Disclaimer: I don't own any of the movies or characters from the "Cabin Fever" franchise. All "Cabin Fever" movies and their characters belong to their respective owners. I don't make any money from the writing of this story.
Comments/Kudos are appreciated.
*****
Marcy and Paul stood facing towards each other on the footpath directly in front of the café entrance. They had finished their refreshments. Paul had even plucked up the presence of mind to down the cup of coffee he'd ordered. Though neither one of them felt like the matter of Marcy's secret pregnancy had been resolved, it seemed that between them they had said everything that needed to be said.
"So..." Marcy said in an uneasy tone that had a sense of finality to it. This was all so familiar to her. It felt exactly like the awkward farewell they had shared after they had spent the night comforting each other following Karen's funeral.
"You parked near the office?" she inquired, realizing that it was pointless to try to muddle their way through a goodbye now if they were only going to have to walk the same route together for the next couple of minutes.
"Uh, no, I'm parked in the parking lot down the street," he pointed.
"Oh, okay," Marcy responded with a cheery nod. That meant he was headed in the opposite direction.
"You need a ride somewhere?" Paul asked, misreading Marcy's reason for asking.
"Oh, no," Marcy smiled politely, "My place isn't that far."
"Oh," said Paul.
It seemed they had run out of pleasantries.
Before he left, there was one last thing Marcy needed from him: confirmation. Confirmation that he wouldn't go making any trouble for her; that he wouldn't screw up the arrangements she'd made by trying to claim custody of his baby, or that he'd make her life hell by letting the cat out of the bag about her pregnancy. He'd fallen enigmatically quiet in the café when she'd revealed her arrangements for a private adoption. Marcy had taken this to be a good sign. After all, she had in essence solved this enormous problem before it would even fall upon him.
But all the same, for her own peace of mind, Marcy needed to know for sure that he was leaving her today in a spirit of cooperation.
"I can walk you home, if you like?" Paul offered before Marcy was able to ask her question. He seemed uncomfortable, like he had only made the offer because he didn't know what else to do.
"Uh... yeah, okay. That'd be great," Marcy agreed with a friendly smile. As eager as she was for this unpleasant reunion to be over and done with, it was best that she try to stay on good terms with Paul, so rebuffing his polite gesture probably wasn't the smartest choice. Besides, there was still a fair degree of foot traffic passing them by on the main street. That would quieten down as they drifted into the residential area, which meant she would be able to speak to him more openly about respecting her decisions and privacy.
Marcy turned around and led Paul down the street.
Paul tried not to let it show, but watching Marcy waddle by his side still put him on edge, as did every reminder of her pregnancy like the belly and the appetite. Finding out he'd carelessly fathered a child was not a shock he would quickly recover from.
They walked together in awkward silence until they stopped at the first crosswalk. Both of them avoided eye contact with each other. Paul, in fact, was avoiding eye contact with everybody.
"So..." Paul began, searching for a way to cut the tension as they waited for a couple of cars to pass through. "Nice town you've got here."
Marcy stifled a chuckle. "Yeah, it's... nice," she agreed with a hint of sarcasm. It wasn't wise to talk too disparagingly about the town as there were a couple of locals standing nearby.
"Yeah. It's very... very..." Paul tried to stretch out the conversation as they continued moving again.
"Oregon?" Marcy looked over at him with a sly smirk. She was surprised to see him actually smile for a split second - the first time he'd done so since he first noticed her baby bulge.
"I was going to say 'peaceful'," he clarified. "But 'Oregon?' Very Oregon... yeah, that fits," he chuckled.
The other pedestrians who'd been with Paul and Marcy quickly outpaced them.
"Peaceful? Fast asleep, more like. But hey, it's not like there was any point looking for a town with a great night life, you know? I just needed some place to stay until I got through this," she said while rubbing her belly. "Some place where nobody knew who I was, and where nobody would remember me after I left...
"Besides, the parents are only a couple towns over. About a 20 minute drive," Marcy told him.
"Really? I thought your family was in New Mexico?" Paul asked.
"*My* parents? Oh fuck no!" Marcy corrected him with a horrified tone. She glared at him with humorless eyes and patted her belly twice to hint him towards the correct answer.
"Oh! The... right! Sorry. Stupid," Paul excused himself with a playful slap to his head, realizing that Marcy had meant the baby's adopting parents.
"Yeah, they kept dropping all these obvious hints that they wanted me to settle somewhere nearby. They like to be involved in the 'process,'" she said, holding up her hands and talking in a mocking tone as if to imply the parents had some screws loose. "They like to be there for all the sonagrams and Lamaze classes and stuff. They bring me over for dinner a couple times a week.
"Actually, they're really nice," Marcy clarified in a far more thoughtful tone. She immediately felt guilty for poking fun of them a few seconds earlier.
"Wow. That's great," Paul said. "So are they gonna be there for the... uh, when you..." he asked, struggling to say the word 'birth', though doing his best to substitute it with a gesture of his finger that implied the contents of her belly dropping out between her legs.