"Ouch!" Mac said, strolling up beside Martin. "That was the coldest reception from someone you were kissing no longer than forty-eight hours ago. What happened?"
Martin sighed, his heart feeling heavy, watching Ruthie walk away. How had things gotten so complicated so quickly? I was a jerk, Martin told himself. I treated Ruthie like it never really mattered anyway. Now she hates me.
"Her parents don't want us seeing each other, probably because of the whole Sandy thing. I told Ruthie I wouldn't date her if her parents didn't approve," Martin confessed.
Mac gave Martin a look of pity. "Good old, Sandy! Even when she isn't ruining your life, indirectly she still is. Sorry, man. Tough break, but you and Ruthie will work it out."
Martin turned to his friend. "Sadly enough, getting Ruthie to speak to me isn't the least of my worries. I still have to find a way to break things off with Meredith, my girlfriend."
"You and your women troubles," Mac laughed, shaking his head and walking away.
"So, what did you find out?" Lucy asked her father, tossing her purse onto the sofa in Eric's office.
Eric rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "Ruthie and Martin have decided that they want to start dating each other."
Lucy gave her father a knowing look. "I figured that much. What I want to know is what did you and Mom say?"
"We said no," Eric answered. "And now Ruthie hates us and her life is over. Those are her words, by the way."
Lucy sat down in the brown, leather chair opposite her father. "She must be heartbroken."
"I thought that you were of the same mindset. You didn't want them dating either."
"Right, but that doesn't change the fact that Ruthie is probably terribly hurt and confused right now," Lucy pointed out. "She'll come around though. How many times did Mary or I think our lives were over when one of our relationships didn't pan out?"
Eric smiled, thankful their days of teenage dating drama were over. Lucy had grown into such an outstanding woman. Eric felt so much pride watching his daughter be a wife and a mother, but most importantly, a minister. But now his focus had to be on his youngest daughter and getting her through this ordeal.
"Any suggestions?" Eric asked Lucy.
Lucy shrugged. "I hate to say this, but she'll be upset for a while. You and Mom should just give her the space she needs to get through this on her own. You have to see things from her perspective; she finally got the courage to put herself out there to Martin only to have you and Mom destroy any possibility for them to be together."
"That was supposed to help me feel better?" Eric asked.
Lucy shrugged. "It could be worse."
"How?"
Lucy got to her feet and gathered up her purse. At the doorway, she paused and turned back to her father. "You could be Ruthie," she whispered before leaving.
"Okay, so what did you want to talk about?" Meredith asked Martin as the two sat, parked in Martin's car.
"Do you remember that day after you had been to the dentist when we were sitting in the car outside your house?" Martin asked.
A slow smile lit up Meredith's face. "How could I forget? That was the day you first told me that you loved me."
Martin had forgotten that part momentarily. "Right, well we also talked about something else that day."
Meredith's smile disappeared. "That hoochie, Sandy?"
Martin tried to hide his smile. Meredith couldn't be mean even if she tried. "Yeah."
"I personally like to forget about that whole part. What makes you bring it up now?"
Martin shifted in his seat, finding the car incredibly stuffy all of a sudden. He rolled his window down. "I wasn't completely forthcoming that day, Meredith."
A look of worry passed over her face. "About what?"
"Sandy. I told you that I had slept with her, but I didn't exactly tell you everything."
Meredith's face contorted. "I don't want to know any of the details, please!"
Martin sighed. This was harder than he had imagined. "After it happened, Sandy told me that she was… she was… that she was… pregnant."
Meredith closed her eyes tightly and stopped breathing. Martin tried to read her facial expression, but couldn't get anything from it. Was she angry? Hurt? Scared? What was she feeling? What was she thinking?
"So what you're saying is that you're going to be a father?" Meredith asked, finally looking at Martin. The hurt was evident in her eyes. It was the same hurt he had seen coming from Ruthie's eyes the day she confronted him about lying to her.
"Not exactly. Things turned out in my favor. There was no baby," Martin exposed. "I haven't spoken to Sandy since and because of her lies, I probably won't ever again."
Meredith took an unsteady, deep breath. She let it out slowly before looking at Martin. "I can understand why you wouldn't tell me something like that. You were obviously scared and didn't know how to handle the situation. It's not like you cheated on me or anything."
Martin's mind flashed back to the kiss he and Ruthie had shared in his living room. He felt the color rise to his cheeks, the warmth fill his body. It happened any time he thought about Ruthie's warm tongue circling his.
"Martin?" Meredith asked, breaking him away from his memory. "Is there something else?"
Martin nodded his head slowly. Meredith looked out her window and away from Martin. "I'm just trying to be honest," Martin started. "Lately there's been a lot going on with me. You have no idea how overwhelming a situation like thinking you're going to be a father really is until you're faced with it. My emotions have been on a roller coaster. And I've found out some stuff about myself that I never knew."
"Things like?" Meredith probed.
Martin decided he needed to be straight with Meredith, lay everything on the table, show all his cards and hope for the best. "My feelings toward you haven't changed, but I have discovered some other feelings that I didn't know were there until all of this happened."
Meredith smiled shyly. "You like Ruthie," she said simply. Martin gave her a quizzical look. "I guess I've always been afraid that this day would come. I mean, if I knew it was there, it would only be a matter of time before the two of you figured it out."
"How did you know?" Martin asked.
Meredith shrugged. "It's just how you are with each other. It's hard to explain, but I was always worried that I'd never be able to compare to her."
"That's not what this is, Meredith. I think you're amazing and I never lied when I said that I loved you. I just didn't realize that I cared about Ruthie too," Martin confessed. "For what it's worth, which is probably not much, I am sorry."
"Can I ask you a question?" Meredith asked. Martin nodded his approval. "How did you come to find all of this out?"
Martin paused, long enough for Meredith's suspicions to be verified. Martin quickly tried to cover it up. "It's not like that, Meredith. Ruthie and I were fighting and she was upset that I had lied to her about Sandy. The next thing I knew, I was seeing her in a whole different light."
"So nothing happened between you two?" she asked, a sense of relief washing over her.
Martin shrugged. "A kiss." And oh, what a kiss!
Meredith took a deep, resigned breath. "I don't think I really want to talk to you for a while. I need time to get used to the idea of you and Ruthie. Please respect that and if I don't talk to you first, just leave it be, okay?"
Martin nodded, satisfied that this was going along so much better than he had hoped it would. "Ruthie and I aren't together, if that makes things easier. Her parents don't want us dating because of the Sandy thing."
Meredith reached for the door handle. "I know that this is going to sound mean, but I'm actually glad that you're not getting to date Ruthie. You can't expect to have your cake and eat it too."
