it, fuck him. Life is too short not to live it how you want.”
“And you want to live your life raising this baby on your own without Hunter?”
“Hell no! This is not what I wanted at all, Lena. I love your dumb ass brother, but I will not be controlled by his inability to trust anyone or anything but himself.”
“He’s had a hard life, Megan.”
“Who hasn’t!”
“He said and perhaps did some things in a moment of fear, and fear is not an emotion he is used to navigating. He doesn’t have many emotional attachments, but you are one of them, maybe the only one, and it frightens him.”
“Well–”
“If you don’t forgive him, I’m afraid of what he’ll do next. This whole thing with Naomi’s father is far from over. You know that. And I’m afraid of the decisions he’ll make if you are not around. You know what he’s capable of. Look at poor Parker.”
With everything going on between Hunter and me, not to mention this uncomfortable period of my pregnancy, I haven’t thought about Parker in days.
“What’s wrong with Parker?”
Lena’s face turns a shade of pale grey.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
Her reaction reminds me of the argument between Hunter and me. It only escalated when I brought up Parker’s name. Maybe his guilt over something is why he started acting irrationally.
“Is he dead, Lena?” I ask the painful question, the one I should have had strength enough to ask Hunter myself.
“Dead? Oh no.”
“Then what’s wrong with him? Where is he?”
“I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m not supposed to know.”
“Know what!” Lena takes a moment to consider what she's going to do as I stare her directly in the eyes. "And don't lie to me."
“Hunter has been holding him in the basement of the club since you returned.”
“Like a hostage?” I whisper.
Lena’s eyes drop to the ground.
“Please don’t say anything. I’ll get in so much trouble. If he finds out I know, he’ll want to know how I know.”
“Christian?”
“He confides in me sometimes. Please, Megan, you can’t say anything,” Lena pleads with watery eyes.
“So I’m just supposed to let Parker die in a dungeon somewhere while people drink and dance above his head every night?”
“He’s not dying.”
“If Parker dies in that basement, I promise that Hunter will never see me or this baby ever again!”
“Calm down. I will get you proof that he’s fine. Trust me,” she pleads.
I’ve never seen Lena try this hard to be so convincing about something. She’s worried sick that I’m going to blow up her spot. This thing with Christian is more serious for her than I thought. It’s clear to me now that what he thinks matters to her.
And that's the beginning of the end.
Been there, done that.
But I take some pity on her.
“You’ve got 24 hours to get me proof, or I’m waddling in that club myself .”