Oh, for God's sake.Maybe theyweren'tgrowing on me. Giving up all pretense of politeness, I turned and stomped into the nearby den, slamming the door behind me.
Through the closed door, I heard one of the brothers say, "See? Moody."
I looked to the door and hollered out, "I'm not moody! I just want some privacy, that's all."
Sounding even closer now, one of them said, "Sounds moody to me."
"Yeah, totally."
With a sound of frustration, I stomped deeper into the room and said into the phone, "Well? You did, didn't you?"
Her response was a long time in coming. "Not exactly." She hesitated. "I might've given a little hint, but I didn't outright tell him or anything."
It sounded like a cop-out to me. "Well, it must've been a pretty big hint, because he showed up and proposed."
Luna gave a happy squeal. "Really? Congratulations! Oh, my God, that's so wonderful!"
Talk about ironic.Her response was everything that I hadn't gotten from Cassie, which only made it more irritating.
"No," I said. "It isn't."
"Sure, it is," she said. "You guys make a great couple. You're gonna be so happy together."
No. We weren't. I blinked long and hard. "How wouldyouknow? You haven't even seen us together."
"Well, yeah," she said. "But he's a great guy, and you seem pretty nice—"
"Yeah? Well, you won't think so when you get my message."
"Oh." She hesitated. "So you were pretty mad, huh?"
"Of course I was mad."
"But why?"
"Well for one thing, because I'mnotpregnant."
"Are you sure?"
Oh, for crying out loud."Yes. I'm sure. A hundred percent."
"Oh." Funny, she actually sounded disappointed.
Did I need to point out the obvious? "That's good news, by the way."
"Are you sure?" she said. "Because Joel would make a great dad. He was really super excited."
Now, that made me pause. "What?"
"Yeah," she said. "After I gave him that little hint, you should've heard him. He was really happy." She hesitated. "Well, he didn't come out and say it or anything, but he was. I'm sure of it."
Maybeshewas sure. But I wasn't. "Well, he wasn't happy last night," I said. "And just so you know, we're not getting married."
"But why not? You said he proposed…"
"Yeah, but he pretty much took it back when he found out I wasn't expecting." At the memory, I wanted to cry. "He was only doing it, because he felt he had to."
"No. I don't think so."
