His Match

We Have To Decide

ETHAN

"What has you so down son?" My dad asks me as we sit on the terrace in my childhood home. I can hear the faint sirens echoing through the night. The usual sound from the lively night in the big apple. A vibration coming from a speaker somewhere can be heard clearly and that's most likely coming from a club.

I sigh and take a sip of the beer he handed me only moments ago. Water droplets coating the glass telling me it's fresh from the cooler. I stare down at the bottle feeling guilty for drinking this. I feel bad that I'm allowed to and Chloe isn't. Not while she's carrying our child inside of her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He pushes softly. He knows I have a lot on my mind right now. Business is booming but it's stressful and he knows it is. I could always talk to my dad about these things because he was once in my position. But I just don't know how I can talk to him about this. Where do I even start with all of this?

Sure, he's a father himself, but this situation is different from any other I've ever been in. A girl has never carried out on proof that she's pregnant after me sleeping with her, sure I've had a couple of scares, but I've always been careful.

He stays silent for the longest time next to me, waiting for me to say something, anything. He has patience with all three of us. Never lost it throughout the years. He was such a good father to us.

I don't know if I'll be the same.

"Chloe's pregnant" I tell him but speak to the bottle in my hand. I can't even look at my own dad. I'm so scared. I'm in the unknown. I'm in deep water and I don't know if I'm in over my head. I don't know what to do, what she wants or what I want. "It's mine" I take another sip of the beer hoping it will flush my heavy heart away. But it doesn't, it only adds to it.

A heavy heart of knowing absolutely nothing about parenthood.

"Okay" he sighs calmly. "Okay" he repeats, it sounds like he's convincing himself that it's okay. But I'm not wholly convinced it is. This is a human being we're talking about. A tiny child that's growing inside of her, half of me and half of her. One that we created the night she let me in.

"I told her I love her" I take another gulp of the crisp fresh beer. My dad lifts his hand and pushes the beverage away from my mouth. Removing it to get me to talk to him while I'm trying not to and avoid the topic completely.

"Come on son, talk to me about it" he pleads me to open up. So I lower the bottle in my hands. "You can't drink yourself into oblivion, it's not healthy. You also can't drop two bombshells on me like that and zip your mouth shut. So come on, tell me what's going through your mind" he takes the bottle from my hand and places it on the table in front of us. He rests his own tumbler glass on the table beside my own bottle as he positions himself to face me. Giving me his undivided attention.

I should have gone with something stronger.

I take a deep breath and begin. "She came over yesterday. I was so nervous to tell her how I feel I almost crapped myself. Those eyes make me want to run away and then run back to her. She like a puzzle that is missing the last piece" I run my hands down my face, pulling at my skin in frustration. "I said it and I knew I couldn't take it back. I left it out in the open and all she did was stare back at me. Like I had all of sudden grown five heads. Then when she told me she was pregnant with my kid I shut down. I didn't know what to do, so I probably stared at her the same way she did with me. I panicked. I was hoping she'd tell me she loved me back but I got a ... baby instead. I'm not even sure what she wants to do with it? What am I supposed to do, dad?" I turn my head to face him as he watches me carefully. Judging me based on how I'm feeling while keeping a soft smile on his face.