Contingent – Chapter 7 | A strawberry

Chapter 7 | A strawberry

expect (v.)

1550s, “wait, defer action,” from Latin expectare/exspectare “await, look out for; desire, hope, long for, anticipate; look for with anticipation,” from ex- “thoroughly” (see ex-) + spectare “to look,” frequentative of specere “to look at” (from PIE root *spek- “to observe”).

Figurative sense of “anticipate, look forward to” developed in Latin and is attested in English from c. 1600. Also from c. 1600 as “regard as about to happen.” Meaning “count upon (to do something), trust or rely on” is from 1630s. Used since 1817 as a euphemism for “be pregnant.” In the sense “suppose, reckon, suspect,” it is attested from 1640s but was regarded as a New England provincialism. Related: Expected; expecting.

“Hey… you starting to feel better?”

Lisa’s voice reached him through the haze, but still he didn’t open his eyes. He kept the cold water bottle pressed against his feverish forehead. Shocked back into reality by a very expensive San Pellegrino.

“Yeah… I think I’ll live. I’m… ah, I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I bet…” She let out a low, sarcastic chuckle. Then, more seriously: “Did you eat? …I mean… Have you been taking care of yourself, Michael?”

This time he opened his eyes and looked at her, a bit tentatively. Too many emotions mixing, and he was trying hard to reign over them. It was not easy, and he hoped his face didn’t give too much away. They were in his dressing room, and he was sitting on the couch, his head leaning back against the backrest. Lisa, sitting on a chair, in a very collected position, was staring at him with moderate concern in her eyes.

“Yeah… don’t worry. I’ve been a good boy. I just – I think I’m just tired. Or maybe it was a sudden blood sugar drop… you know, with rehearsals and all. Plus, it’s hot in here. Anyway, I feel better now.”

“Good. You scared me. I thought you were gonna pass out on me.” There was now slight amusement in her eyes, and Michael smirked, shaking his head.

“Hey… I’m not that kind of guy, OK?” He pressed the cold bottle on the back of his neck. “I don’t faint.”

“OK…”

She was probably messing with him a little bit but, at this point, he had something way more important to think about. And he needed to know more.

“Look, Lise… can we talk?”

“Yeah, well… that’s why I’m here. And… you know, like I said, maybe it wasn’t the best time, but I thought you wanted to know before anyone else.”

“I did… And thanks for telling me. I guess I’m just surprised.”

“Tell me about it…” Her playful attitude vanished and she dropped her head, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand. “It’s not something either of us was looking for… especially now.”

“So… nobody else knows, yet?”

“Except you, me and my doctor? No. Not yet.”

Michael bit the inside of his cheek. Technically speaking, Lisa was right. A baby was not what they had been looking for, right now. They were freshly divorced. Last time they had been together, it had ended up in their classic fucking and fighting routine. Not exactly the perfect moment or scenario to conceive a child. And yet it had happened. Unless…

“I’m taking for granted that the kid’s mine…” He cleared his throat and blushed the very moment he realized the implications of his statement.

Lisa’s eyes darted up and she stared at him, sternly.

“Really, Michael? For real? Are you really asking me that? You think I’d ever unload this on you if you weren’t the father?”

“No, I’m saying, you know…” He took a sip of water. His face was on fire. “…That I’m taking it for granted. I mean… I know you don’t… sleep around…”

Fucking shit. And he had thought things were awkward between the two of them before this. What a fool he had been. Now it felt like walking on a minefield. The blast was imminent either way, sooner or later, it didn’t matter how careful they were.

“You’re right. I don’t sleep around, and I definitely hadn’t been fucking other men when it happened.”

“And now?” Once again, the words came out even before the question could shift from his mind to his lips. Oh, fucking hell! He had to get a grip!

Lisa’s eyes narrowed.

“Now? Oh yeah, I’ve been screwing a different guy every night.” She paused. There was no humor in her voice. “I’m wrapping up my second month of pregnancy and my hormones are doing some wild shit – but not the kind of shit you might be thinking about. I only got a superhuman sense of smell and a flip-flopping stomach, thank you very much. So no, Michael, I’m not having sex with anyone at the moment. It’s not exactly at the top of my priority list. I’m more oriented to try and keep my breakfast in my stomach.”

Double edge sword. On the one hand, her words sounded incredibly endearing to him, making everything more real, unchaining thousands of butterflies in his chest. The crazy hormones. The morning sickness. The wild pregnant woman… stuff.

On the other hand, that final “at the moment” wasn’t encouraging. It occurred to him that Lisa telling him that she was expecting his baby didn’t necessarily equal to a reconciliation. His heart hurt at the possibility.

“Lisa, I believe you, I swear. You know I do. But how… I mean…” He raked his fingers through his hair.

“How did it happen?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s a good question. I had it too. In a nutshell, you and I got so caught up in our little celebration… several times… that I totally forgot to take my pill… plus, we had alcohol that night. And I was ovulating. So, see? We effectively managed to increase the chances of getting pregnant… and we succeeded. And now… what a motherfucking mess.”

He blinked, his eyes lowering again. He didn’t know what to say. Throughout their entire union, almost up until their final breakup and separation, they had always had unprotected sex. Especially during the first year or so of marriage, they had actively tried to make a baby. And they had a whole lot of sex, all the time. It just had never happened. At one point, Michael had started to think that something had to be wrong with him or Lisa, because in his mind it was kind of unrealistic that they just couldn’t manage to become pregnant, given their connection and all.

And instead… right now, in the most absurd and messed up moment of their relationship – or non-relationship – there it was. Still the size of a strawberry and just as fragile, but definitely there. It had been the first thing he had asked Lisa, when she had told him about it. If she was sure. And she had replied that there was not a doubt in the world that she was expecting.

“We’ve been careless and reckless… and now…”

“And now we’re gonna have a baby.” His voice suddenly became very low and very soft. Almost on autopilot, he rose from the couch and then crouched down again in front of her. A bit hesitantly, he took her hands and stared at her.

“You and I… we’re gonna be parents. We’re gonna have a baby, Lise.”

Lisa’s eyes showed a moment of complete vulnerability. However, she didn’t say anything. She just looked down at their hands. Connected again.

“You want this baby, right?” Mike cocked his head to a side a studied her face.

“Are you serious? Of course, I want this baby. Not even for a second I thought-”

“OK… OK…” He exhaled a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding. His grip on her hands tightened. The turmoil within still too intricate and intense to be deciphered adequately, but he knew, he felt what was at the bottom of it. Extreme, utter, thrilling happiness. A happiness he hadn’t allowed himself to grasp fully, yet. Staring at Lisa, he realized that neither had she. It was mind-blowing how such a life-changing event could happen because of the most basic set of coincidences.

“Our little one. Lisa…” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them, very softly. “Lise… This is incredible.”

“So, you’re happy…” She was still scanning his face. He felt comforted when he realized that she wasn’t going to pull her hands back.

“Are you kidding me? I’m ecstatic! How can I be anything but happy?” He smiled. “So, tell me… when did you find out? Today?”

“No, not today… About a month ago… a little less, maybe.”

Michael’s smile wavered. “A month ago? Before our divorce was final?”

Slowly, Lisa withdrew her hands from his grasp. Not a good sign.

“Yeah…”

“Why didn’t you tell me then? Why…” The words died on his lips. Fear clenched his heart and, from the way she avoided his eyes, he knew what she was going to say even before she spoke. He tried one last card, hoping for the best. “Was it because you wanted to be sure?”

“About the baby? No, I was. I took like three tests. Then I went to the doctor, and he confirmed the pregnancy. So no, Michael, it’s not about that. I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why I didn’t stop the divorce…”

He swallowed, setting his jaw. Steadying himself as much as he could for what he suspected was about to come.

“…And the answer is that I didn’t want to, plain and simple.”

Her voice had stayed soft, but her words cut like a blade. And he bled.

He was going to experience another sudden blood sugar drop in a second. However, he did his best to stay calm, quiet, and to listen to what she had to say. Maybe he had misunderstood. Perhaps she just wanted a clean slate, and start again from there. Once again, another make it or break it scenario. The beginning or the end. Or the beginning of the end.

“I debated with myself whether I should call you and ask you to try again. It’s not that I didn’t consider the chance of… doing just that…” Lisa closed her eyes for a moment. Then she shook her head. “But then I realized… that was not what I wanted. When I first filed for divorce, I just wanted you to come after me. You know it. I told you. I ain’t gonna deny that. But right now, Michael… I simply don’t wanna be married to you any longer. And sure enough, I don’t want you to come after me.”

“Why?” He mouthed the word without really saying it. His eyes were huge and sorrowful. If she had slapped him in the face, it would have hurt him less.

Lisa bit her lips and blinked, trying to be as clear as possible.

“Because… Pregnancy or not, your life is moving forward and it’s obvious that you and I are done. And believe me, it’s not because I don’t think I can love your other kid… the one you’re having with Debbie. Children are never, ever guilty of anything Michael, you know that…”

“Then what is it?” He moved from his crouched position to a kneeling one, looking up at her. “Why?”

“Because babies also don’t fix things. Just like Ben didn’t fix my marriage to Danny, this baby right here…” She touched her belly, “is not gonna fix us. This pregnancy was an accident… Also a blessing, yes, but completely random nonetheless… After that last time… after our night together, it became clear to me that we’ve been going in different directions. I’m not sure our miscommunication, our misunderstandings and the childish games you and I both played at times can be simply put aside. And honestly, Michael…”

Her face turned pained. She frowned, the endearing little crease between her eyebrows evident now. Michael could barely hear her voice. But he did hear his blood thundering in his ears very well.

“…Honestly, I don’t think I’m in love with you anymore.”

Too bad, since his love had just doubled in size.

At first, it was nothing but utter, complete shock. Profound surprise of the worst kind. How could a man receive such fantastic news accompanied by the most destructive addendum? It was like a clash of titans. And just like that, the pain of not being able to thoroughly enjoy the happiness of having a baby with the only woman he had imagined being the mother of his children, turned into rage. And that anger simmered and bounced back on Lisa without him being able to do anything to prevent it.

Of course, Michael’s rage manifested itself in a subtle way – through insecurity that turned into cockiness.

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?” Her eyebrows sprung up.

Michael rose to his feet.

“I said, bullshit. I know you don’t mean what you said.”

This time, Lisa’s eyes narrowed and became cold.

“I mean exactly what I said. I’m not here to play games with you, Michael.”

He sneered.

“You sure about that?” He scratched the back of his neck. “Last time we were together, I know very well what I felt. And I know you did, too. I know you, Lisa. And I don’t see how all that could have changed in, what, two months? You don’t wanna stay married to me – I don’t understand it, but fine -”

“I hate to remind you that we can’t stay married. We’re already divorced.”

“That’s right, we’re no longer married because of you, Lisa! You could have stopped it! If you had told me about the pregnancy a month ago, we could have stopped the whole fucking thing!”

“See? That’s exactly the point!” Not liking to be forced to look up at him from her sitting position, Lisa got up too. He was still taller, obviously, but the shift in perspective made her feel better. “That’s the only reason why we would still be married! Can’t you see that?”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong! We would be married because of love!” He had raised his voice without even being aware of it.

“Our love for this child, yes. But not for one another. Not anymore.” Lisa threw her hands in the air “I mean, look at us! We’ve been talking for what, fifteen minutes? And it’s already turned into a fucking screaming match!”

“That’s because you don’t wanna listen!”

“No, that’s because we’re not good together, Michael! We just don’t work, goddamnit!”

The sudden silence in the room felt deafening. Breathing heavily, Michael suddenly realized how serious all of this was. How serious she was. Either Lisa truly didn’t love him anymore, or she had convinced herself that she didn’t. Either way, the endgame didn’t really change: whatever she believed, was what she perceived and felt as real. Even if it wasn’t. His heart broke a little more.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, taking a long breath. Trying to calm down his erratic mind.

“OK… Look. I’m sorry, Lise. I don’t think… You know, I’m just overwhelmed. It’s a lot to take in. Please, try to understand.”

When he opened his eyes again, she was looking at him and her frustration, too, seemed to have dissipated a bit.

“I know. I do. I’m so sorry. This is not the right time to talk about us. There’s something more important than our baggage… and our fights, now…”

“Our baby…” His voice was back at being soft, but its quality had changed. No longer amazement and pure, complete wonderment, but sadness. He felt forlorn and adrift. And he felt scared. Suddenly, terror gripped him with its cold hands: if Lisa didn’t love him anymore, she might fight him about the baby. And she would do it tooth and nail, using all her considerable resources, if only she decided that she didn’t want him around the kid. And although the last thing he wanted was to fight back, Michael wasn’t going to have any of that. Not even from the woman he was in love with.

Scanning his eyes carefully, she read him with a precision that, once again, didn’t even surprise him. At the same time, he thought that, from now on, he would need to be way more careful than that, when it came to protecting his own feelings. He needed the armor to snap in place. Just in case Lisa suddenly turned into an enemy.

“I know what you’re thinking, Mike…”

“I know you do.” Denying the obvious was pointless.

“And it’s not at all what I wanna do.” Lisa stepped closer to him and this time, she took his hands, holding them into her own, smaller ones. “I am never going to take him or her away from you, I promise. I know this pregnancy was unplanned, but I’m… I’m happy to be having this kid, Michael.”

“Are you? Even though I’m the father?”

Lisa sneered, with immense sadness.

“There’s nobody in this world I’ve loved more than your insufferable, mistrustful self. And right now, nobody else I can imagine having a baby with.”

It was not a declaration of love. Not in the way he would have wanted it, at least. But it was the closest thing to a reassurance he could get, right now. And, in a way, Lisa’s words were just so painfully beautiful. Although Michael still wanted, more than anything else, to have his kids and raise them both with the woman he was in love with, he could not tell her, right now, that he still considered her as his wife.

“The fact that I don’t feel like sharing my life with you as a partner has nothing to do with me knowing what a great father you’re gonna be. Or with me finally coming to terms with your desire to be a dad. That’s why…” She looked up at him and her eyes were open, honest. “I want you to be there for this baby. And although I never had doubts you would, I’m so happy you made it clear. You didn’t run scared.”

“I don’t run scared. Ever.”

Lisa grinned, and her hand came up, cradling his cheek. Michael felt like crying.

“I know you don’t, Mike.”

He took a deep breath and widened his stance, stepping back and out of her touch. It was too much for him to bear, at the moment.

“So… what are we gonna do now, Lisa?”

“Well… as far as we’re concerned, I hope we can face this pregnancy together, as friendly exes… we still have about seven months to decide how we’re gonna be co-parenting this child.”

“Friendly exes…” he muttered, nodding his head and staring into space.

“Yeah. At this point in time, it’s all I can offer. I’m so sorry.”

“I see…. OK.”

“And then… well…” Lisa sat down again and touched her stomach, absent-mindedly. Her mind was roaming and she frowned. Her serenity disappearing, concern resurfacing. “Then there’s all the other stuff you’ll have to deal with.”

All the other stuff. His family. Debbie. The upcoming tour. His public image. A pregnant ex-wife and a pregnant friend, about to have his babies about a month or so apart. He had forgotten entirely about the godawful image the media could deliver, if only the news leaked. He had always taken pride in being so different from his father and his brothers, and now… Now he looked like a manwhore who had gone on an inseminating spree. Shit.

And Lisa – she, too, would have to deal with some serious business. Her mother, for example. Her people. Her “church.” None of them was particularly enamored with Michael, and he wasn’t sure all hell wouldn’t break loose in Graceland, as well.

“Right… Well… You know what? Don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of everything. You gotta be at your best. The first trimester can be very unpredictable, and I need you to take care of yourself.”

“And you, too. You’re gonna be a father soon.”

“Yes. And in one case, I’m gonna be your baby daddy. So, behave.”

Lisa smiled. The first real smile since she had delivered the news. Michael walked over to her once again. Not entirely sure it was the most appropriate thing to do, he moved a strand of her hair behind her ear and lowered his head, glancing down at her belly.

“You think I can…?”

She chuckled.

“There’s nothing to feel, yet, but…” She took his hand, nonetheless, and rested it on her still flat abdomen. Michael took a deep breath. Then he looked up at her, his features softening. The intense desire of just taking her into his arms and kissing her almost unbearable, he exerted maximum control over himself and decided that, at least for now, Lisa smiling up at him would have to be enough.

She covered his hand with her own, and they stayed like that for a long moment that seemed to freeze in time.

He heard the door open despite the music being loud enough to literally move a couple of pens and pencils on the mixing board. Even without turning around, he knew who it was. Turning a knob, adjusting a lever, he grinned to himself and his smile got even wider the moment he felt her hands on his shoulders, and her lips kiss the top of his head. Soft, feathery kisses reminding him how good it was to have finally found the right woman to share his life with.

He turned down the volume just enough to not make his wife’s eardrums explode. She didn’t seem to mind, as her kisses continued, and her hands started massaging his shoulders and the back of his neck. He had been so absorbed in his work that he had even forgotten how heavenly her touch felt.

“Babe… aren’t you tired?”

“Should I be?” He turned his head, glancing up at her with a smirk.

“Well, you’ve been in the studio for almost ten hours straight… I thought you had a lover or something, down here. And that you were getting busy behind my back.”

He grabbed her hands and guided her in front of him, pushing his chair away from the mixing board. Then he pulled her onto his lap.

“Oh yeah… countless women stashed in these rooms.”

She glared at him, playfully, shoving him back as he tried to kiss her.

“You better be fucking kidding, Michael…”

He laughed.

“Stop being a pain in the butt and kiss me, woman.”

Her eyes still narrowed, Lisa couldn’t repress a grin and finally leaned over, kissing him softly. He ran his fingers along her spine and held her close.

“Anyway, no… I’m not tired at all. But my back is starting to bother me… So I better take a break and relax a little. ”

“Really?” Her arms still wrapped around his shoulders, she backed off, her eyebrows raising. Her mischievous smirk was still there. “Then I’m gonna let you rest. I just came down to ask you if you were interested in some baby-making business, since the timing would be perfect…”

She started to get up and his hands on her hips pulled her back down. Lisa laughed.

“What am I supposed to do with you, huh? You’re such a frigging bully…”

He had already started kissing her collarbone. And unbuttoning her shirt. She felt him smile against her skin. She was tingling under his touch.

“I’m not a bully. I’m a very dedicated husband, and I’m all about performing my conjugal duty…”

“Are you, now…”

He took her hand and brought it down, on his groin.

“Totally dedicated.”

Moaning softly, feeling his lips and fingers on her increasingly naked skin, she closed her eyes and started unzipping his jeans.

“Michael… maybe we should go upstairs…”

Her shirt wholly unbuttoned now, he let his hands skim over her back, under the fabric, and unclasped her bra.

“No… I don’t think I can wait that long… We’re gonna make love in this studio… we’re gonna make our baby right here, right now…” He pulled at the waistbands of her sweater pants. “Take these off, baby girl… and get ready for a wild ride…”

She managed to comply as they kept kissing. All the while, he got rid of his t-shirt and let her take care of his pants, just lowering them down his hips. It was more than enough for what he had in mind.

As the drumbeat and the bass still set the rhythm in the space, he made her bend over the mixing board and kissed her back thoroughly, his arms snaking around her torso, his hands cupping her breasts as she reached back blindly, finding him and massaging him, stoking the flames higher. Not that it was really needed. They only needed themselves, and what they felt for one another.

The urgency of their lovemaking was only comparable to the passion and commitment they put in it. Every time they were together physically, nothing and nobody else existed, the rest of the world obliterated, any other person forgotten and put aside. They took all the space. They stilled time.

As Lisa felt him full and ready behind her back, she absent-mindedly realized that his new album would be great. Visceral and passionate, honest and unbridled. Kind of like the love that they felt for each other. Swallowing, she turned her head and watched him through half-lidded eyes. His face was lit up not only by arousal, but also deep concentration.

Biting his lip, Michael guided himself inside of her, and all the while kissed her. A slow, deep kiss that took her breath away. She whimpered in his mouth, and her lower body pushed back and against him instinctively. He groaned and stilled her, his strong hands on her waist.

“Hold on…” He took a deep breath. “I wanna do this right… And I’m not in a hurry. I love you so fucking much, Lise…”

For a second, she felt his body tremble against hers. Then he started moving, and she couldn’t hear anything any longer. Anything but his uneven breathing, his seductive little sobs, his words. Words that he would never say in different circumstances. Hot and dirty, seducing her, enticing her, dragging her into the spider web of his immense sex appeal, into a love she had never felt before – for anybody else.

There was no other place in the world she wanted to be. No other place but his arms.

After delivering the news to Michael and leaving him, Lisa just sat in her car for a very long time.

Staring into space, she tried to get rid of the barrage of thoughts, fears and emotions that had been ravaging her from the inside for the last couple of months.

In a way, she felt she had found peace. Even though her peace of mind seemed to indicate that she and Michael would never be together again. Baby or not. The realization was terrifying and relieving at the same time.

As a new life started to grow inside of her, something else had slipped into a coma. And Lisa didn’t know if it would ever wake up again. What she did know for sure, was that at least for now its sleep was deep and couldn’t be interrupted. It was all about survival – and the little one would have to come first, from now on.

The night she had spent with Michael had released all the pent-up frustration, love and terror she had realized she could feel for him. She had been a bundle of raw nerves. She had cherished every single second, every single kiss, every single touch. Every time he had thrust into her, she had been pushed deeper into the abyss of entanglement and ecstasy that loving him was.

The next morning, as he held her from behind, it had felt like time had turned back and all the abysmal things they had been capable of doing or saying to one another didn’t matter anymore. Not only that: they had felt as if they didn’t exist at all, swept away by that powerful, addictive drug that their chemistry and constant pushing and pulling were.

Lisa had dreamed. She had hoped. She had started to believe a new beginning could indeed be possible. And then – within a couple of hours or so, they had gone back to their old mechanisms. To their old ways. It had been inevitable. Painful. Tragic.

And definitive.

She had played with fire and had gotten burned in the process. With his words, no matter how good his intentions were, he had reminded her exactly where they stood. Where he stood. And she had felt pushed into a corner. Into a situation that she had never wanted to provoke, in any way, shape or form.

She had been completely honest, when she had told him that it was not about the baby he was going to have with Debbie. Babies were innocent – always. But a child couldn’t erase the reasons why she and Michael had reached the breaking point. In fact, Lisa believed that nothing could ever erase that.

They had not changed. They still wanted different things. They still had different ways to obtain them. As mature and reasonable they both could usually be, they had also showed, again and again, a worryingly childish and spoiled streak that could not be the foundation for any long-lasting marriage. Or serious relationship.

Without even noticing it, Lisa had bled to death somehow. A little drop of blood lost one day… then another one shed, and another one. Day, after day, after day. Until there was nothing left and she had found herself barren. And because of that loss of blood, because of that suddenly discovered emotional numbness, she had woken up one day, after finding out that she was pregnant, and she had realized that her love for Michael was no longer where it had always been. It had disappeared. It was gone. Where, she didn’t know. She just knew she didn’t feel it anymore.

So no, she had not lied to him. She supposed the earth-shattering news of the pregnancy – she was not just expecting a baby, she was expecting Michael’s baby – had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Whether she was aware of that or not, Lisa had immediately gone into parental mode – a primitive, primal reaction human beings could still have whenever they felt threatened. It didn’t matter if the threat was real or not. Instinct would just kick in, and any rationale was relegated to the back of the bus. Other feelings and desires were put aside as well.

She had to take care of her children – all of them. In the new scenario, Michael simply was not that important anymore. Especially if he would stay married to her just because they were going to have a kid together.

She had loved that man with every ounce of her being. With every breath, every heartbeat. She still loved him, somehow, but being in love with him had become a foreign feeling to her, now. Unknown and smoky – when it had always been nothing but crystal clear. In Lisa’s mind, that meant that it was gone. Changed forever. They had finally managed to bury their love into the ground.

Well, as painful as it was, she thought she could live with that. Accepting that the man she had left everything for was gone from her heart. But their kid would never have to pay for their mistakes or impulsiveness.

The reality check, for Lisa, had come in the shape of a home pregnancy test and a man that was no longer there with her, but someplace else, with another woman he had never been intimate or in love with, but whom he had decided to impregnate in a lab. A woman who had offered – in exchange for money. Lisa had come to respect, and in a way even understand Michael’s desire to have kids on his own terms and timeline. But his recklessness in that department had effectively contributed to scaring her love to death.

The only positive note, in this whole mess, was that she had not a doubt in the world that the baby growing in her lap would always be pivotal for Michael. While she… well, she didn’t matter that much to him, after all.

As she turned on the engine of her car, getting ready to drive back home, Lisa started to carefully plan how she was going to face her pregnancy with her unique, very peculiar baby daddy. The guy she believed would still be married to her only because of the child – no matter what he said.

“Get over yourself. He doesn’t love you.” A sigh. “But at least she’s gonna love his kids.”

Lisa glanced at the road and sped off, toward Hidden Hills.