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M ost of the audience pushed forward to the stage to see their little ones. It was hard to get past them. I fought my way through the crowd in the direction of the parking lot, knowing that Corina would go to Ivy straight away and hold onto her until I came back inside. I managed to get through the crowd, pushing my way out of the school. I rushed out into the parking lot, looking around frantically before I spotted Lauren and dashed after her.
“Lauren,” I called, jogging to catch up with her. She kept walking, not looking at me even as I started to walk beside her. I took her arm gently, stopping her from walking.
“Please, Lauren,” I said to her. “Please just talk to me.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she said stiffly, trying to keep her voice cold. I could see the emotion in her eyes, though, threatening to break to the surface. “I just want to go home.”
“I just want to have a conversation with you,” I said to her, desperate. “I know you’re upset—”
“I’m not upset. I’m perfectly rational. I don’t want anything to do with you,” she said, and stepping past me, started off in the direction of her car. I blocked her off and she stood there, staring up at me with an angry look of desire on her face.
“I don’t believe you,” I said to her. “Lauren, I can see in your eyes how you feel about me.”
“I don’t—” she cut herself off, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared up at my face. “I don’t have feelings for you, Jack. It was just a fling. It was just a short, brief, meaningless thing.”
The words stung when she said them. Our time together had been one of the best times of my life, better than any day that I’d had with my ex-wife. Everything had been peaceful, and felt so natural when we were together. I gaped at her, drinking in her appearance for the first time. She looked tired, dark circles around her eyes. She had gained a little weight that looked good on her and was wearing baggy clothing, something she had never done before.
“Are you okay?” I asked her. There was something wrong, I could tell. She looked almost sick, pale and worn out. “Are you healthy?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s none of your business,” she said, and started to turn away again.
“Please just come inside and say hello to Ivy,” I said. I said it out of desperation to keep her around for just a few more minutes, even if she was upset with me, insisting that we meant nothing. I could see love in her eyes as bright as I knew it showed in my own. I knew there had to be some way to break through her wall but I didn’t know how, I only knew that I was absolutely desperate to try.
She stared at me, then sighed.
“I promise I won’t bother you again after you’ve see her,” I said. “Please. She’d be heartbroken if you didn’t say hello.”
“Okay,” she said. “But just for a minute.”
“Okay,” I agreed, though it broke me to do so. She started toward the gym and as I turned to follow her, I glanced in her car. I did a double-take when I saw the pamphlets in the passenger seat, all about pregnancy and newborns. The news hit me like a brick and my mouth dropped open in shock. It was something I knew I should have put together from her appearance but I didn’t even think of it. Suddenly, I remembered the last time we’d had sex. We hadn’t used a condom but I hadn’t thought anything of it, only the desperate desire to come inside her and claim her as mine.
“Lauren,” I called after her. She turned around to look at me and I caught up with her. “Are you pregnant?”
She gave me a dry look. “You said you wouldn’t bother me after I said hello to Ivy.”
“But—”
She cut me off by walking away into the gym. I stared after her for a moment, unsure of what to do or say, then followed her in with determination. I was going to get her back, build our family together no matter what.
