“What?”
There was a pit in my stomach, and I turned around to see if anyone heard. That was when I came face-to-face with Kerry.
And she was smiling. She hadthesmile. The one she always got when she’d heard some good gossip.
“What did I just hear?” Kerry asked.
“Nothing. You heard nothing.”
“No, I heard something.”
“Kerry,please.” I wasn’t above begging. In fact, I was very,verybelow it.
“Oh, come on.” Brooke climbed onto a table. “Everyone! Grace is knocked up! By Dean, by the way!”
The entire bar wentsilent.
I could only stare at Brooke. She’d done a lot of stupid things while drunk, but this took the cake.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Jade snapped. “You selfish littlebitch.”
I turned to Jade. I needed to diffuse that. I needed to get Brooke off the table. I also needed to figure out some sort of lie to get myself out of this. Or figure out some way to minimize the damage of Brooke’s actions.
I needed to do it all.
And I was only one person.
I hadn’t noticed it, but my breaths came out faster. This was my worst nightmare, brought on by my own sister.
Everyone’s eyes were on me and the whispers had started.
“Grace is pregnant?” Atticus asked. Theof all peoplewas heavily implied.
“By the playboy?” Mark asked.
OhGod. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t face them.
All I could do was break into a run. As much as I wanted to go outside, there were more eyes trained onmein that direction, and I couldn’t face that.
Mark’s closet was the better option. I stumbled inside, and as I pulled it shut, an arm blocked my way.
“Leave me alone,” I begged. My voice was thick with emotion, and I knew I was seconds away from crying.
That was when Dean opened the door. “Grace, are you?—”
“Oh my God,” I said as I dragged him into the closet. “I can’t believe she—why would she?—”
“I know, I know.” His hands landed on my shoulders. “I need you to breathe, though.”
“I can’t breathe right now. The whole town knows, I need to fix this!”
“No,” he insisted. “Right now, their opinions don’t fucking matter, okay? All that matters is that you take care of yourself. If you can’t do it for you, then do it for the baby.”
That got me out of it. It always did. I didn’t want them to know a ton of stress before they were even in the world.
I sucked in oxygen, hating that tears pricked my eyes as I tried to calm down. I wondered what they were saying about me. If they were thinking I was as bad as Brooke, or if they were disappointed.
“Grace, stop thinking about them. I know you’re doing it.”