“You know,” Laurel taunts slightly from the passenger’s seat of my car, “I’m really starting to grow attached to this old bug.”

“You miss the pink, don’t you?” I ask as we pull down onto her street, headed home after a long day at the gym.

“Nah. I dig the new racing stripe,” she says, laughing slightly. We have been driving to the gym together for about four weeks now –ever since we had moved in together. It’s been really nice. Things have been going really well at work, and I’ve won two matches in the past few weeks too. Caleb seems to think he’ll be able to get me a higher priority match before too long.

As we are pulling up outside of our apartment, Laurel suddenly reaches over and slaps my arm. “What the hell?” I snap, but I look to see what she is pointing at. I stare. “Is that Brandi?”

There she is, just sitting there on a bench with her big, round pregnant belly outside of our apartment building. “Why is she here?” Laurel questions as the two of us climb out of the car. It’s not like we can avoid being seen by her; she’s sitting right outside of the apartment entrance.

She stands up when she sees us, and she looks down in embarrassment when she sees that I’m not by myself. She speaks, but she keeps her head down. “Hello,” she says uncomfortably, “Um… you must be Laurel.”

Laurel puts on a fake smile. “Yes, that’s me. You must be Brandi. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Brandi, what are you doing here?” I ask, not willing to make small talk.

“Can we talk?” she asks, still looking down at her feet.

“Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Laurel,” I hiss slightly; I haven’t heard from her since she told me we were having a daughter; she’s been ignoring me for four weeks.

“No, Jonathan,” Laurel slaps my arm for being rude. “It’s fine. I’ll give you two some space…” Laurel suddenly pauses as she gazes on Brandi. She suddenly says, “Look up at me,” in such a firm voice that Brandi could not possibly deny the request.

She looks up and I see this big, purple black eye. My insides churn, and I become so angry that I can feel my ears becoming warm. “I’ll fucking kill him,” I snarl, and I’m tempted to go get in the car right now to hunt the son of a bitch down.

Brandi tucks her hair behind her ear –it’s one of her many nervous habits. “Did that jackass fucking hit you?” Laurel snarls. “You’re fucking pregnant! If Jonathan doesn’t kill him, I fucking will!”

Brandi fidgets slightly. “I shouldn’t have come here…. I’m sorry. I’ll-”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Laurel snags her hand. “Come upstairs. You and Jonathan can talk; it’s fine. I’ll make you some coffee or… or tea, or whatever,” Laurel is not friendly in her tone towards Brandi, but she is definitely sympathetic.

The three of us head up to mine and Laurel’s apartment. Brandi just asks for some water, and Laurel obliges. “I hope you left him?” Laurel asks nosily.

“Believe me, I’m not stupid,” Brandi hisses slightly as we invite her to sit down on our couch. “I left Jonathan for a lot less than this.”

I cringe slightly at the comment, but she’s right. I certainly never intended to hurt her, but from the look of the shiner she’s modelling it had been quite intentional. “What happened, Brandi?” I ask as I sit down beside her.

Brandi glances over at Laurel uneasily. Laurel gives her a sympathetic nod. “I’ll give you two some privacy,” she assures and then leaves the two of us –heading back to our bedroom so that we can talk privately.

I look at Brandi, and she looks so humiliated to be here. “I’m sorry, Jonathan,” she says. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“No, I’m glad you came,” I smile at her. “I do miss you, you know?”

“I know. I miss you too,” she says, playing with her hair again. “I guess I deserved this, didn’t I?”

“Don’t say that,” I say, “Brandi, you haven’t done a damn thing wrong.”

“Of course I have,” she says, “I only started dating Donte because I knew it would piss you off.”

“Well damn,” I say, “okay, that is a little harsh, I’ll admit.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she stars crying. “God, I hate being fucking pregnant! I cry all the fucking time!”

“All right, easy,” I say and scoot closer to her. “What’s going on, Brandi? What can I do? How’s the baby?”

She smiles and touches her stomach. “The baby is fine. She’s doing real good, Jonathan. She kicks me all the time. Hold on, here,” she grabs my hand and puts it on my stomach. “Just wait; she’ll kick. She always does.”

I wait for a second, and I feel this little thud against my hand. This smile appears on my face –a real, honest smile. That’s my daughter I’m feeling. “Wow,” I say, completely breathless. After a moment, I put my hand away. “Brandi, I’m glad you’re here, really, but why did you come here?”

She looks at me sadly. “The truth is, Jonathan, the reason Donte hit me was because I told him I was leaving him. I threw him out, and he lost his mind. The reason is because I miss you. I really do. I want you to come home.”

“What?” I question.

“I want you to come home,” she says, and she starts crying again. “I should have been there for you. I was just so scared and angry at you. I thought you wouldn’t change. I thought you would just drink yourself to death. I found out I was pregnant the day of the match against you and Donte; I was going to tell you, but then all that craziness happened in the locker room. I just kept thinking –is this really what my child needs? I left you because I thought you would never change for me –for us. For the baby. I left you because I thought you’d just get worse and worse. But I was so wrong about you. You have changed. I’ve been… I’ve been keeping up with you. Marty would probably kill me for telling you this, but he gives me updates. Don’t be mad at him; I’ve asked him to. He’s told me all about your job at the gym, about your new manager, your AA meetings, and pretty much everything… about Laurel too. So I know that this is not fair of me to just show up here all of a sudden. I should have been there for you the way Laurel was. I want you to come home, baby.”

I stare at her. What do I say to her? “Brandi…” I grumble slightly. What do I say? I don’t know. I glance back at the bedroom door where Laurel is probably waiting on me to wrap this conversation up.

Brandi catches me staring off towards the bedroom door. “I’m too late, aren’t I?” she asks.

“I…” I stammer. “I don’t know.”

Brandi fiddles with her fingers for a moment. “I want you to be a part of her life,” she says as she rubs her stomach. “Whether you are a part of mine or not. I just… I just hope that you do want to be part of mine.” She touches my hand, and I yank it away.

“I don’t know,” I say again.

She nods. “I understand. I do want you to come home, Jonathan. I really do. I’m just so sorry it took me this long to realize how much I miss you. If you need time to think about it, I understand. I’m going home; it’s getting late.” She stands and makes her way towards the door. She pauses and turns back to look at me; she smiles, “By the way, I really love what you did with that old Volkswagen,” she leaves, closing the door behind her.

After a few minutes of sitting there in total shock, I wander back to mine and Laurel’s bedroom. Laurel is sitting there, her nose in some book, when I enter. She looks up. “Is she gone?” she asks.

“Yeah, she’s gone,” I say and plop down beside her.

Laurel puts her book away. “What did she say?”

I wring my writs, and I lie to her face. “She just said she wants me to be a part of the baby’s life and that she was sorry for keeping it a secret for so long.”

Laurel smiles brightly; she’s so happy for me. “Jonathan! That’s great! I knew she’d come around,” she gives me this big kiss and puts me in a headlock. “See? I told you! I told you everything would work out.”

I force myself to laugh. “Yeah, you did. Thank you.”

She kisses me and pulls me towards her, but I just sort of lay my head down on my pillow, gently pulling away. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

“It’s just been a long day,” I say.

She raises a brow, “You’re going to bed? It’s eight thirty.”

“Sorry,” I grumble, “I’m just exhausted.”

She shrugs. “All right, I’ll let you sleep,” she teases and kisses my forehead. “Goodnight, I love you.”

“I love you too.”