After an awkward silence, Gabby puts a trembling hand to her chest. “Ben, if she’s yours, I’ll help you, okay? I will. I know you have football and… everything else. But I’ll help. I’ll literally do anything you want to keep her from going into foster care.”
Damn. This girl is breaking my heart.
A few of the guys wipe their eyes, and I can’t deny that I’m choked up too.
Ben shakes his head, but his tone is soft. “And if she’s not mine? If she’s not ours?” He motions to the rest of us. “What then? You can’t keep some random kid.”
She nods slowly and takes a shuddering breath. “I agree we should call the authorities if she doesn’t belong to one of you.”
Tank and I make eye contact, and he nods.
I pray this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass, but Gabby has a good point. “Do we all agree we don’t want Poppy to go into foster care if she is one of ours?” I’d hate to send her away even if she isn’t ours, but it’s not like the football house could take on that kind of responsibility.
Everyone nods. Even Ben, eventually.
Bree rubs Gabby’s back. “How can we figure this out without going to the hospital for a paternity test?”
“Doesn’t the pharmacy carry those?”
Olly scratches his head. “Even if it does, I don’t think we should go to any stores in Charming. Someone will notice us buying five. It’ll be on social media before we pay for them.”
I nod. “He’s right. We have to go out of town for that.”
“I’m on it.” Tank is Googling as fast as his giant fingers will let him. “Walgreen’s has a test that’s affordable and will give us results in two days. We’ll just take a quick drive down to Austin. No problemo.”
Thank fucking God. That’s two days longer than I want this to drag out, but at least there’s a finish line in sight. “Great. Tank, can you handle that for us?”
“You got it, chief.”
“Wait. I didn’t pork anyone that summer!” Johnson jumps up and humps the air like he’s doing a victory dance in the end zone. “I’ve never been so grateful for a dry spell in my entire life. She’s not mine.”
“It took you all that time to figure that out?” Ben snarks. “Speaking of which, maybe we should make a list of chicks we hooked up with, like on the whiteboard or something.”
We all cringe, and Bree snaps her fingers. “That’s gross, bro, and you don’t want someone taking a pic of that board and slut-shaming the women on it. Do it in your head or phone or somewhereprivate.”
His eyebrows pinch together. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
The baby lifts an arm and drops her hand right over Gabby’s perky tit. My neighbor turns an adorable shade of pink and moves it. “Fine. By tonight, can you all think back to that summer so we can consider who the mother might be? We’ll need everyone to check in and swab or whatever the test calls for.”
The guys agree.
“And who’s going to take me to get supplies for Poppy? I’m thinking Target.”
Bree claps. “I wanna come. I love Target.”
Both girls look at me.
“What?” I ask.
Bree smirks. “You’re the captain.”
“Of thefootball team.” I motion to her. “I don’t see your uniform.”
“You’re so cute when you try to be funny.” She laughs. “But really. Why don’t you collect money from the guys, and then you can drive us to the store?”
“Why do you need me to go? I have a test to study for and a paper to write.”
“Like we don’t have shit to do? Besides, who’s going to carry all the boxes?”
