Chapter 25
Erin
“Focus, Erin!” The longer I stared at the email on my screen, the more the words blurred together. I stopped swirling my pen against the surface of my desk and set it down, rubbing the side of my temples.
Monday morning had come sooner than I wanted it and having to work instead of spending all day wrapped up in Jacob wasn’t ideal. Images of his hands on my hips flashed across my mind, followed by the phantom taste of his kiss. I ran my finger across my lips and sighed.
When my phone rang and the vibration sent it dancing across my desk, I jumped, realizing I had zoned out again. It was how I had spent most of my morning. I made a mental note to get a second cup of coffee and picked up my phone.
Elizabeth.
“I’m not doing this today.” I hit the red button to send the call to voicemail and set the phone back on my desk.
I grabbed my mug when the phone started to ring again. For a moment I considered answering it, thinking it might be an emergency. What could she possibly have to say? My finger hovered over the green button before I hit the red one again, stood up, and walked away. I needed coffee.
I settled back in my chair, holding the mug of scorching hot and equally bitter coffee between my hands. I inhaled the steam, wishing it would wake me up enough to make me focus on work instead of thinking about being in bed with my still-couldn’t-quite-believe-it-was-real new boyfriend. Butterflies woke up in my stomach at the thought.
When my door flew open, I almost dropped the mug. Amy burst through the door with my sister hot on her heels, a look of excitement mixed with anger apparent on her face. “Erin, I’m so sorry,” Amy said.
I groaned, looking at the missed call notice on my screen. I should’ve answered the phone.
“It’s fine. Thank you. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Embarrassment and guilt filled me, and I turned to glare at my sister. I waited for the door to close, my blood boiling when Liz smiled at me proudly. “I told you to stop coming to my office,” I snapped when the door latched.
Liz giggled, and I clenched my hand in a fist at my side to stop myself from slapping her. “Well, if you’d answer your phone when I call you, I wouldn’t have to!”
“You called me ten minutes ago. I’m busy.” I waved vaguely at my office.
Liz looked over my shoulder at my office and tilted her head. “I was in the parking lot.” She shrugged and the look she had a moment earlier that told me she didn’t believe me disappeared. “What are you busy with?”
“Work. What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms.
“I have good news!” She jumped and clapped, and my stomach sank. Liz waited, letting the tension in the room grow thicker until it was almost harder to breathe. “I’m pregnant!”
My heart crashed into my rib cage and my lungs deflated. “You’re what?”
“Pregnant! I’m going to have a baby!” Liz put her hands on her still flat belly, grinning at me. “You’re going to be Auntie Erin!”
Nausea swirled in my stomach and bile burned my throat. I was going to throw up. “Whose is it?” I didn’t care that she was pregnant. I just wanted to know who the father was.
“Jacob’s. We’re getting back together!” My sister threw her hands in the air like she was expecting a hug or a high five, probably both.
I dropped into my chair, and the leather squeaked. It couldn’t be true. It had been six weeks since she called me asking for my help moving. “How far along are you?” My voice was barely more than a whisper, and when Liz crossed the room, dropping the grainy black-and-white picture on the desk in front of me, my vision blurred in the corners.
“Just over six weeks.” She hummed, taking the picture back, and I swallowed the urge to scream. “Isn’t it great?”
My throat tightened. The room started to spin. I couldn’t breathe.
“How do you know it’s not the other guy’s?” I asked. My chest hurt, and it felt like my lungs were full of sand. I was dizzy, and I planted my elbows on the surface of my desk, resting my head in my hands.
Liz shrugged. “I just know it. The other guy isn’t like Jacob. Jacob will be a good daddy. Tony was just fun on the side.” When she put her hand on my shoulder, she looked serious. “I’m ready to settle down now.”
I choked on a breath, unable to draw another in. “I can’t do this.” It hurt to talk. My mouth was dry, and I took a drink of coffee to wet it. The coffee burned my tongue, but I took another gulp.
“Oh, come on. You’re not happy for me?” My sister put her arm around my shoulder in an attempt to get me to hug her, and my skin crawled. The hairs on my neck stood on end.
I shook my head. “You need to go.”
“You’re my sister!” She squeezed me like it could change my mind.
“I mean it, Liz,” I warned. I closed my eyes, and all I saw was a red film.
Liz laughed. “Why are you being like this? Are you really that selfish? All because I’m settling down before you did?”
Did she think that was what it was? My mouth dropped open. “You need to go,” I said more slowly. I tried to keep my voice steady and calm, but it shook. The anger and shock I felt clawed at my throat, and I took a deep breath that failed to calm my racing heart rate.
“You need to be happy for me.” She planted one hand on her hip and the other on her belly.
I stood up, knocking the chair I sat in back with a loud thud. “Get out, Liz!” I screamed. She stared at me, glued in place.
When my door opened, I closed my eyes. “What is going on in here?” Demetri asked, stepping into the office and shutting it behind him. “The entire office hears you yelling.”
My chest heaved, and I bit down on my lips. Demetri looked at me, expecting an answer and growing impatient when he saw my chair laying behind me. “I was just leaving,” Liz said, pocketing the sonogram picture and slipping towards the door. “I’ll call you later, Auntie Erin.”
The door slammed behind her, and everything went silent. Demetri furrowed his brow, crossing his arms, but he blurred. “What was that about?” he asked, but his voice sounded muffled and low like it was being said in slow motion from the other room.
I looked at him before it got hot and my throat swelled. I shook my head and blinked, trying to clear my thoughts and vision. “I—”
“Erin?” Demetri asked when I didn’t continue.
He stepped towards me and the office around him got fuzzy. My head felt like it was vibrating, and the ground tilted beneath me. My legs gave out, and the impact of the tile ground forced the little breath I had left out of my lungs. Before everything went black, I heard Demetri again.
“Erin!”