Finding Opa! (16 page)

Hunter sank into the bed. “So what do I have to do to change your mind? You are carrying my child. We’re going to be in each other’s lives regardless for the rest of our lives.”

Stacey instantly felt guilty about the
baby
part. “I’m not saying no,” she said, putting her hand on his exposed thigh. Looking down, she tried to find the right words. “I’m simply saying that we have to plan…discuss all of those things that you just mentioned and more. We have to be a team, because when I do this - when I marry this time - I want it to be for the rest of my life.”

“So do I,” he said, throwing the covers off his body. “You talk like I haven’t thought about any of this?”

“I never said that you didn’t.”

“Well then, give me some credit. Tell me what I need to do to get through that damned wall of yours.”

“I don’t have any walls, Hunter.” Inwardly, she knew that she did, but she refused to lose the argument.

“You’re holding back. I can see it.
I can feel it
,” he grunted.

Stacey wiped her face. “You can’t rush…”

“I’m not trying to rush you. I’m trying to love you.”

“Yeah, well, have you thought about the fact that I’m a little scared? Why
you
aren’t scared is beyond me. But I am. And my feelings count as much as yours.”

“I would never
hurt
you,” he promised, touching his chest.

“Maybe not intentionally.” She looked away from him.

“Not at all,” he corrected her. “I don’t’ get it. You were in a good relationship with Drew. It’s not like you’re some scorned woman. You may have experienced tragedy in your life, but is it really worth losing what’s real right now?”

She didn’t answer quickly. “I don’t want to rush things just because of this baby. This child was my doing.”

Her statement confused him. Wasn’t he the one who impregnated her, not the other way around? Standing up, he scratched the nape of his neck and looked around. “Look, I’m going to take a shower and head home. I just need to think for a while.”

“Is walking away going to solve anything?” She didn’t want him to go, but her pride prevented her from saying so.

“If you won’t open up to the possibilities, is staying going to solve anything?”

She didn’t answer.

Hunter shook his head. Stacey was obviously not going to give him what he wanted this time. Frustrated, he walked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

Chapter Twelve

The pub, TJ Milligans, was jammed packed at happy hour on Friday night. Sitting at the bar, however, Hunter didn’t notice the crowd as he slammed his shots back-to-back. It had been a day since he had seen Stacey – the longest of their relationship- but it felt like a lifetime. And the torture of their separation was killing him.

However, he knew that if he said how he really felt to her, he would destroy everything that he had worked so hard to build with the only woman alive who seemed to bring him peace. So, he had stayed away, tried to clear his head. Called a friend. Did all the things that reasonable people do.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the very place that Stacey had sat the night that he had approached her. Who knew fast forwarding a few months later that he’d be the father of her first child? “But not good enough to marry,” he reminded himself aloud as he raised his finger to order another scotch. “Because I’m not a fucking black, rich, astrophysicist,” he blurted out.

The people sitting around him looked over curiously, but he ignored them.
Screw them all. What did they know?
He thought to himself
. What did they know about love or lost?

At that very moment, all he wanted to do was get shit-faced and crawl into a cab and go home alone – only because he would never go to Stacey like this. That would just be one more reason to not marry him. No, he couldn’t risk it.

A hand gently patted his back from behind, and then the wooden stool beside him pulled back. Looking over, he saw that John had finally arrived.

“What’s up, man?” Hunter asked with a lushy grin.

“What
is
up?” John asked frowning. “I thought that you weren’t supposed to do this anymore?”

“Well, that’s why I called you. I have a problem,” he said, sucking in a breath.

“What cha’ drinking?” the bartender asked John as he passed him a menu.

“Water,” John said, pointing at Hunter. “I’m the designated driver.”

“Oh, good. Well, you can have these back,” the bartender said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out Hunter’s keys.

“Good looking out,” John said, taking them. He turned to his friend. “This is the shit I’m talking about Hunter.”

“What? I wasn’t going to drive. I was going to take a cab,” Hunter said defensively. Really, he was never intending to drive, but he was sure that John didn’t believe him. Waving him off, Hunter shook his head. “Never mind. Look, I didn’t call you here to argue with you. I could have done that with Stacey. I called you here to talk to you about a very sensitive issue.”

“Let me guess. You guys are having the race talk,” John said, sipping his water.

Hunter’s eyes bucked. “How did you know?” He turned from the bar to John.

“Every interracial couple has the race talk. It’s just that some discussions last a lifetime.”

“So you guys had it?” Hunter asked again.

“Did we have it? Do you not recall when her father disowned her in front of half of our graduating medical class, or was I there at that cookout by myself?”

Hunter recalled. “I forgot about that. Shit, it’s been ages.”

“Yeah, well, things got better for us once he died. So, we don’t talk about it much now,” John said, sucking his teeth.

Until death do his and his family apart? Hunter threw himself down on the bar. “Ugh,” he lamented, burping up vomit.

John had known Hunter for many years, and in his time as his friend, he had learned one thing about Greek men. They were high on drama. Putting down his glass, he smacked his lips and shook his head. “Well, you can start by putting your foot down with your family, if you want this woman as badly as you say that you do. If she has to deal with your mother, as much as I like the woman, she’s going to throw the towel in on your relationship.”

“The bad thing is that they haven’t even met yet.”

“So why are you freaking out?” John asked.

“Because I know what to expect. So do you. You’ve met them. And they love you, because they know we aren’t going to marry. Remember how they were with Corina? She wasn’t good enough, wasn’t from a good enough family. Her father was cab driver. Her mother didn’t have a high school diploma. The list went on and on.” Hunter felt exhausted just thinking about it.

“And you don’t think that maybe they’ve learned from that situation?”

Hunter laughed. “No,” he said confidently.

“Well…” John sighed. “It’s your relationship.
You
have to control it. Before Piper’s dad disowned her, I told her straight up that it was either going to be us or her with them. I wasn’t going to spend my entire life feuding with people who thought less of me, because I am a strong black man. So, when he disowned her, we already had a plan. We knew that we were going to stick together no matter what. Now, it wasn’t a complete happy ending. The old man never came around, but so many in the family did…like her mom who has been a God-send at times.”

“Yeah, Stacey said that we needed to talk. Her exact words were that we needed to plan for our future. But I ran hot so quickly until I didn’t let it sink in that she was asking me to do the same thing – to stand with her.” His head swam. Rubbing his temples, he looked at his reflection in the bar mirror. “I’m fucking up.”

“You and I both know that you two are going to fight. You’re a head strong Greek. She’s a strong black woman. I mean, together, nothing can defeat you, but apart, you guys could potential destroy each other.”

Hunter knew that John was right. “Last night, she told me that she’s going to sign a deal to sell her rights to ParaWorld for six point five million dollars. It’s amazing. I know, but a part of me felt…”

“Inferior?”

“Yes,” Hunter said, hitting the table. “Exactly.”

“Welcome to the 21
^st
century, man. Women demand equal pay for equal work.”

“Stacey is incredible, but it’s hard to figure her out. For instance, she has a home,
probably a mansion
, right outside of Seattle that she doesn’t live in anymore. I just found this out
last
night. She has made God only knows how much money with her book. But at the same time, she’s the poster-child for reclusive authors, right up there with Hemmingway and Wolfe. Don’t get me wrong, her place is nice, but it doesn’t reflect her income at all. She lives with computer techs and teachers, not movie stars and athletes. Talk about living below your means. She makes more money without leaving her house than I have made in my career. But she’s happy just the way that she is riding her bike, walking around the city and taking care of that damned clingy-ass cat.”

“You’ve got a great catch,” John said finally. “But if you don’t figure this out, you will have
had
a good catch. And when she finally comes out of this thing, some other guy will marry her and help raise your kid. And it will be all because you weren’t man enough to deal with your family.”

The thought was sobering. Pushing away from the table, Hunter stood up. “That shit is not happening.” One more thought crossed his mind. “Did you know her husband was an astrophysicist?”

“I read about him in
Time Magazine
once.”

Hunter shook his head. “And to think that I was happy when the local newspaper did an article on our practice. It’s hard to fill his shoes, you know. He was a great husband; he was a genius; he wasn’t bad looking.”

“You’re everything that he was except the genius part” John said, standing up beside Hunter. “And you
can
fill his shoes, if you want to.”

“His seat,” Hunter corrected, thinking of Drew’s car accident. “The way that I see it, this astrophysicist had it figured out. Metaphorically speaking, he knew that Stacey was a head strong woman, hence her driving the car, much like she drove their relationship. He knew that she was a powerhouse and just let her do her thing. That is where he was smarter. He let her drive.”

John pulled some money out of his wallet and laid it on the bar, then turned to Hunter and leaned into his ear. “You’ve had way too much to drink, dude.” Stepping back, he hit his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride.”

“No,” Hunter said, slipping his balled-up fists in his pocket. “I’m going to walk to Stacey’s.”

“Like this? I thought that you said that you didn’t want to ruin things.”

“My mom used to always say that people should not go to bed angry. I left her alone last night. I’m not doing it again tonight. I’m going to her place.”

“Well, you want me to drop you there?”

“No. I’ll walk. I need to clear my head, maybe
plan
what I’m going to say.”

John knew his work was done. “Okay, man. Take it easy. I’m going to get to the kids’ recital before Piper has a fit.”

“Thanks for stopping by,” Hunter said, shaking his hand. “Thanks for the advice.”

“No problem. That’s what friends are for,” John said, bowing out of the bar gracefully.

***

Hunter had never been a nervous man. In the past, he had been the confident one, able to work into a woman’s emotions and persuade her to his side. However, with Stacey things were dramatically different. She was a quiet woman, who loved peace and tranquility but also who didn’t mind expressing her feelings. Maybe that was why she was such a great author. Whatever the case, they had a different type of relationship. In a very non-confrontational way, she could extract utter guilt from him with only her doe-like eyes and pouty, quivering mouth.