“Wow, so ... congratulations? Condolences? What are we feeling here?”
“I’m pregnant,” I said slowly.
“Yeah, very. Dean was in town like over three months ago too.”
“Oh my God. I’m in my second trimester!” What all had I missed? There had to be tests and ultrasounds. Fuck, was the baby even okay?
“That narrows down options.”
I turned to her. “Options?”
“If you don’t want this ... we should talk aboutthoseoptions.”
I immediately knew what she was talking about. It wasn’t a terrible thing to consider, especially with my financial status, but the second I did, I was shaking my head.
“No,” I said. “That’s not for me.”
“All right,” Jade replied. “Now we figure out the rest.”
The rest.She said those two words like they were easy.
They were not.
Did Dean even want kids? Would he be pissed when I reached out to him? Would I be doing this alone? God, this wassobad.
I’d spent my whole adult life telling Brooke to use protection and stay safe. And now I was the one pregnant?
No one would ever let me live it down.
But Jade had caught on to my panic and her hands landed on my shoulders.
“Grace, you need to breathe.”
I couldn’t. How had this happened?
“Whatever you’re thinking isn’t important,” she said. “The last thing you or the baby needs is you having a panic attack.”
That snapped me out of it. My eyes locked on hers. She exaggerated her breaths to make sure I could hear them. Compared to my choppy breathing, they were at a snail’s pace. But I followed her. My heart rate didn’t return to normal, but at least I wasn’t teetering on the edge.
“It’s gonna be okay,” she said. She didn’t usually sound like this. Jade had always been sharp edges and cutting words. Ifshewas being soft and kind, I must have really needed it. “We can figure this out. No one will know, if that’s what you want.”
“I think they’ll have to know eventually.”
“For now, Grace. They don’t have to know for now.”
I hung my head, feeling like a weight was crushing me.
“Everyone is gonna freak out.” I drew out every word.
“Who gives a fuck about them?”
“I do. You know I do.”
She huffed. “I get it. And you can’t just turn it off. But there are higher priorities right now.”
Yeah, like doctor’s appointments. Telling Dean.
Ugh.