Her Last Wish (13 page)

“Ha. You’re hilarious,”
I teased. “Actually, Charlie said she’ll be cooking.”

“Charlie? That girl you
hired as a surrogate? I’ll never understand why you did that, by the way. It’s
so … weird. And you could get in so much trouble.”

“Hey, Elizabeth’s last
wish was to have a baby. I’m simply making that happen. Charlie was just the
one who volunteered, and I trust her.”

“I don’t think that’s
what Elizabeth meant. But whatever. It’s done now. What are your parents going
to think? They’ll be there again this year, right?”

I shifted nervously in
my chair. “Well, that’s the catch. Do you think you could pretend that Charlie
is my girlfriend for the night?”

“Your … girlfriend … Connor,
you are asking for some serious–”

Before she could finish
her sentence, my office door burst open and Charlie stumbled inside. She caught
the wall before she actually fell, but I jumped up just as quickly to catch her,
anyways. Something clearly hadn’t gone well. She gasped for breath with tears
running down her reddened face. I was surprised to find that her pain cut into
me like thousands of razors to my chest. I knew I’d grown to care about her, but
I had never suspected it had grown to that level.

“Jesus,” Savannah
gasped.

I hurried over to Charlie
and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. I expected her to push me away, but
she grabbed me tighter than I’d ever been held before. I gently cupped the back
of her head with my hand, trying to ignore how natural she felt there. “What
happened? Are you okay?”

“Jackson!” she
sputtered. “And he … But … I just … Take me home!”

“Okay. Yeah, we can go
now.” I let her go long enough to grab the papers I needed to grade and shove
them in a bag. Once I had everything together, I turned to Savannah. “I guess
I’ll see you Thursday.”

“Right,” Savannah
replied. “I’ll call you later.”

I then hurried with
Charlie out to the car. When we got there, she dropped into the seat and buried
her face in her hands. I was sure she’d have buried it in her knees if it
weren’t for the bulge that blocked her. I’d never seen her look so small and
defeated. While I was grateful that the asshole had obviously done something
incredibly stupid that clearly put distance between them, protector mode had
kicked in. I could have killed him for causing her that sort of pain. I only
hoped the dust had time to settle before I ran into him again. If not, I wasn’t
sure what I would do to him.

I wanted to know
everything so that I would know how to help her, but I couldn’t bring myself to
ask. Instead of pressing her for more details, I started the car without saying
a word and drove off.

Chapter Eighteen

Charlie

Like the amazing friend
he was, Connor stayed by my side until I could function like a normal person
without breaking down. It didn’t take too long, but it took more time than what
I was proud of. In fact, I wasn’t all that proud of any of it. I should have
just nodded and walked away from the dorm. At least that way I’d have had a
whole pie almost to myself. But no. It had been splattered in the dorm hallway.
The only ones who would get to enjoy it were the roaches. And perhaps that
wench that Jackson had in his room would get to lick the rest off his chest. Maybe
her friend would help. I really didn’t want to think about it. What I’d seen
was bad enough. My imagination didn’t need to make it more colorful for me. In
fact, I was a little afraid to see what my brain would come up with in
explanation for his naked roommate’s presence.

Once we’d gotten back
to my apartment, my phone rang so much that Connor eventually disconnected the
cradle from the wall. Every time, it was Jackson. I never told Connor what I
saw, but he clearly knew it was bad enough. I didn’t even mind that he took it
upon himself to relieve me of a working phone. I wasn’t about to answer it,
anyways. And the constant ringing was starting to give me a migraine.

Connor sat patiently
with me on the couch. He held my hands comfortingly in his. I loved that I
didn’t really need to say anything. He didn’t push me. He didn’t even ask
questions. He just … waited. I knew he was there if I needed him, but he didn’t
try to drag me into normalcy. It helped me find an awkward peace in the
situation.

Unfortunately, that
peace didn’t last too long. Within an hour after Connor unplugged the phone,
Jackson came banging at my door.

“Charlie!” he yelled
from the hallway. “Come out here! We need to talk!”

Connor flinched at the
noise level as Jackson started pounding on the door again. Although he tried to
hide it, I could see his anger lurking just beneath the surface. “Do you want
me to answer it?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No
point. He’ll demand that I talk. I just don’t have anything to say, nor do I
care to listen. I’m sure he’d be even more pissed that you’re here. Not that I
care what he thinks of you right now, anyways. But I don’t want to hear it, and
I don’t want you to get in trouble with the school.”

“Charlie!” Jackson
screamed louder. “I know you’re in there! I saw your car out front!” He started
pounding again. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me!”

“So, can we go to your
house, then?” I asked.

Connor shrugged. “Of
course. You can stay there as long as you want. But how will we get past him?
This is your only outside door.”

I opened the window in
the living room and pointed to the fire escape ladder right outside.

He peeked outside and
noticed how far from the window it was. “Can you make it down without falling?”

“Pretty sure.” Without
waiting for a response from him, I dug out my backpack and filled it with as
many clothes as would fit in it with a couple pairs of comfortable shoes and
plenty of socks. I stuffed the extra pockets full of my toiletries and makeup.
I hoped I wouldn’t be staying long, but I knew how persistent Jackson could be.
He’d definitely be there for the night. I only needed the constant phone calls
and the incessant banging on my door to remind me.

When I was satisfied
that I had everything I needed, I walked back over to the window, where Connor
quickly relieved me of my bag. “There’s no way you’re carrying that down a
ladder in freezing weather with that belly,” he insisted.

Both knowing there was
no point in arguing and not caring enough to even try, I simply opened the
window and climbed down first. It was a little more difficult than I’d
expected, but I was so ready to get out of there that I barely noticed the
extra hassle. Connor then climbed out after me and shut my window tightly. When
he met me at ground level, we ran to his car before Jackson would even have the
chance to make it down. I couldn’t even bring myself to look back at my own
house.

***

Connor

Would it be wrong for
me to admit that I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when I saw her load her
stuff into her bag to bring to my house? Because I did. I certainly wasn’t
happy about the amount of pain she suffered. I could have killed the bastard
for that, and I didn’t even know what he did to hurt her. I couldn’t even
figure out why he would
want
to. She was one of the best things that
ever happened to me, and I didn’t even remotely have her in my life like he
did. She was only passing through mine, even though I hated to admit that fact.
Was I jealous of him? Abso-goddamn-lutely. And I’d have never hurt her like he
did, which only made my fury toward him burn hotter. She was all that was good
in my life that I didn’t even deserve, and he couldn’t even see her worth. There
was no way he could have if he messed it up so bad. How stupid did he have to
be to not recognize what he had right in front of him?

I was somewhat pacified
by the fact that she chose to sneak out of her own house with me in order to
avoid him. And to me, the fact that she wanted to go to my house instead of any
other place in existence meant she at least trusted me. Perhaps she even cared
for me a little. She told me that I was a friend, but I would take it if it
meant she wouldn’t push me away. She’d already had ample opportunity. If I had
been in her place, I’d have just left my drunken ass at the bar and been done
with it.

Despite countless
efforts, I couldn’t get her to eat any sort of lunch, but I did manage to get
her to eat a few bites of dinner. I supposed that was something. At least she
was no longer hysterical, and she didn’t tear up at random times, anymore. She
even called her neighbor to see if that idiot was still outside her house. I
didn’t need to hear the conversation to know that he was. I could tell by her
face.

In order to cheer her
up, I went to my freezer and broke out my ice cream stash. Then, I raided my
DVD case for comedies. I finally managed to get her to smile, one terrible
movie and one pint at a time.

Before I knew it, she
fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. I carefully pried the empty ice cream
carton out of her hand and placed it on the coffee table. I smiled to myself as
I reached behind my head and retrieved a blanket from the back of the couch.
Doing my best to not wake her, I draped it over us and made myself comfortable
against the arm rest, allowing her to use me as a pillow.

I smiled as I felt my
son gently kick at my side. I couldn’t think of a single thing I would change
about my sleeping arrangements that night. I had everything I wanted right
there with me. For the first night in years, I slept without sadness.

Chapter Nineteen

Charlie

I felt … warm. I felt
safe. I didn’t want to open my eyes for fear of that feeling instantly
vanishing. I couldn’t quite remember what I was hiding from, but I had a
feeling it was pretty bad. I didn’t want to remember. I wanted to enjoy the
peace.

I snuggled into my
pillow and breathed in the calmness. My pillow smelled abnormally good. In
fact, I couldn’t remember it
ever
smelling so good. Then, I realized my
pillow breathed. It also had a heartbeat.

Very slowly, I opened
my eyes and searched my surroundings. It took me a few seconds to realize I was
back in Connor’s house. I looked down at what I’d thought was my pillow to find
a sleeping Connor wrapped in a blanket with me.

Jesus,
I thought.
Jackson
is going to be so mad.
And then I remembered. I remembered it all. I hadn’t
done anything shameful. Jackson had. Connor had only been there to comfort me.
He hadn’t laid a hand on me. But Jackson had apparently had
his
hands
all over at
least
one of those girls in his room, maybe even both. I
really didn’t want to put too much thought into the group nudity that I’d
witnessed just by kicking that door. What I’d seen was bad enough.

I fought back the tears
that threatened to rise, and I squeezed Connor a little tighter. It probably
wasn’t the best idea to find comfort in the arms of another guy, but that was
where I felt protected at the moment. Connor was my friend, probably the best
friend that I had. He wouldn’t hurt me.

Somehow, it also made
me think about the next semester. I didn’t think I could sign up for one of
Connor’s classes, even though I loved his passion for them. Even when he didn’t
seem to like the students much, it was still obvious that he loved his subject.
Our relationship had just grown too complicated for me to be comfortable in his
class. He was too familiar, and it opened our situation to the possibility of
him changing how he graded me or me changing how seriously I took the class,
neither of which were good things. It was definitely something I had to
consider, and I was surprised I’d never expected the possibility of it
happening when I agreed to help him with this surrogacy. But it was something I
just couldn’t allow to go unchecked. After all, I was only a semester away from
graduation. I couldn’t afford to mess it up. I’d worked too hard.

But what a lonely
semester it would be. Jackson had become a part of my routine. I saw him every
Saturday, other days if something special was going on. But he was gone. Sure,
he seemingly wanted to explain whatever and work things out. But I didn’t want
to hear it. I just couldn’t trust him again. My faith in him (and in our
relationship as a whole) was gone. It would never come back. I had to just
accept it. Somehow.

As if he could read my
thoughts, Connor tightened his arms around my shoulders. I could tell he had
finally woken when he ran his fingers through my hair.

“Good morning,” he said
in a sleepy, scratchy voice.

“Is it?” I asked sadly.
I didn’t want to look up at him. I didn’t want him to see the tears forming in
my eyes, though I was sure he could feel them drip onto his shirt.

“Perhaps today should
be about distraction. I still have all that decorating to do. Would you like to
help?”

I felt another stab in
my heart. “I don’t see why you’d want me to help. I’ll have to hand the baby
over and walk away.”