Robert Colt:Buckle up, get used to poop, and for God’s sake, be there for your partner.
Oliver Brian:Get used to putting your partner first. She’s the one going through it. Help her. Make sure she eats. Be supportive.
Dean Briggs:What if we’re not partners?
Oliver Brian:Do it anyway. You can be friends, but help her out. She’s growing a child, after all.
Dean Briggs:I’ll just ... try to do that. Thanks, everyone.
When Grace saw me,her cheeks went so brilliantly red that I could see it from across the road.
Then shetoreover to me.
“Give me that,” she hissed. I let her pull the pictures out of my hand. “Why are you holding those out in public?” She looked around wildly as if trying to make sure no one saw.
Shit.I should have known people in town didn’t know, and there I was, holding evidence like a fucking idiot.
Normally, I would have had the brain space to consider that, but I wanted to return what she’d dropped and try to talk to her again now that I wasn’t in pure shock.
It was a possibility that I would only make things worse, but I had to try.
Grace had been with another woman with brightly colored hair. She didn’t walk up, but she glared at me so strongly I thought something might fall out of the sky and crush me.
And then she pointed at me and dragged her thumb across her throat.
Her message was clear.
“What are you doing here?” Grace asked.
I pulled my thoughts away from the death threat I’d just received and turned to her. “We need to talk.”
“You could have just texted me.”
“Is this really the kind of thing we talk about over text?”
“With your reaction yesterday, I wasn’t expecting for us to talk at all.”
I frowned. “You really thought I wouldn’t reach out?”
“Yes, I did.” She said it so forcefully that it knocked the wind out of me. I wasn’t perfect, but surely, she didn’t expect that. “But you’re right. We should talk.”
Grace turned and opened the door to the Treasure Trove and walked inside. I tried to let go of any frustration andfollowed her. Obviously, I hadn’t taken things well. I needed to be better.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“You’re pregnant,” I said slowly. “Is there anything elsetotalk about?”
“Well, no. But I meant more like, what about it?”
“Everything, Grace. How did you find out? Is it a problem that you didn’t know until this far in? What’s the due date?”
The words came out before I could stop them. When I’d come here, I’d told myself to play cool and figure out a plan. But I knew more was on my mind.
Grace paused. “Youwantto know those things?”
“Yes, I do. You’re havingmybaby. Did you really think I would run?”
She shrugged. “It’s what you did after sex. That’s the only frame of reference I have.”