Coming Home

Chapter 5

When I walked through the doors, Liam was sitting on the porch swing, gently rocking back and forth. He had his elbows resting on his knees and was constantly running his hands through his hair, something he always did when he was upset. Guilt and sadness coursed through me as I realized I was the reason for him to be upset.

“Liam?” I said softly, cautiously, unsure of his reaction.

He didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at me, just continued to run his hands through his hair. It felt like my heart was breaking as I slowly took a seat next to my best friend.

“Liam?” I asked softly, turning my head to look at him.

He looked at me for a moment before turning away but not before I saw the hurt and betrayal burning in his eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the tears that were threatening to spill over, but not wanting to let them fall. I didn’t know what to say, where to start, so I waited for Liam.

“Why? Why’d you leave Makenzi?” he asked after a couple of tense, silent minutes, using my full name which is something he’s never done.

“I had to. He cheated on me Liam,” I answered, my gaze never leaving his face.

“I know he did. Everyone does,” Liam said, staring at the ground.

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah. After he found out you left, he knew it had to do with him cheating on you. He felt guilty and told everyone what he had done. But that still doesn’t explain why you had to leave me behind,” Liam said, the sadness in his voice intensifying.

“I didn’t leave just because he cheated on me. Well, not exactly. The morning I found him in bed with her, I found out some news.  I was pregnant,” I said, pausing there to wait for his reaction.

His head snapped up and he stared at me, wide-eyed. A million different emotions flashed in his eyes, disappearing too fast for me to decipher them.

“You were pregnant? How could you not tell me that? I thought you were one of my best friends Makenzi! How could you?” he asked, looking anguished.

“I didn’t want to! I wanted to tell you Liam, every day. You’ve been my best friend ever since I can remember and it’s killed me these last few years to not have you there, but I did what I had to do. I left because I didn’t want my baby to get hurt. Cayden’s promised me our entire lives that he would never hurt me, never do anything to upset me, but he did. If he’d do that to me, who’s to say he wouldn’t do it to our child too? I couldn’t take that risk, I couldn’t let my baby get hurt. I knew I had to leave in order to do that,” I explained.

“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me,” Liam said.

“I didn’t want to put you between a rock and a hard place. You’re fiercely loyal to your friends, Liam, and that’s one thing I’ve always loved about you. I couldn’t let Cayden find out I was pregnant because then he’d come after me and me leaving would have been pointless. If I had told you I was pregnant, you would have been stuck between your loyalties. You could’ve either betrayed me and told Cayden or kept something huge from Cayden while keeping your loyalty to me. It would have eaten you from the inside and I couldn’t let that happen, not when I was the cause. I’m so sorry for not telling you but I had the best of intentions,” I said, pleading with him to believe me.

We stayed silent for a minute, looking at each other. I could see him trying to process everything and I waited, not wanting to say anything yet. I wanted to wait until he was done processing the new information first. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I was about to lose my best friend.