He Pretended to Have Amnesia and Chose My Best Friend, I Left Chapter 03
On the elevator ride down, I couldn’t stop replaying the last three months in my head.
The signs had been right there. His acting was awful.
I was so lost in my own head that I followed someone off the elevator without thinking, straight into the OB-GYN floor.
By the time I realized, I was already halfway down the hall.
I turned to go back.
Then I saw him.
Callum.
He was supposed to be home making dinner with Tessa.
I stopped just outside the door. The door to the exam room was cracked open, and the doctor’s voice drifted out.
“You’re measuring at eight weeks along. Have you thought about how you’d like to proceed?”
Before Tessa could answer, Callum cut in from behind her.
“We’re keeping it.”
He was holding the ultrasound printout.
He pulled Tessa into his arms.
“Did you hear what the doctor said? We’re having a baby!”
He was already planning.
“We should go to City Hall before you start showing. We can do the big ceremony after.”
“I’ll call my folks tomorrow.”
“I know it’s rushed, and I’m sorry for that.”
“But I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
Callum’s back was to the door.
But Tessa looked up and saw me standing there.
The color drained from her face.
She shoved Callum away from her.
He turned, following her gaze.
His eyes landed on me.
Something flickered across his face, gone almost before I could catch it. Panic.
“Maren? I thought you had work.”
“What are you doing here?”
I ignored him.
My eyes went straight to Tessa.
“You’re pregnant?”
Tessa couldn’t look at me. Her head dropped, her shoulders caving in.
Callum stepped between us.
“We’re engaged. Things happen. It’s not like we planned it, but it’s not exactly a scandal either.”
I forced a smile, though it felt like it might crack my face.
I wasn’t even sure who I was talking to anymore.
“Right. You two are the engaged ones now.”
The ride home was silent. Tessa sat next to me, head down, not saying a word.
Callum drove.
His eyes kept flicking to the rearview mirror, checking on me, like I was the threat.
I looked down at my phone and typed out an email to HR.
[I’d like to accept the Italy transfer.]
At the midyear review, headquarters had announced they were expanding overseas.
They needed engineers from the regional offices willing to relocate.
I was the only engineer at the company with a second major in Italian.
Before the accident, the transfer had been out of the question. I would never have put an ocean between us.
I chose him over my future once.
Never again.
When we got home, I finally got the full story.
Tessa had gotten violently sick while cooking.
Callum thought it was a stomach bug.
That’s why he’d rushed her to the hospital.
He didn’t want her anywhere near the kitchen. The smell of food might set her off again.
So he asked me to help instead.
Tessa looked uneasy.
“But Maren doesn’t know how to cook.”
Callum eased her onto the couch.
“She’ll figure it out. You’re pregnant. You can’t be doing everything around here.”
Pregnant. The word hit like a slap. I turned around and went to the kitchen sink.
Callum followed me in.
The kitchen door clicked shut behind him. He locked it.
“If anything happens to Tessa or that baby, anything at all, that’s on you.”