The Love We Choose

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

"So Lynne, how are things with Dr. Daddy?"

Resting her hand on her fist she dead-panned in answer, "Ava. Ava. If you care for me in any way, shape, or form, you'll stop referring to him that way." The two were having their first lunch together after coming back from Winter Break.

"Fine then," the older woman said exasperatedly, "how're things with your best friend slash baby daddy?"

"Still no better Ava." She let out a resigned huff of air. "Ok, I guess. I actually haven't seen him since my last doctor's appointment. Here's the latest picture of your future niece or nephew," Lynne told her as she pulled up the sonogram photo on her phone and handed it to Ava.

"Oh cute. Still looks like an alien though." She handed the phone back. "Now quit trying to distract me. Why haven't you seen Huan since your last doctor's appointment a few weeks ago? Is he swamped with work?"

Lynne stiffened and turned her focus onto the goat cheese ravioli she had brought for her lunch. "Not swamped, he is just interviewing for possible attending positions and..."

Noticing her rigid posture, Ava pressed on,"and?"

Lynne sighed, "and... he's just back with Veronica is all."

"What?!" Ava spat out, dropping her fork back into her salad. "Why in the world would he do that?"

"I may or may not have suggested the idea to him." Ava gave her a blank look.

"Are you shitting me?"

"No, Ava. They met up at a New Years Eve party we were at and got to talking. She asked him to give her another chance and start over. I told him that he deserved to see if this was the real thing. I would never want to come between him and his true love just because I'm having his baby. I mean, she was the longest relationship I ever saw him in."

"So much for ringing in the new year from your couch." Ava was silent for a long pause before frustratingly sucked her teeth at her. "You know, most times I forget how young you are."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. We laugh, hang out, and discuss topics on such a mature level. You make me feel like we've been friends forever. Then you do something so far out of left field. I'm going to have to talk to you like you're my little sister now. So I'm going to have to give you some tough love, sister. Stop getting in the way of your own happiness."

"I'm not getting in the way of..."

"Bullshit."

"It's not bullshit, Ava. It's the truth. Just because we are going to be parents together, doesn't mean I have any right to keep him from having a meaningful relationship if he wants to," she finished with a huff.

"I don't know how you can justify this when you were laying in his bed a few weeks ago? Or did I imagine you telling me what happened after you went to that gala together?"

Pink tinged Lynne's ears and a flush of heat ran up the back of her neck. Ava pressed on.

"Who was it who helped him pick up the pieces of his broken heart when this same woman broke it? Who comes running to him every single bleeding time he is sick or feeling down, knowing just how to make him feel better?"

Lynne started to interject, but Ava raised a hand to stop her as she kept powering through.

"You two tell each other everything. But what you, young lady, have failed to do is pluck up the nerve to tell him how you truly feel about him."

"He does know how I feel for him!" Lynne bit out in anger.

"Then why is he shacked up with another woman?"

A tense silence filled Ava's office as her question hung in the air.

"Look, I'm not saying these things to be mean to you, Lynne. It just pains me to see you not willing to respect yourself when it comes to the matters of your heart. It is not fair to you or that little life you are carrying. Be with Huan or don't be with Huan. But don't deny yourself the chance of happiness just because you are afraid that he just might love you back the same way. I've seen how you two interact and care for each other. Anyone who doesn't see it is blind or in denial themself. There's something special there, definitely, but if the two of you choose to ignore it..." she trailed off, letting Lynne fill in the blank herself. "These are things that you are going to have to deal with for the rest of your lives. Just be ready for the feelings that will be attached to them."

Lynne's blood was slowly starting to boil as she digested all that Ava had said to her. On top of everything that had been going on in her life these past few weeks: accepting that Veronica was back in Huan's life and by extension her own, gearing up to let their families know about the pregnancy, the inconsistencies in budget-line items that she has been tracking down in the sports department, dodging invites from family members, the mild hormonal acne that had appeared on both her face and her back, and doing her best to make sure she remembered to get enough calories and water to support the life she was going, Ava's meddling was not something she needed at this moment. Not willing to sit back any longer she opened her mouth, 

"How dare you? How dare you say I don't respect myself. I don't know what you think you know about my relationship with Huan, but you're wrong. When it comes to sex, there's no feelings attached to it. We established the precedent that it was strictly for mutually satisfying needs when they arise a long time ago. He is my best friend and I am his. Through circumstances that occurred out of our own slip-up, we are now going to be bound together as parents. That's it. Full stop."

Vibrating with rage she kept going, "It's actually quite hilarious you think that it is something more. If Huan felt any sort of way about me, he wouldn't have asked me for my advice about him getting back with Veronica."

"Or maybe he was giving you an opening to let him know if things had changed for you as they probably were for him."

"No. No." Lynne's brain quickly replayed the conversation she had with Huan when he brought up the subject of Veronica. All that was said and left unsaid. Standing, she quickly sealed the top of her tupperware. "I-I have to get back to work." Her eyes had begun to mist over as she shoved the container into her lunch bag, trying to alleviate the anger rising in her chest. Stupid inconvenient fucking pregnancy hormones.

"Sure," Ava said with a small wave as Lynne booked it out of her office and headed back to her own.

Walking through the hallway to her office as fast as her feet would carry her, Lynne was fighting the clock against the tears that threatened to spill. As she turned a corner she felt herself hit something solid before she registered the distinct feeling of falling. Instinctively, she threw her arms out to brace her fall and landed on the ground with a thud and "oomph," her lunch bag flying off her shoulder.

"Are you ok?" The gentle timbre of a slightly-panicked baritone voice asked her as a cinnamon-colored hand came into her vision. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there."

XXX

A/N: Hey there lovelies! Sorry to leave you hanging a bit here, but I should be posting consistently, moving forward. Don't forget to like, comment, and share with your friends! :)