Thursdays (The Wait Book 1) by Harper Bentley

Author:Harper Bentley [Bentley, Harper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HB
Published: 2016-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16—Beck

I’d stopped by the hospital to check on Sonya. Gina was back in town but had been gone by the time I’d gotten there. But Sonya had been asleep and all seemed well, so I headed back to the apartment.

After grabbing a beer from the fridge, I sat at the bar, scrolling through my phone wondering if I should text Birdie and apologize again. As I stared at her name, my phone suddenly dinged with an incoming text from her.

Text Message—Thurs, Oct 20, 10:34 p.m.

Birdie: Beck?

I smiled as I typed back.

Text Message—Thurs, Oct 20, 10:34 p.m.

Me: Yes, ma’am. Look, I’m really sorry about tonight…

I was taking a drink when another message came in.

Birdie: Are you busy? Could I call?

I frowned as I texted back a “Yes” and when my phone rang not thirty seconds later, I wondered if she was going to yell at me.

“Hey. What’s up?” I answered cautiously.

“She’s pregnant. The woman Mason’s been seeing.” I heard her sniff and knew she’d been crying.

“Aw, honey, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” It was a dumb question, but what else could be said.

I heard her chuckle through her sniffles. “Surprisingly, I think I am. I asked him to move out.”

I nodded. “Good. That’s probably good.”

“Yeah,” she answered quietly. We sat there in silence for a moment, as I listened to her snuffling a little. “How do things get so screwed up?” she finally asked.

I let out a breath. “I don’t know, Birdie. If I had the answers, I wouldn’t be in the mess I’m in.”

“I just don’t understand. I feel like I’m not even me. Like I’m watching this all play out as another person, you know? Like an out-of-body experience.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. It’s fuckin’ weird. Maybe it’s our mind’s way of keeping us from hurting more or something. Maybe if we were too ‘here’ the pain would be too much. Fuck. I don’t know.”

“That makes sense. Yeah. Because I swear, my heart is about as smushed as it’s gonna get, and if that wasn’t the case before, well, it is now.”

“I’m really sorry about everything you’re going through.”

“Thanks. And I’m sorry for you too,” she stated.

“Thanks.” I paused for a moment before asking, “So, Bernadette Chapman, other than the fact that your life is falling apart, what else is new?”

She let out a deep belly laugh and it was a beautiful sound. I pictured her throwing her head back as she did and it made me smile.

“That’s funny,” she said, still giggling.

Looking back, and although I didn’t mean for it to happen, I think that was probably the moment I fell just a little for her. There she was, her husband dying of a brain tumor—who’d just told her he was having a baby with another woman—and I’d made her laugh. Not a lot of people could withstand the woes she was dealing with and still find something funny.

“Yeah, well, you’ve gotta laugh, right? The alternative is being curled up in a ball in a corner, huh?” I claimed.

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