Wine After Whiskey

James pulled his SUV into the parking lot outside of Melanie’s apartment and put the car into park. He took a deep breath, and shook his head. He shouldn’t have been put in this position.

It’s now or never, he thought to himself as he turned off the engine and opened up the door. Find out what’s up, deal with it, leave and go back to his family.

Bing, bang, boom done.

His palms were sweaty and his knees felt weak as he knocked on the front door of the dumpy apartment. It wasn’t in the best part of town, and during the few times he had actually been at her place, he didn’t feel the safest.

“James?” she replied with a smirk after she opened the front door. She was standing in sky blue boy shorts and a white tank top. Her hair was in a ratty looking bun on the top of her head and her make up looked like she was channeling a hooker. James swallowed bile and pulled his hands out of his pocket as he pushed past her and walked into her apartment. Melanie looked surprised, happy surprised. “What are you doing here?” she asked her voice silky and sultry.

If she was trying to turn him on, it wasn’t working.

“I want to know what the hell was up with what you said to my girlfriend at the beach today,” he spat out, getting to the point. She scoffed at his usage of ‘girlfriend’ and slammed the door shut to her apartment.

“So now she’s you’re girlfriend, eh?” she asked with sarcasm dripping off the tip of her tongue. James took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. Finally, she got to the point. “If you’re referring to when I told her I’m pregnant, and you’re the baby daddy then I guess you’ll just have to wait nine-months to find out, right?” James blood began to boil. Whatever the hell had he even seen in this bitch?

“No. You’re going to tell me, right now.” He ordered getting frustrated. He was in no mood for Melanie’s games. She smirked again.

“I’m pregnant… Hope you’re ready to buy a condo here in Wasaga so you can move here in the summer and see your kid.” James couldn’t tell if she were yanking his chain, or actually being serious about this.

“Am I the father?” he looked down at her stomach which, if you looked carefully looked like it was protruding a little bit… but that could’ve been also just a food baby.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Damnit Melanie!” he exclaimed, slamming his fist down onto the kitchen counter top and glaring at her. “Stop pulling my balls.” Melanie grinned; it was obvious that she was enjoying this.

“Oh hun, if I wanted to pull your balls I would.”

“I just want to know the goddamn answer. Answer my question, and I’m leaving.”

“Now what’s the fun in that?” she asked, closing the small gap between them with two large steps. James backed up and folded his arms defensively across his chest.

“There isn’t, now that’s the point.”

She closed the gap between them. Placing her hand on his ripped stomach, she leaned up on her tiptoes and caught his face with her own, catching him off guard. Instinctively and without thought, James wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer for him to kiss. It took his brain nearly a minute to register what exactly was going on, and another thirty-seconds for him to will himself to stop. When he pushed her away from him, he realized what exactly had just happened and a nasty, sick pit began to form in his stomach.

“I hope you’re ready to be a daddy this time,” she grinned, pleased with her work as she pulled down her tank top. James was embarrassed for himself that he fell for her trap. The pit in his stomach grew. He had fucked everything up. He’d finally worked up the nerve to get back with his daughter and her mother, and now everything seemed like it was slowly falling apart right in front of his eyes.

He began to back out of the apartment and made his way towards his car where he let out a loud yell once inside the plush confines. Maybe there could be one-onethousanths of a chance that she was lying. James only hoped because even though Tessa had said that she’d be with him through the thick and thin of it all, he half believed that it would be too difficult to see him around another woman’s child and she would back out of their relationship.

Time would only tell if Melanie was actually lying…