1089 He Planned a Cross-Country Trip With His Single Coworker to Escape Fatherhood—Until His Wallet Left Him Stranded and His Wife Went Into Labor Alone

I didn't answer right away. I let the silence hang between us, listening to the heavy sound of his breathing through the painted panels of the door.

“Liv, I know you’re awake,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “Can we talk? Please?”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, feeling the familiar, heavy ache in my lower back, and pulled my robe tighter around myself. When I opened the door, Jake was standing there in the dim hallway light, looking exhausted. The defiance he’d worn like armor earlier in the week was gone, replaced by a strange, hunted look.

“What?” I asked, keeping my voice flat.

He swallowed hard, running a hand through his hair. “I went to see Cody’s brother today. At the shop.”

“Okay?”

“We weren’t talking about the road trip.” He looked down at the floorboards. “Well, we were, but... Cody lied to Nora about who’s going.”

My eyes narrowed. The coincidence was too sharp to ignore. “Oh? Is that so?”

“Eric dropped out because of his dad, right?” Jake continued, stepping slightly closer, though he kept his distance. “So we needed another driver. Someone who knows the coastal routes, someone who can split the gas on the truck.”

“Who is it, Jake?”

“Chloe.”

The name dropped into the hallway like a stone.

My mind spun backward through the last three years, sorting through names, faces, and office parties until it landed on a sharp, stylish woman with dark blonde hair and an easy laugh—Chloe Vance, one of the regional sales reps who worked out of the downtown dealership with Jake.

“Chloe Vance?” I echoed, the name tasting like ash in my mouth. “You’re taking a female coworker on a 'no wives, no kids' guys' weekend to San Diego?”

“It’s not like that!” Jake’s voice spiked defensively, his hands flying up. “She broke up with her fiancé last month, she’s been completely stressed out, and she mentioned she needed to get out of Denver for a week. Cody thought it would be fun to have an extra person to split the driving rotation. It’s completely platonic, Liv. She’s just coming along for the ride.”

“Platonic.” I stared at him, my disbelief turning into a cold, blinding fury. “You lied to me about a cross-country trip, you planned it behind my back while I’m nine months pregnant, and the 'guys' weekend' actually includes a single female coworker?”

“Because I knew you’d react exactly like this!” he shouted, losing control. “You make everything into a massive deal! If I told you Chloe was coming, you’d assume the worst, just like you’re doing right now!”

“Because it is the worst, Jake!” I stepped out into the hallway, towering over him despite my exhaustion. “You are packing up and driving across the country with another woman while your wife is sitting at home waiting to give birth! Do you hear yourself? Do you hear how completely insane that sounds?”

He stared at me, his chest heaving, his face pale under the recessed lighting. For a long second, neither of us moved.

Then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and instinctively tilted it away from my line of sight.

It was a text message. And the name flashing at the top of the preview banner wasn’t Cody or Mason.