Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
If there was ever a perfect time to tell my daughter… but no, Brooke had just been crying and upset over her mother. I couldn’t turn around and make her cry, upset over her best friend and me. How thoughtless would that be?
So I just hugged Brooke one more time, and then we set to work. We had to keep this restaurant on its upswing.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Stevie
Hoo boy.
It had been two weeks since… well. Since I’d touched myself thinking about Michael fucking me. Ever since then, I’d kept my thoughts firmly away from him. It had been hard. I wanted to keep thinking about him. I had never come so hard touching myself as I had that time in the bath. I mean, my fantasies all while growing up had been pretty evenly split between Michael and whatever latest male celebrity had caught my eye, but it was so much stronger now that I knew what Michael actually felt like, how he would actually touch me, what he would actually say.
It was maddening.
But I was trying to move on with my life. I had to get over him. I wasn’t going to get the luxury of just moping around and weeping forever, and I wasn’t going to drag down the people around me by always being upset. Not least of all because they’d start asking questions and it was going to be bad enough that I had this secret to hide.
Two weeks, that had felt like an eternity. And now… now I was sitting in a restaurant and waiting for Brooke.
She had insisted on coming up to Sacramento to see me, visit me and make sure that I was doing okay. I’d tried to put her off but Brooke was a determined person when she wanted to be. She got that from both her parents. I knew that I couldn’t put her off forever, so, I’d said all right. The first time that our days off synced up, she would drive up and buy me lunch. She’d even insisted on paying, which made me feel so much worse.
I made sure to wear a loose-fitting dress. I’d had to change out my entire wardrobe. I didn’t want anyone knowing I was pregnant until they absolutely had to. I hoped to keep Brooke from finding out a bit longer, so I made sure to get to the restaurant first and request a table towards the back, in the dimmer lighting, and I picked the chair that would hide my body with the table. That, plus the loose-fitting dress, would hopefully keep it a secret for a bit longer. I had to tell my parents in two weeks - I’d made that promise to myself - and Andy as well, but they would keep the secret if I asked them to.
Brooke entered, looking as chic as ever, and I had to struggle to keep my breathing even and slow. Just act normal, I told myself. There’s no reason for her to think that anything was wrong.
I waved, and Brooke walked over, smiling. She looked good, and my heart ached with how much I had missed her. I’d missed all of San Francisco, and my brother, and of course Michael. All of it. That included my best friend.
Brooke walked over, and her smile slipped just a little. Before I could ask what was wrong, she was giving me a big hug. Then she pulled back, looking me over critically, like I was a dress that she wasn’t sure if she should buy or not.
She frowned. “So, when were you going to tell me that you were pregnant?”
Ah, shit, fuck, dammit, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“What?” I tried to make myself sound incredulous, but God knew, I was never a very good liar. I was still surprised that Michael hadn’t ever figured out I’d had a massive crush on him as a teenager. “What are you talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me, Stevie, I can tell, okay?” Brooke sat down, gesturing at me.
I sat down as well. “How could you tell? I’m not that far along, am I?”
“Your face is fuller, and so are your boobs, hon. You think that I wouldn’t know you for so long and not know when your body is going through something? You look different, okay? And you never wear loose-fitting clothing, you say it gets in the way when you’re cooking and that you’re too clumsy for it.”
…this was true. Dammit. Brooke knew me well, and that was seriously backfiring on me.
“I can’t believe that you didn’t tell me,” Brooke added. “You’ve known for… how long? It must be a while since… I mean you would’ve known once you missed your period for too long, right? So you didn’t get it when you were here in Sacramento, you wouldn’t be showing this much, and it’s been over a month since you moved, Stevie, why didn’t you tell me?” Brooke sounded genuinely hurt, and I felt like shit all over again. “Were you ever going to tell me?”