Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Are you okay?” Callum asks, getting caught up with the conversation. “You don’t look so hot,” he says to me.
“I don’t feel so hot.” Anger ignites deep inside me at the news. I hate how affected I am by all of this.
Now my mind’s playing out different scenarios. Me passing her on the street with her baby in a stroller. Her stupid man playing catch in the backyard with their son. Her popping out more children in the future, happily married to that asshole.
I want to be that asshole.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, rushing away from my family, making my way toward the closest bathroom. I head inside, thankful I’m alone.
I splash some cool water on my face, staring at myself in the mirror. What is wrong with me?
The news of Felicity's pregnancy is hitting me hard, and right now it’s nothing more than a rumor.
A part of me wants to ask her flat out. But it’s really none of my business, and I need to just drop it. I need to forget about the one special night we shared over Christmas.
That was ages ago.
I head back out, and all of my siblings stare back at me, minus Tripp because he’s not here. “What?” I ask them as they blink at me.
“I don’t know if you math well, but…” Paxton’s words fall away as his green eyes meet mine. Paxton’s younger than me by a year. He’s also the one who travels around from city to city getting our beer in other restaurants. The man’s a selling genius, and apparently a math genius too.
“Math what?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
Anya laughs lightly. “Shep, you and her, back at Christmas, and she’s due in September. Don’t you see?”
“See what?” I ask. “You all are starting to freak me out. What am I missing?”
And then it hits me like a ton of bricks. The math.
The nine month math.
“You think the baby might be mine?” I ask them, each of them smiling back at me.
“I think you and she need to have a talk,” Callum says, slapping his hand down on my shoulder. “Dad,” he adds on before walking away.
Dad?
Am I going to be a father?
But Felicity acts like she hates me. And what about the asshole? Is he the father?
Am I?
I guess there’s really only one way to find out. Tonight when I get off work I need to pay my neighbor a little visit.
Chapter 11
Felicity
“Mom, I asked you to keep this private for now,” I say into the phone as I pace the floor.
“I just told the book club.”
I sigh, closing my eyes. “Telling the book club is like giving breaking news to a national news outlet. They spread gossip faster than a cheetah chasing a gazelle.”
She laughs, mocking me, before clearing her throat. “Sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m excited to be a grandma and I wanted to share the special news.”
“It wasn’t your news to share, Mom. I wasn’t ready to tell the father and now you’ve forced my hand.”
“He should know, Felicity. You have no idea how he’ll react to the news. You may just get everything you’ve ever wanted,” she says.
She’s a hopeless romantic and I’m a realist. I know how Shepherd is going to react and I was hoping to put it off just a little longer. I’ve spent a lot of time the last few days figuring out exactly how and when I was going to tell him. It’s not like I was going to keep this baby a secret. I’m not a terrible person. I know he has every right to know. But now I feel forced and I don’t like that feeling.
“Mom, we’ve had this discussion before. I’m not having it again.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
I sit down and drop my head onto the back of the couch. “Of course I am, Mom. When he gets home from work I’ll tell him.”
She does a little squeal and I roll my eyes. “How are you going to do it? What are you going to say?”
“I’ll call you after I talk to him. Bye, Mom.” I hang up before she throws any more questions at me.
She’s so excited, thinking this will be an instant happy family. You have the mother and the child, just add the father and enjoy.
It will not be. Shepherd isn’t going to smile and bust out some cigars. He’s going to be blindsided and I’ll admit I’m nervous.
I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that will curse me out and put all the blame on me, but I am about to hand him life-changing news and it’s hard to figure out how someone is going to react to that.
There’s a knock on the door and I groan, pushing myself up off the sofa. I open the door and find Karl standing there.