Safe Zone

{Katy’s Point of View}

Matt didn’t realize I watched him drop a large bouquet of flowers and what looked like an envelope off at the guest services desk. I shook my head, debating if I wanted to run after him and confront him or if I should just leave it alone.

I decided to leave it alone, if he didn’t want to speak to me then I wasn’t going to make him. At one point I was going to raise this child by myself, so I just need to retort to that same mindset.



The rest of my day was hard especially after Gloria brought me the gifts from Matt and I read the stupid letter that he wrote.

Traffic had me occupied, while I flipped through every station on my Pandora before just switching the stereo off. Music was my enemy right now, because every song somehow reminded me of Matt.

Eventually, I made my way back to Brett’s house. I hated that I had to be back there but oh well, I guess I need to be thankful he’s allowing me to stay in his house.

“Hey,” I sighed setting my purse down before I joined Brett on one of the couches.

“Hey, how was work?” He paused the show he was so into, which was very rare for Brett. In the past, he would ignore me or just pretend he was listening.

“Sucked. How did your day go?” I asked trying to get the attention away from me.

“It was good. I mowed and finally fixed the fan in the guest room so you can have the fan on you,” He chuckled turning towards me. Brett’s smile peaked from behind his beard. I tried to recall the last time I saw him smile before all this drama happened.

“Thank God,” I laughed then rolled my eyes.

“You want to go get some groceries tonight? I mean I know you need snacks and stuff for the kid,” He motioned still unsure of the whole pregnancy stuff. I could tell he was uneasy about it, but tried to make the best of it.

“That sounds amazing. I can’t eat another piece of peanut butter toast,” I exaggerated with a grunt, “I’ll go change really quick.”



Once again, I was stuck in traffic the only difference was this time I was stuck with Brett. Brett impatiently kept flipping through the stations, while I played on my phone.

Brett went through the seven preset stations for the third time waiting for a song he liked I assumed, “Want me to play a song from my phone or something?” I asked, with slight irritation in my voice. Brett had done it since we first started dating years ago.

“I’m sorry,” He chuckled just turning the radio all the way down, “I guess old habits die hard.”

“No kidding,” I laughed turning to look at him as traffic began to move. He was leaned up against his door with his arm rested on the door while loosely holding the stirring wheel with two fingers. Brett’s beard was way longer than I remembered. He glanced over briefly, flashing me a smile.

“What?” He chuckled glancing over again. It reminded me of one of our very first dates when he picked me up in an old ragged truck and he couldn’t stop looking at me. Just now it was because I was staring at him.

“I was just thinking how thankful I am that you took me in. I mean I know we have had our ups and downs. Especially since I’m pregnant with another man’s baby,” My eyes began to tear up. I quickly wiped under my eyes to try and hide the fact that I was getting emotional.

“Of course, Kate. I mean it’s my fault that all this happened. If I was better husband. If I would’ve never lied about my vasectomy, then maybe we’d be on our third kid together.” Brett smiled making a joke to hide his emotions, like always.

“Only one baby from this momma,” I shook my head, “It’s not all your fault though Brett. Matt just kind of played the knight in shining armor when things got rough. But obviously, it was just an act, because now I’m going to have to raise our child by myself.” There was no hiding the tears now.

“Wait? What?” Brett asked as he pulled into the grocery store and throwing his truck in park.

“He left a letter at work for me, telling me that he basically could never see me or our child again because Val threatened to take the boys away and he just couldn’t deal with that,” I rolled my eyes and began to dry my tears. Brett looked furious as he stared at the floor board.

“I’ll be there for you and your baby. I mean I know I’ll never be it’s father but I could at least help be a male figure. I’m obviously never going to have my own kids,” He smiled in my direction. Our hands met in the middle and I rubbed my thumb across the top of his hand.

“Thanks, Brett. I greatly appreciate it,” Happy tears filled my eyes. Brett and I were nowhere near where we used to be, but I did see Brett’s soft interior shine through the rough exterior reminding me of the man Brett was when we first got together.