Free Snowed In with Her Ex by Andrea Laurence Page B

Now, the child had never existed, was nothing but the manipulative imaginings of its would-be mother. He felt a bubble of hysterical laughter rising in his chest that he absolutely couldn’t let out. Keith and Bree would confuse the sound for one of happiness, and that wasn’t an accurate description of the maelstrom swirling inside him.
    “Ian? Are you okay?” Keith’s voice had more concern in it than Ian had ever heard before.
    Ian cleared his throat, swallowing the emotions inside of him before his manager panicked. “Yeah. Thanks for telling me, Keith. It’s better I heard it from you.”
    “What shall I do about the reporters?”
    “Tell them that SpinTrax does not comment on the personal lives of their artists or employees. Then send them to Missy’s house.”
    * * *
    Bree was afraid to speak. Afraid to move. She was trapped in the kitchen, bearing witness to an uncomfortable situation she had no business in. She had only heard one side of the phone conversation, but that was enough. Judging by Ian’s suddenly pale complexion and unsteadiness, she knew whatever Keith told him was bad.
    She waited patiently for Ian to turn off his phone so she could see if he needed anything. In a moment like this, there wasn’t much she could do, but she knew enough to offer. It was the sentiment that was important. If he preferred to be alone, she would go downstairs to give him some privacy. There, she could turn on the television so she couldn’t hear his voice upstairs.
    “Ian?”
    He looked up from the phone. He seemed shaken but, at the same time, eerily calm. She knew from experience that wasn’t good. He was thinking. Processing. Preparing. Fighting with Ian had always been frustrating for her because the majority of the fight seemed to go on silently in his head. She would say something and just sit back and watch the wheels turn in his mind while, outwardly, it appeared he was ignoring her. Eventually, she would just stomp away and he would throw himself into his music. Or his work. This wasn’t a problem he could ignore, though.
    “Yes?” he answered softly.
    “Can I do anything? Get you anything?”
    “No,” he said with a slow shake of his head. It made Bree wonder if maybe he was in shock over the whole thing. She supposed that whether the baby was ever real or not, it had been real to him. He was still losing the idea of a child and the future he was planning with it.
    “I need to call Missy here in a minute. You might not...” His voice trailed off.
    Bree nodded. She wouldn’t want anyone else around when she had a hard conversation like that, either. “I’ll give you your privacy. Let me know if you need me.” Bree reached out and put her hand over his. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and a weak smile before heading downstairs.
    When she reached the lower level of the cabin, she walked over to the leather couch and scooped up the remote. She put the television on a loud action movie with lots of gunfire and explosions. But even that couldn’t muffle everything.
    The calm from a moment before was gone. She couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying, but Ian was yelling. Bree turned up the volume and wished she had packed some earplugs in her bag. She considered taking a shower. Or a walk. Or crawling under some blankets and covering her head with a pillow.
    She felt awful for Ian. She knew he wasn’t happy, but he had been making the best of things for the child’s sake. He had always told her how important being a good father was to him. In her young, girlish fantasies, she’d imagined what Ian would be like with their children. She’d thought he would be a hands-on dad. She’d had fantasies of him singing them to sleep with lullabies he wrote especially for them.
    To think that Missy had taken that loyalty and dedication in Ian and used it against him... It made Bree feel sick.
    Despite the fact that Bree had broken up with Ian in college, she’d never wanted to hurt him. She’d