My Only One

Brittany-
Alex had been coming over everyday lately, not that I minded. He told me about Jack. I let him talk to Audrey about him. I never knew Jack never dated after we broke up. He was seeing Holly Madison, but it ended shortly after it began. Alex said Jack never really loved her. He was just with her to try to forget about me.

“Why don’t you talk to Jack? He would love to talk to you. He actually told me he was going to call you.” He smiled.

“I don’t know, it’s just hard.” I sighed and sipped my coffee. We sat at Starbucks as Audrey played with Sebastian. “I mean I want Audrey to meet him but I just don’t know how he would react to having a daughter.”

“He’d be thrilled.” He put his hand on mine.

“Alex?” I heard a voice behind me. Jack. I slowly turned to face him. He froze. “I didn’t know you were coming here.” He ignored my presence.

“Well, here I am.” He chuckled nervously. “Do you want me to take Audrey and you two can talk?”

“Uh no, that’s okay. I should actually get going.” I started to get up and picked up the trash and brought it to the trash can. While Jack was inside I managed to get Audrey’s coat on her. “Alright, give Uncle Alex a hug and a kiss. We have to go home, sweetie.”

“Aw, but I was playing with Bas.” She whined.

“Tell you what, next time I come over, I’ll bring him and Peyton.”

“TWO DOGGIES?!” She squealed. “Otay! Bye Uncle Alex!” She jumped up and hugged him. We started walking down the sidewalk when someone called after me.

“Brittany!” They called again. I stopped and waited for him to catch up to me. “Why did you leave?” He panted. Audrey and I turned around.

“I have to get Audrey home.” I said bluntly and turned away.

“No, that’s not it. It was because of me wasn’t it?” He grabbed my hand. My breath hitched in my throat at his touch.

“Yes Jack. It was. It’s clear you don’t want to see me, so just let me leave.”

“No, please, let me talk to you.” He begged.

“Jack, what do you want me to tell you? You left me after graduation. You told me you loved me but you left me.” I turned back to face him. “I wasn’t ready to marry you, I told you that. But you didn’t care. You just left me.” Alex came up and took Audrey away from me and Jack.

“That’s not true!”

“What isn’t true Jack? Everyone saw you leave me.” I retorted.

“The me not caring part! I always cared. I always loved you.” He put a hand on my arm.

“Then why did you leave me? Why couldn’t you just handle waiting until we were older before we made a decision to get engaged?”

“Because I knew then I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“If you knew it why didn’t you try to talk to me? Jack, you didn’t bother talking to me. I though you didn’t want to see me or have anything to do with me after I told you I couldn’t marry you. But you didn’t stay long enough for me to explain why I couldn’t.”

“I was scared, Brittany. I was scared. I didn’t think you wanted to see me, I thought you hated me. You knew. You knew I loved you more than anything. I felt like such an asshole when I told you to forget about that kiss the night we went to the movie. My biggest mistake in our whole relationship was leaving you. Damn it Britt, I loved you. And I know you loved me too. Why couldn’t you tell me why you couldn’t marry me?” Audrey broke free from Alex and wrapped herself around Jack’s leg.

“Daddy!”

“Did she just call me ‘Daddy’?” He looked down at her then back at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I didn’t know if it was anger in his eyes or confusion. I couldn’t answer him. “Did. She. Just. Call. Me. Daddy?”

“Jack, I-I-” That’s why.