Melanie

It had been a couple of weeks since the funeral and we had yet to tell Scott about us. Carl was adamant that we had to wait for the right time, but I was starting to think that it didn’t exist. Every time I thought it was a good time, it wasn’t and I had to make sure that everything was kept under wraps. I didn’t like to lie to him, but I didn’t want to Carl to get upset because I had said something too soon.

Scott was home when I got to mom’s house. I was helping her go through dad’s things before she took off on a trip. She wanted me to go with her to Mexico for a couple of weeks and I knew the feeling of wanting to run personally, but I didn’t want to leave Carl at the moment. We had something good going on and I wasn’t ready to spend time away from him. He stayed with me most nights at Lily’s but something was going to have to change because she was coming back soon. It was time to get it all out in the open.

I wanted today to be the day, but I wasn’t sure. If Scott was here, then there was a good possibility that Carl was here and maybe now it would be time to see what was what. Maybe now it was finally time to get it all out in the open.

Carl was in the kitchen when I came in and I smiled at him before I straightened my face when Scott turned to say hi. He was still not too trusting of the two of us together, like he knew something was up but he didn’t have proof. I wanted him to just get over it. It was sanctioned by everyone but him.

“What’s up guys?”

“Not much. Just about to take off. Bianca is supposed to come over and then we’re off to go do some fishing.”

I didn’t like to hear that woman’s name and I cut my eyes to Carl to see what the hell was going on. Why was Bianca coming over?

“What’s she coming over for?”

Scott gave me this funny look. “I don’t know. I guess Carl and her are going to get back together.”

Carl denied it. “We’re not you and Betty. I’m not getting back with her any time soon. She won’t leave me alone and stop calling, so I’m going to hear her out and then I will be rid of her.”

“Yeah right.”

I didn’t like the fact that Scott wasn’t sure. I wanted him to be sure so that I wouldn’t have to worry about what was going on with them. I didn’t like Bianca and I didn’t like her coming to my parent’s house to see Carl. No one knew that we were together which already got on my nerves. I wanted people like Bianca to know more than anyone, but I’d promised to wait for a better time, but I was getting sick of waiting.

I left the kitchen because I didn’t have anything good to say about the conversation going on in there. I went upstairs to my parent’s room and found mom going through some old photo albums cross-legged on the floor.

She smiled up at me and I started going through the things hanging up in the closet. I was up there for a while before I had enough to go get a bag from the kitchen. Going down the stairs I heard loud voices and I recognized Bianca’s voice. She was yelling at someone, presumably Carl and I could hear everything she was saying.

“I don’t know why you’re acting this way. I used to think that we’d always be together.”

Carl said something muffled that I couldn’t hear and I wanted to go out on the porch where they were. I got as close as I could without being seen.

“No, you never said it Carl, but you made promises with your body.”

Carl had another answer that I wasn’t able to hear. I wanted to know what promises he had made, but I hated the way the idea of it came to me. I didn’t want to hear this. Nothing good was going to come from hearing it all, but like I was a glutton for punishment, I couldn’t walk away.

“Well whether you wanted it or not, we are bound together Carl. We will be for the rest of our lives.”

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“No we’re not Bianca. This is over. Been over and you have to come to terms with it.”

“But, I’m pregnant and it’s yours. So you see Carl, you might as well just accept it and let’s get back together. I know that you care about me. I know how to please you.”

Her voice was getting lower and I was craning my neck to see what they were doing. It was not my finest hour by far. I will be the first to admit it, but at the same time, I didn’t know what to do to make it go any better.

My heart had dropped out of my ass when I heard her say that she was pregnant. I couldn’t breathe and it felt like I was suffocating because of it all. What was I supposed to do now? He was going to be a father with another woman’s baby. It was too much and I made my way back upstairs, totally forgetting about the bag that I was supposed to get.