Page 7 of Trusting You
So, imagine my surprise when the last college party we went to, he was there. Lachlan Hayes, in all his glory, with all his buddies, drunk and twisted on championship fame.
He’d seen me that night. Our eyes clashed and held—mine widening the longer I realized he was staring. Then, like a lizard unable to blend into its surroundings, I scurried away, too scared to do anything about Lachlan’s clear and sudden interest.
Little did I know, Paige was able to conquer that same fear.
Realizing this makes me feel like I never truly knew her. Not in the way I thought.
So, when I got off the plane to New York City, when I stepped up to Lachlan’s door this morning, finger trembling as I buzzed, fist shaking when I took the stairs to his apartment door and knocked, I didn’t think he’d recall who I was.
Now here we are, sitting awkwardly in Lachlan’s living room—and that’s putting it kindly. Old, stinky clothes are flung over the upholstery; single socks discarded on the floors like they were forced to search on their own for their mate since their owner gave up on them. And… do I see? Yes, I see. A woman’s lace thong hanging over the kitchen faucet.
“Um,” Lachlan says eloquently.
He leans forward in a wooden kitchen chair he dragged over from a table two feet away, facing me on a sofa that I hope, hope, hope, did not feature in his sexcapades last night. Sadly, it smells like it might’ve.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asks.
“Sure,” I say. “Coke, if you have it.”
He lights up. “I do.”
Lachlan practically leaps out of his seat, and I notice the slight, almost indiscernible limp in his left leg as he strides six feet into a small kitchenette. Bottles rattle as he opens the fridge. Beer, probably.
I should take this time to further survey this apartment, a second-floor walk-up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but I don’t need to. It all adds up—the smells, the tangled clothes belonging to both sexes, the mussed-up hair, the face of Lachlan Hayes. I know enough.
He returns, cracking open the can of Coke and leaving the tab up as he passes it to me.
“So…” Lachlan sits back down, rubbing his palms against his knees.
He’s dressed in black-and-red athletic shorts and a vintage Van Halen tee. I’m trying to reconcile the college eye candy he was to the man who’s in front of me, with one eye half-closed like he’s attempting to reconcile this day with real life.
There were two ways this could’ve gone. Lachlan’s instant denial coupled with a good few seconds of blubbering. Maybe the paleness of shock capped off by cracking his head on the pavement when he passes out. Or, Lachlan could be stunned senseless, stupefied by the fact that of the many, many women he slept with, he shockingly happened to knock one up.
I see he chose the latter.
“Do you want to know her name?” I ask.
“I want to know…everything.” Lachlan shakes his head, dislodging some stupor. “So, it’s a girl? I have a girl baby?”
I angle my chin in an attempt to soften my scorn. I must remember, this guy has no clue. He didn’t expect me to come into his home and scope out his place like he was a father needing to take care of a kid. He didn’t know when he woke up this morning there would be a baby somewhere that needs him.
“Yes,” I say. “Her name is Lily. Lily James Tobias.”
“Cool.” Lachlan nods. “That’s a cool name.”
“Uh-huh.” I scold myself to cut back on the sarcasm.
“So, um…” Lachlan licks his lips, and I almost want to pass him my Coke so he can take a drink and collect himself.
“I’m sorry to show up and drop a bomb on you like this,” I say instead. “If it could’ve been any other way…I mean, had I known earlier, maybe I could’ve prepared you somehow…”
“You?” Lachlan sits back, his legs splayed out in a wide V. “But didn’t you say it was another girl whose baby this is? You’re not—”
“No. Definitely not.” I set the can down on the scuffed glass coffee table. “My best friend, Paige, is Lily’s mother. You heard right.”
“Okay, so, why are you here instead of her? Why are you telling me this? Is she afraid to confront me or something?”
I’ve been dreading this part. “Paige is dead.”