Face Your Fears

Chapter 5

  I couldn’t help it.

I threw up into the nearest trashcan before I managed to stumble my way through Central Park and flag down a taxi. I didn’t trust my legs to support me and I had no desire to trudge down into the underground.

  I was not sure what the hell had just happened. I was not sure if what had just happened was a figment of my imagination. For all I knew, my mind was beginning to play horrible tricks.  The only thing I was sure of was that that man had been insanity itself, and there was no way I would ever let him get near Hadley, no matter what he had claimed had happened.

 But try as I might…I still couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow that man had been right. Was there something Hadley wasn’t telling me?

  Something as outlandish and farfetched as the man had claimed had happened was something entirely different than hiding a pregnancy.

 Was there something Hadley wasn’t telling me?

I let out a groan and dropped my head back against the lumpy head rest. I was starting to have the urge to throw up again.

  There were plenty of times where I’d been utterly and completely baffled, but this one really did have to take the cake.

 Why me? Was there some sort of invisible sign taped to my forehead advertising that all of the city’s freaks should just come up and strike up a conversation with me?

  I wasn’t sure what the truth was and what wasn’t. Of course I was more inclined to believe anything that Hadley had to say than some random man on the streets. And as much as I wanted to interrogate her about what had just happened, we sort of had more pressing matters to discuss at the moment.

    I managed to scrounge up the fare for the cab with a few bills left in my pockets and walked shakily up the steps into the apartment complex. I cursed the damn elevator as I trudged up the stairs to the third floor. My hands were shaking while I fumbled with my keys to try and unlock the front door. I’d only just slid the key into the lock when the door swung open and Hadley stood in the doorway, looking completely bewildered.

   Another wave of heavy guilt washed over me as I looked at her.

Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot and she was wrapped up in one of my old jackets, looking like she’d just been caught in a rain storm.

 Damn it, I really was such an asshole.

  There were hundreds of things I wanted to say to her.

I’m sorry, please forgive me, what the hell are we going to do?

  But instead, I just reached out and pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly against me. I would feel sorry for squeezing her later, but at that moment, I had the irrational, overpowering urge to know that she was here, with me, and not somewhere else.

 “Archer…” Hadley mumbled into my chest. “I can’t…breathe.”

“Oh.”

I quickly let go of her and stepped back, suddenly feeling very awkward. Should I start the groveling now?

  Hadley gave me a curious, saddened look before she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside, shutting the door behind me and sliding the locks home. A bowl of cereal was sitting on the coffee table, along with a mug of what I bet was one of my mom’s special brews of tea.

  I looked over to the TV and saw that sure enough Spongebob Squarepants was flashing across the screen. My wife was twenty-five years old, but that was still her go-to show whenever she was sad.