Two weeks before classes began, Gab received an unexpected phone call.

“Hello?” she answered an unknown caller, while sitting on the couch juggling River on her lap.

“Hi, is that Gabrielle?” a female voice came down the line.

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“Tory. Robbie Walker’s girlfriend.” Gab dropped the phone. She picked it up. Her life flashed before her eyes. “Didn’t you used to live with Steph?” asked Tory acerbically.

“Yeah, um, last year,” said Gab, her heart racing as though she were being interrogated by the police for a suspected crime.

“Steph told me something interesting.”

“What’s that?”

“She said you had a baby.”

“Yeah, I … I did. I do.”

“Well, Steph told me something else kind of interesting. She said that you and Robbie got very close at a party I wasn’t at last year.” Tory’s voice peaked as her sentence ended, as though she were struggling to restrain hysteria. Gab’s head spun; she was dizzy, she had to lie down. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do.

“Is it true?” pressed Tory, whose tone was both menacing and fearful. “Tell me! Is it true? Is Robbie the father?”

“I don’t know,” said Gab. What else could she say?

“What the hell does that mean? How can you not know? What are you saying?!”

“I don’t know how to answer.”

“Robbie cheated on me last year, didn’t he? With you!” Tory sounded defeated now and Gab’s heart did a strange thing and leapt out towards Tory with painful compassion. She couldn’t bring herself to lie straight out. She just couldn’t, because in a weird way, Tory deserved to know. Gab tried to imagine herself in Tory’s shoes. Wouldn’t she want to know the truth, if her boyfriend had cheated on her? Gab gulped.

“Yes. He did. I’m so so … ”

The phone went dead.