Chapter 28
Chandler
“So, little bro…what’s next after school?” I asked before taking a sip of beer from my frosted glass. The bustle of servers and chatter in the small restaurant hummed around me, as I sat at the round table with Nathan, my mother, and Greg.
Nathan chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, like he wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m hoping this summer internship turns into something.”
“I’m sure it will,” I said reassuringly. “You’re the hardest worker I know.”
“Yes, he is,” said Greg, butting in. “Top of his class. Nabbed an internship at a high-profile law firm. The future is bright.”
I took another sip of beer, biting my tongue.
Greg just had to jump in and offer sappy praise.
My mother remained quiet, like she was stewing in her own thoughts.
She’d been like that all night, mindlessly playing with the stem of her wine glass.
I wondered where her head was, secretly hoping maybe she and Greg were on the outs.
I knew it was wrong, but it was all I could think about when I looked over at her.
Our food was served moments later, our table soon overflowing with large bowls of handmade pasta served with marinara, alfredo, and pesto, along with chicken and eggplant parmesan, and a large bowl of the house salad.
We were at one of our usual spots in Brooklyn, a small, family-owned Italian restaurant that we had been coming to since I was a teenager and Nathan was a baby.
It wasn’t a Michelin-star and didn’t have a dress code, but it hit the spot.
I almost didn’t come with everything going on with Gabriella, but now that the smell of garlic and freshly grated parmesan wafted up toward me, I was happy I did.
It was also good to get out of my apartment and have somewhere to be besides work where I had been putting distance between me and Gabriella.
Okay, I had been blatantly ignoring her, but I didn’t know what else to do after the bomb she had dropped on me just two days ago.
I reached for the bowl of chicken parmesan and served up a cutlet on my plate, followed by a heaping portion of the pesto tortellini, my favorite. I noticed my mom’s plate was still empty and she hadn’t made a move to change that.
“Mom?” I raised a brow.
She shook her head slightly and looked at me as if she just realized she was at dinner with her family.
“Sorry, honey,” she said sheepishly.
I shot Greg a look. As much as I wanted them to be on the outs, if he had done something to hurt her, I would pummel his ass. He just shook his head slightly as he passed Nathan the bowl of fettuccine alfredo.
“You okay?” I asked, cutting into my chicken parmesan and popping a bite of the breaded, savory meat in my mouth.
I’d hate to admit it to Greg, but this blew any Michelin-star place out of the water.
“Mhmm.” She put on a smile and straightened in her seat slightly. “Will you pass the eggplant, honey?”
Greg reached to the center of the table and served her a large portion of her favorite dish, before looking to me.
“What’s new with you?” he asked.
I titled my head slightly, wondering why he was asking. He hardly ever asked about me.
“Since I saw you two days ago?” I asked, raising a brow.
“Yeah, well, we hardly saw you at the golf thing.”
“Charity event,” I corrected him, hating that he was downplaying such a big event for what was now my company.
“Right.” He waved me off and popped a cherry tomato in his mouth, slowly chewing and waiting for some sort of answer from me. I didn’t give him one, though. My mother looked between us awkwardly.
What the hell is going on?
“I think I’m going to get a drink,” I said, looking around for our server, but she was nowhere in sight. I stood from the table to head to the bar. “Does anyone need anything?”
Everyone shook their heads, mouths full.
I left the table and found an empty spot at the bar, feeling relieved to get away from whatever awkwardness was going on at the table.
I ordered another beer and drummed my fingers on the glossy wood bar top as I waited.
Someone came and sat down beside me, and I knew it was Greg without having to look up.
“I could have gotten you something,” I said without looking at him, drowning the last of my beer as I waited for another.
“I’m good. Thanks.”
The bartender slid over my beer, and I handed him a twenty. “Keep the change.”
“I wanted to talk to you,” said Greg as I stood up to return to the table. I let out a breath and sat back down, bracing myself for whatever annoying thing he had a problem with now.
“About?” I asked, leaning my back against the bar top.
“What’s going on with you and that woman, Gabriella?”
I almost choked on my beer. As if it was any of his business what was going on with her, and also, why the hell was he asking?
We were nothing but professional at the event, keeping our distance most of the time, until she told me she was pregnant, and no one had been around for that.
After I had left her in that room, I had wanted to get the hell out of there.
I only stayed because I knew I was the new face of the company, but my head was somewhere else entirely.
I assumed she had left because I hadn’t seen her again the rest of the event.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged.
“I know something is going on between you two,” he said adamantly.
“You’re wrong.” I stood from my seat and made to leave back to the table, not wanting to talk about my private life with Greg. He was the last person I wanted to talk to about anything.
“What are you going to do about the baby?” he called after me.
I stopped in my tracks, my heart jumping to my throat and pounding violently there. I whipped around.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, my hands shaking.
“We know she’s pregnant…” he said warily.
“We?” I asked, raising a brow, not quite sure I was hearing him right.
“Your mother and me.”
It felt like the room had started spinning and I was at the very center of it, trying to find something to grab onto.
I didn’t understand how they knew, but then I remembered Gabriella saying something about them after she told me she was pregnant.
I just couldn’t hear her through the waves of my life crashing down around me.
“She told you?” I asked incredulously, taking a step toward him.
“Your mother guessed,” he said with a nervous shrug. “I want you to know we are here for you. Both of you. Your mother and I. Whatever you decide to do.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had no intention of telling anyone about Gabriella being pregnant, but it didn’t matter because that opportunity had been ripped away from me and now my business was out there.
I hated that Greg knew such an intimate part of my life and that he was all of a sudden stepping in to be some sort of “father figure.” It was laughable.
“It’s none of your business what I decide.” I sneered. “The fact that you’re even bringing this up is fucking ridiculous. You’re not my father.”
I looked across the restaurant to where my mother sat, and now I understood what had been weighing heavily on her mind. I just wished she had been the one to talk to me, and not send Greg. It pissed me off.
Greg put his hands up in defense. “I know that, Chandler…I just want to help.”
“I don’t need your help,” I snapped. “I don’t want your help.”
“I can see you’re scared,” he said, taking a careful step toward me. I wanted to hurl my beer at his face. I hated that he could see through me when I had spent so long convincing myself that this man didn’t know the first thing about me.
“But you can’t run from this,” he said firmly. “It would be shameful if you did.”
“What the hell does it matter to you?” I asked.
Greg let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his thinning hair as he looked over at the table where my mother and Nathan sat awkwardly eyeing us. Did Nathan know too? Did this family just like to keep secrets all the damn time?
“Being a father is all about the choices you make,” said Greg softly. I rolled my eyes over the fact he was attempting a heart-to-heart conversation. “I don’t want to see you make the same choices your father did.”
“You didn’t know my father,” I muttered.
“No, but I do know your mother and how much his actions affected her. I know how they affected you. You forget I’ve known you a long time, Chandler.”
“I wish I could forget.”
“Your father was selfish and he made choices that hurt a lot of people, including those who should have mattered most,” he continued, unrelenting. “I don’t want you to make the same choices.”
“I’m nothing like him,” I snapped, taking a step toward him. I should have laid him out right there.
“You will be if you abandon your baby and Gabriella.”
“How dare you,” I said through clenched teeth, taking another step toward him. He winced slightly, but stood his ground.
I felt a hand on my chest as Nathan stepped between us and pushed me back.
“Hey, hey, hey…” he said softly. “Not the time or place for this.”
“Do you know too?” I asked, pushing his hand from my chest, ready to lash out at anyone in that moment.
He took a deep breath before looking at me warily. “Mom just told me.”
“Fucking great,” I muttered, gripping my beer tightly before turning and walking back to the table where my mother sat nervously.
I sat down without a word, taking a sip of beer and avoiding her eyes.
“Chandler…” she said, worry coating her voice.
I put my hand up and shook my head.
“Please,” she said pleadingly, reaching for me across the table. I jerked my hand away and looked up suddenly, glaring at her. She bristled slightly.
“Why the hell did you butt in?” I asked.
“I just had a feeling…”
“A feeling?” I nearly spat.
“Yes, and I had to know. Because you didn’t seem to know.”
“So, you just straight-up asked Gabriella?” I asked, wide-eyed.
“I had to. I did it because I care about you. I didn’t mean to scare her off. She seems like a lovely person, just a little lost.”
“You had no right.” I shook my head.
Greg and Nathan took their seats at the table, not saying a word.
The rest of the dinner was tense, with everyone avoiding eye contact and pushing their food around, taking bites here and there.
I should have left, only staying because I knew how worried my mother was, even though I was livid with her.
I knew what a big deal this was, and how concerned she was.
But I hated every second of the rest of that awkward dinner.
Everyone seemed to know more about my life than I did, which was something I wasn’t used to.
I usually had control over my life, or at least the narrative, but now it felt like I was losing control of everything.
This unborn baby was ruining my life already, and it wasn’t even here yet.