I have to go, but we'll talk when I get back, okay?

Wyatt’s words kept playing over and over again in my head. I had imagined him doing many things; being angry, accusing me of being dishonest, crying, heck, I even had him crying tears of joy in one version. Never, not once, did it enter my mind that he would simply walk away, unaffected.

I had fooled myself into believing he cared about me, loved me even. I let my wants and desires imprint upon his actions, interpreting them so completely wrong because that was the way I wanted them. Had I really been so lonely and desperate? Clearly, the answer was a resounding yes.

I sat on that couch crying in disbelief for ten minutes, sure he would come back to me. When he didn’t, I knew what I had to do. I needed to go.

I ran upstairs, throwing everything I owned in my bags. Thankfully, I had little. I was packing the car when Faith and Chloe returned. This was going to be the hard part. Not that there was any easy part of it. The entire situation was a cluster fuck.

“Oliver.” Chloe ran at me, jumping into my arms. “Why are you sad?”

“Chloe bear, I’m sad because I need to go.”

“Will you be home for dinner?” she asked hopefully.

“No, baby girl. I won’t.” I hugged her tight before kissing the top of her head and then attempted to put her down. She was having no part of that and clung to me like a little monkey. “I need to go back to work in the city.”

“But you work here.” And that was when her first tear fell. I was an awful human being. My careless actions lead to her tears. I deserved the pain, not her.

“I’m sorry, but I have to.”

“You’re supposed to become one of my daddies,” she shouted, tears flowing freely. “I wished in the fountain at Disney and everything.”

“I’m so sorry baby girl. I wish I could stay, but you have your dad. He is the best dad in the world.” He was. She would be fine. Nannies come and go. Dads stay, and her dad was the best man I knew. He might not love me the way I wanted him too, but that didn’t detract from his worth.

“He is, but so are you.”

“Faith,” I called out, needing her help. If Chloe stayed in my arms, begging the way she was, I was going to chicken out and go back inside only to leave again later, causing the hurt twice. The band-aid method was the best one in this situation.

“Bye, baby girl.” I kissed her head once more before handing her to Faith. “I will call you. Promise.”

I all but jumped in the car knowing if I gave it a second thought I would only prolong all of our agony. If I lived to be a hundred and fifty, I would never forget the look of hurt in her eyes as I passed her to Faith. If only I could stay… but her dad didn’t want me, or more accurately, our baby, and no matter how much it hurt, I needed to go.

I drove to Café Om. I needed to make it all the way back to the city, but my eyes were too tear-filled to see clearly enough. I planned to grab a cup of coffee, call Marge and beg for my job back, pull my shit together and then drive the rest of the way. The plan was a good one, except for the impossibility of pulling my shit together.

I stepped into Om, grateful Marcus wasn’t there. I liked him well enough, but the last thing I wanted to do was talk, and that was Marcus’s favorite pastime. That and trying to score an alpha. I ordered my coffee and found a spot in the furthest corner before dialing the phone.

“Hello, Oliver. Long time, no hear. How are you?” Marge sounded chipper. Chipper was good. I needed some sunshine in this car wreck of a day.

“Not good.” I held in a sob. “Can I come back?”

“It depends.” Marge put on her boss voice. I needed friend Marge now, but beggars can’t be choosers. “Why do you want to?”

I told her everything. The good. The bad. Okay, not everything. I left out the sexy parts, but everything else fell out of my mouth. It felt good to share it all, even if it resulted in four napkin’s worth of tears.

“You are just as dumb as Wyatt is,” she snapped at me when I finished telling my tale of heartbreak.

“Excuse me?” That was not the answer I had expected, but it did manage to slow the flow of tears. Small favors.

“You heard me, and no you may not come back.” Whoa, she was pissed. A pissed Marge was not a Marge to be messing with. “Get your ass home and fix things with your alpha.”

“But he doesn’t want us.”

“What did I say before?” she scolded. Thank goodness the place was empty. Between my tears and the way I just cowered in my chair at her scolding, I was a hot omega mess.

“That I was as dumb as Wyatt?” I repeated.

“Yes.” She let out a huff. “That. Embrace that shit and move on. Wyatt froze because you offered him the impossible—a child. Which, by the way… congratulations you’re going to make an amazing father.”

She was all over the place, but fair enough, since I was too.

“What do you mean?” I began to shred my remaining whole napkin. She better not make me cry again because I was about to have no napkins left.

“I mean he was in disbelief. If he were angry or upset you would’ve known. Trust me. Alphas don’t hold that shit inside.”

I allowed my head to bang on the table. She was right. I was as dumb as Wyatt. Scratch that. I was dumber.

“But he just walked out.” Why I was trying to make my case when it was already lost, I had no idea, but there I sat doing just that.

“To go where?”

“… Surgery.” And now I felt lower than mud. He went to save an animal’s life, not play cards. How had I turned so selfish, so quickly?

“Was that something you’d want him to skip?”

“Of course not.” I could hear her tapping her nails on the other side of the line. She was waiting for me to confess all the conclusions I had just drawn. Why was it, again, I called her out of all people? Oh yeah, because she would set my dumb self straight. “Shit. Fine. You’re right I am as dumb as Wyatt. How do I fix it? I broke that little girl’s heart.”

“Then go back and fix it.” Because of course it was that easy.

“Thank you,” I murmured. Still unsure how I was going to fix the mess I had just gotten myself into, but determined to do exactly that.

“You know that if you really needed a place to stay, I’d open my arms wide.” Good old Marge. I needed to send her flowers when this was all over with.

“I know, Marge. Thanks for talking me down from the crazy.”

“For what it’s worth, half of it was your hormones.” She laughed at her own joke.

“The other half?” I took her bait, because frankly, if it lightened her day after calling her with my troubles, then it was so worth being razzed by Marge.

“You’re as dumb as Wyatt. Good luck.”

“I’m gonna need it.” I hung up.

I looked at my phone. I had been gone almost an hour and a half. I didn’t know what kind of surgery Wyatt had scheduled, but maybe I could be back before Wyatt returned. I would still need to let him know what went down, but maybe hearing about me leaving instead of coming home to me being gone would be easy. Who was I fooling? None of this was going to be easy on any of us.

As I walked past the counter, a row of cookies caught my eye. Unicorns. Rainbow colored unicorns. If that wasn’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. I bought the entire tray before heading back to my family. Or at least, they would be by nightfall if I had any say in the matter.