I Caught You |BWWM|

Ch. 43 • You and Baby

"Here," Deen said. He held a clean, damp towel in front of him. "Come here."

I grabbed the towel from his hands in desperation. "I got it. Thank you."

He scoffed quietly, and I don't think I was supposed to hear because when I looked at him curiously, he shook his head and walked off.

"You're going to the office?" I asked though I already knew the answer. I grinned like a mind reader. It would humor me if Deen said yes like I thought.

"Is there a problem with it?" He responded cooly

My smile dropped. "No. I was just asking since I guessed so. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. . ."

"Yeah, I'm buried in paperwork since I'm leaving and all. You aren't too mad about that are you?"

"I was never mad in the first place. Surprised? Yes, but never mad."

"Your face said differently." Now it was his turn to laugh dryly.

"I'm sorry you took it that way. I trust you and I know that you're responsible."

Deen looked surprised with my answer. Maybe he expected me to argue with him but I knew that I was never mad with his decision to quit. He nodded and then went up the stairs to leave me with my thoughts.

When dinner time did come around an hour later, my heart pounded against my chest as we ate. We didn't talk much but every word I said felt like a struggle. My knee was bouncing and my thumbs twiddled.

"I—I have some news to tell. Later in the evening though. Not right now, I suppose," I said with a shaky voice.

In my haze, my knee accidentally bumped under the table and knocked down my glass of water. It spilled over the lap of my dress and I gasped lightly.

"I'll get you a towel—"

"No, it's fine. I got it. Sit. It's my fault anyway," I reassured Deen who was already on alert.

"I said I got, Paislee," Deen said.

"It's fine. Really—"

"Are you going to keep this up all day? Are we going to argue over a napkin?" Deen asked. He was upset. Not what I wanted, I thought.

"I didn't think we were arguing. I just didn't want to make a big fuss and mess up dinner. I'm trying to be considerate. What's going on?"

"I apologized to you Friday about our misunderstanding and it's Monday and you're still putting up this front. You've been avoiding me and doing all you can to not ask for my help. I offered to get you a towel earlier and you avoid me and then right now we're going back and forth on the same thing. It's been two days and you're still keeping it up."

The only thing in my head before was the word baby, so when Deen approached me with this, I was a bit perplexed. I tried not to let it get to me because I remembered last Friday I wanted to tell him the news and instead we ended up fighting. Now, it appeared as if we were doing the same thing. It made me anxious. I didn't want to tell him when either of us was angry. It's supposed to be a happy moment, right?

Happy moment, happy moment, I repeated in my head. I could feel myself getting upset. My eyebrows frowned and my cheeks got warm. I busied myself with finding a towel to clean my dress.

"I didn't think I'd been avoiding you. Why call on you for small stuff? I can get a napkin for myself. I don't know why we're arguing over a napkin," I said.

"It's not the napkin, Paislee." He's called me by my name twice now. "It's about the argument Friday and us not getting over it. If you're still upset then tell me that with words and don't give me the cold shoulder."