to make things awkward | fillie

11| mistakes

"What. . . the fuck. . . is this?" Jake repeated, his voice quivering as he shook the picture in his hand. The picture of Millie and her daughter. The other picture of them with Finn was lying on the counter along with the other bits of memory that Millie had decided was worth keeping in a box at her parents house. A blanket from the hospital, a hat Lucy wore that even now, had her smell on it, her hospital bracelets. All of it, looking like it had been vomited from the box and strewn over the granite counter haphazardly.

Millie took a step forward, toward Jake. She lowered her purse to the floor, then brought her arms up and crossed them over her stomach. He looked like he was doing everything in his power not to flip his lid on her and she was too exhausted to even entertain the idea of arguing, yet she knew she owed him an explanation. She wished more than anything that she had just told him about this back when they first got back together, but was that only because she was caught?

"I thought you weren't due home until tomorrow. . ." she said. Even to her own ears, it sounded like the most ridiculous thing to say in this moment.

He looked at her like she was crazy then slammed the photo down so hard that she worried for moment that he'd broken his hand, but he didn't seem to share that concern as he stormed over to her and said in a severe yet quiet voice, "Yeah, well apparently some things don't go according to plan, now do they, Millie?"

Her ears rang louder the closer he got and she didn't see a clear path forward. She had planned to take him out to dinner, butter him up a bit before sharing something with him that really had very little to do with him, and it wasn't entirely wrong that it all happened, although she knew he would be upset. But if she told him on her own timeline, in her own way, she felt she'd be able to make certain that he didn't have a bad reaction. A reaction like the one he was having now.

It was then that she noticed there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the counter. She did a quick scan and saw Jake's suitcase near the door to their bedroom and saw the open closet door beyond. She quickly ascertained what must have happened.

He had gotten home early with a mind to surprise her and when he went to put away his suitcase, which he was always so quick to do, he found the box in the closet. She realized how stupid it was for her to have left the closet the way it was. She hadn't even closed the box. If she wasn't already guilty for not having told Jake about Lucy, she would be for cheating on him. But was it really cheating if it was just a kiss? Particularly, a kiss that meant absolutely nothing and was born out of emotional turmoil?

No matter how her brain tried to spin it, she knew how wrong it was. She just didn't know if she'd tell him about it.

"Jake. . ." she said tentatively, "I-I can explain."

He took a step back and clasped his hands behind his neck, "I'm listening."

"It was. . .It was during our break."

He scoffed, "Oh, well that makes it all better! Did you even go to school? Or was that all a lie so you could date a man you told me you'd never been interested in?"

"Of course I went to school." she said, trying to remain calm. If she were in his shoes, she knew she'd have a hard time believing herself too, "It wasn't planned. We didn't date. It wasn't romantic, Jake."

"Oh it wasn't romantic? So you two had a baby, what, for work?"

"Wha— Jake—"

"And where exactly is this kid?" He picked the photo back up and jabbed his finger at it, "This is your kid right? The one you're holding here in a hospital bed. Where are they? Have you been hiding them this whole time?"