Little Bit Yours 💜

Five

Audrey manages to work cordially with Andy for the rest of the week. He doesn't pry any further since she told him that she wasn't ready to talk to him yet. But that didn't stop her from noticing him staring at her, glancing away whenever she looked back at him. She knew that she should tell him about Braeden, but the longer it took her, the harder it seemed to be to just say it. How do you casually bring up to the man that you had an affair with for more than six months that you had his baby in secret and never told him? Oh, and that he turns four in just a few short weeks and really wanted his dad to be there. She felt more and more like the worst mother ever, the longer it took her to tell him.

"Mama!" Braeden points excitedly to some cereal on the shelf, pulling her from her thoughts as she turns toward him.

She laughs, grabbing the box of Trix cereal for him and tosses it into the cart as he grins. "Sure, bud." She stops as she turns a corner, her heart plummeting to the floor when she sees the big brown eyes staring back at her.

"Audrey, I heard you were back here in Boston." Laurie offers her a small smile, glancing between her and Braeden.

She swallows hard, trying not to appear too panicked, knowing that she must hate her. "Laurie, hi. I just moved back recently."

Laurie nods, inspecting Braeden who is too friendly for his own good, grinning stupidly at the woman who his father betrayed with Audrey's help. "He looks just like him." She cocks a brow at Audrey. "I assume he doesn't know yet. I would have heard."

"He doesn't know... yet." Audrey admits, disappointedly. "I'm really sorry. For everything that happened."

Laurie sighs, shrugging slightly as she glances down to the floor. "I'm over it. Well, mostly anyways. It was a while ago. I'm sorry that he hurt you."

Audrey scoffs, rolling her eyes. "I left because he wanted to be with you, not me. But ended up getting divorced anyways. I'm really sorry, Laurie."

"Don't be. He really did want to be with you. I got pregnant one of the very few times we had sex while he was seeing you. I had blinders up and refused to see what was happening. I confronted him and he admitted to everything, and I told him that I was pregnant and to choose. He only chose me because of the baby, but then I ended up losing it. By that time, you were already gone. So perhaps I should apologize too. I knew he only stayed because of the baby. I was just happy to be the one that he chose even if he didn't love me anymore."

"God, Laurie. I'm really sorry." Audrey wipes away a stray tear as her heart clenches in her chest at Laurie's confession. "For the record, I didn't know I was pregnant until after I already left. But I thought he was happy to stay with you, so I stayed away. But now it seems he's getting engaged to someone else. So it all doesn't matter anymore..."

Laurie laughs, shaking her head. "Don't worry about Lily. Just tell him about his son. He deserves to know. He has his faults, but being a father is not one of them. He is an amazing father. Tell him. Good luck, Audrey."

Audrey sighs, nodding, giving Laurie a small smile. "Thank you." She watches Laurie walk away, leaving her slightly dumbfounded at the new information. It must have been why Andy was so adamant about wanting to talk to her. He had actually chosen her after all.

"Mama!" Braeden whines, leaning on her as he sits in the cart. "I wanna go home!"

"Sorry bud. Come on. You want pizza for dinner?"

"Pizza!" He perks up right away, grinning and making her laugh as she pushed him toward the check out.

***

Audrey kisses Braeden on the cheek before setting him on his feet on the ground. "Be good for Ms. Lynn." She was thankful he adored his teachers at daycare and that one was available to watch him while she went to the gala. He was getting to be a bit too much for her mother to have to keep an eye on him and her father at the same time.