Mia grabbed her phone from the nightstand and disappeared before I could think to ask why she was leaving the room to call Grady. I unwrapped the lollipop in my hand and stuck it into my cheek. Taking out my phone, I made a list of all the people I had to contact. As the list grew, I stared out the window. What excuse would I use? Little Falls stretched out through the top floor window. I’d grown up here, but I’d never expected to live here forever.
Seven months.
Seven months and I’d be a dad.
My phone buzzed. A text from Danai about making plans for tomorrow night. I didn’t even know what city I’d be in. Not Little Falls, that was for sure.
Just then, the lock beeped on the door, and Mia stormed back in. “Grady is a genius. I swear to God, if he wasn’t so desperately in love with your sister—” She stopped when she caught the look on my face.
Seven months of this.
With a sigh, I said, “What’d Grady tell you?”
“He knew about the baby. He tried to pretend he didn’t, but he knew.”
“And?” It took a lot for my temper to bubble over, but I didn’t want another lecture about how people couldn’t be trusted. Grady and Maggie might not be married, but given the way they looked at each other, they were in it for the long-term. They were family.
“And nothing.” She gave me a wary look and tapped the keycard on the top of the desk. “I just thought I should mention that he knew.”
“What’d he tell you?”
“I should let my tiredness show. Which isn’t hard, because I’m fucking exhausted. All the time. He also gave me the only excuse my mom might believe for canceling stuff after the tour. Time off to write. I haven’t written in forever. I miss it. It’s a good excuse. She’ll buy it. She knows how much I used to love writing.”
“Have you been to a doctor?”
“No.” A flush rose to her cheeks. “I just took fifty-six pregnancy tests when I was at Sarah’s place for the night.”
“Fifty-six?”
“Yeah, well, maybe not that many, but a lot. I couldn’t fucking believe it.” She rubbed her forehead. “My regular doctor is friends with my mom. I couldn’t go to her.”
“I know someone. My dad used to be a doctor in Little Falls. One of his friends scaled back his practice. I can probably talk him into helping us out.” I snuffed out the pang of longing that always accompanied any mention of my father.
“Sure, let’s bring more people into this.” Her fingers pressed into her forehead in a circular motion.
“He’s a family friend.”
“You have all this faith in people. I’ve got none and about a thousand awful stories. What have you got?”
“A desire to make this work.” My voice was tighter than I wanted. She probably did have a thousand stories of betrayal. But it didn’t mean everyone I knew was suddenly going to turn evil. “We have to trust some people. Picking them carefully is all we’ve got. Okay? I trust David Rigilotto. He was my dad’s best friend. There won’t be a leak from him.”
Mia shook her head, but didn’t contradict me. It was possible we’d never see eye-to-eye about this. Did I have too much faith? I’d never had a secret this big with consequences this widespread.
“What time are we leaving tomorrow?”
“You can’t come with me.”
“Mia.” I stared at her.
She examined her nails and avoided looking at me. “I need a couple days to fire Bonita and then pretend Sarah suggested you. My mom, Laura, will probably be the one to call you. She loves Sarah, so her word should be good enough.”
“If I can arrange it, do you have time to see David before you leave? Make sure everything is okay?”
Her jaw tightened. “I guess I do since my other doctor’s appointment will be canceled.” With a sigh, she met my gaze, shoulders slumped. “Can you leave?”
“Yeah.” I picked up my phone from beside me on the bed. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She laughed. “I hate that I’m in this situation. That being careful still fucked me over. I’m just so angry and sad and frustrated and so, so tired.”
