“Your parents were pissed. All of that ‘honey’ this and ‘honey’ that dried up faster than Texas in a heat wave.”
I wince. She’s right. As much as my parents love Maggie, Wendy and Ted are not fans of me living with my girlfriend.
My dad didn’t have a chance to pull me aside for a lecture since family started arriving for the July Fourth barbecue, but I could see it in his eyes. I expect he’ll call this week to lay it on me.
Maggie makes this little squeaking sound, and I look over and her eyes are shiny. “They’re not going to like me anymore, Michael. I love your family, and now they hate me.”
I feel like a dick for not preparing her better. After I make sure there’s no one behind me, I pull over and throw on my hazards. We’re on a backcountry road, so it shouldn’t be a problem. “Come here.”
“No.” She swipes angrily at her tears. “I messed up everything with your parents, and now you have a coach who’s a hardass. If he doesn’t like distractions, he’s certainly not going to be thrilled you have a pregnant girlfriend. A girlfriend who’s pregnant with twins!”
Fuck. I hadn’t thought about it that way.
I try to keep the emotions off my face, but she must see what I’m thinking because her face crumples. In between sobs, she says, “Maybe… maybe you should m-move back into the football h-house before we screw up your s-season.”
A little piece of my heart cracks when I hear her struggle through that sentence. Maggie hasn’t stuttered since she first moved to Heartland.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and pull her toward me. She doesn’t resist long, and I hold her until she calms down.
“I don’t know what we should do, okay?” I brush the hair out of her face and wipe the tears. “I don’t have the answers. I only know that we have to be strong for one another and the babies.” She nods, which I take as a win. “Let’s do this one step at a time. We can’t meet the coach until training camp, so I’ll do a little reconnaissance in the meanwhile and ask some former teammates for advice.”
Her shiny eyes meet mine. “That… sounds good.”
Thank God I pulled that out of my ass because it’s killing me to see her cry. I just fucking wrangled her into a bona fide relationship. I can’t have this thing implode two seconds into it. And judging by how unnerved she is by my family’s reaction to us living together, marriage is out of the question for now.
I take her chin in my hand. “Just don’t give up on us. You and I, we’re good. It’s everyone else who has to come to terms with this, okay?”
She bites down on her bottom lip, silence stretching between us. For an agonizing moment, I’m worried about her response, but then she nods. “Okay. I won’t give up.”
39
OLLY
There’s nothing like getting your ass chewed out by your parents. I hold the phone away from my ear, but I can still hear my mother squawking. Ted already took a turn.
“I may have given you the wrong impression by letting Maggie stay in your room. I was excited to see you with her after the string of women you typically date, but just because I accept you probably have sleepovers on campus doesn’t mean I think you two should live together. You’re making a mistake to rush into this, Michael. We’ve made all these sacrifices for you to go to school, get your degree, and play football. Not play house. You don’t need that kind of distraction.”
Peeking through the blinds, I make sure Maggie is still outside. The woman has supersonic hearing, and she’d be devastated to hear Wendy freak out.
As much as I love and respect my mother, this is pissing me off. I can fully admit my parents saved all their pennies to help me play football growing up, but I got a full scholarship and paid my own way to college. While I’ve needed help from time to time, I’d say I’ve been pretty responsible.
With one exception.
I stare down at my pregnant girlfriend, wishing I could snap my fingers and make everything better. I’m tempted to tell my parents the truth, but I’m pretty sure finding out Maggie is having twins will send them into hysterics.
And not the we’re-so-happy-to-be-grandparents kind they had for my sister.
Even though they never say it, I know my parents are counting on me hitting it big so I can help them financially. I want to help them—that’s not the issue. They’ve always been generous with me and Kayla, and I have no problem reciprocating. What’s mine is theirs.
But what if I can’t pull it off? What if my knee isn’t ready when the season starts? What if I don’t get drafted and can’t help with their mortgage and Gramps’s medical bills? Add twins to this equation, and I’m totally fucked if I don’t have a great season.
“Mom, can you just trust me? I’ve always been a good son, right? I never got in trouble, always got good grades, always did what I was told. All I can say right now is I’m trying my best.” I need to get off the phone before I blow up at her, which will not make this any better. Do I really need to tell my parents I’m a grown-ass man? I’m tempted to remind them they were younger than I am now when they got married.
“Oh, honey, I know. It’s just—”
“Listen, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I rub the bridge of my nose, hating that I need to make more phone calls. I promised Maggie I’d talk to some of the guys, and she’s just as anxious as I am to have some stability.
