My phone buzzes again and I wait to see Noah’s reaction but it’s not Noah. It’s a call. And I stupidly answer it before realizing it's Avery. Fuck.
“About time you stopped ignoring me.”
“It was an accident. What do you want?”
“To congratulate you,” Avery says and even through the phone I can hear the half-cocked grin on his face.
I’m confused. For a second, I wonder if I accidently sent the photo of the ring to him. But I didn’t.
So, I ask the question that I know is only going to dig the hole deeper. “On what?”
“Amanda’s pregnancy of course.”
My stomach bottoms out. I almost ask him what in the actual fuck he is talking about but instead, I switch to speaker phone while he rambles on and check the media.
“I gotta hand it to you. I knew you wanted to take over Hardin before me, but I didn’t think you’d actually knock up that little philly of yours to do it. You sure you can handle being a dad? We aren’t exactly young anymore brother. And I don’t know about you, but I like sleep-filled nights and lazy mornings. I mean except for when the nights aren’t sleep filled if you know what I’m saying. You can kiss goodbye to that.”
Avery keeps talking but I’m busy scrolling. There are photos everywhere of “Amanda Hardin” walking into a drug store, buying a pregnancy test and walking out. It’s stupid. That’s not even her name legally. But whatever. I don’t believe it.
“I gotta go,” I say, cutting him off mid-rant. “Think what you want and find something else to preoccupy your mind.”
I hang up on my brother before he can say anything else. Then I shove the ring in my glovebox and head home.
Maybe it wasn’t her. I mean, yes, it looks a lot like Amanda in the photos but also, people have ways of faking pictures. AI is unbeatable these days. And the girl was wearing a black hoodie and shades, something I have never seen her wear. At the same time, I know her body. I don’t have to see her face to know it’s her.
So, I rationalize another way. Maybe the test was negative. And that’s why she hasn’t said anything. I like that answer most. It means she wasn’t hiding anything because there was nothing to hide. And there’s also nothing to worry about.
When I get home, I am surprised to find that Amanda isn’t home, which is odd. She was supposed to be home sick today. Suddenly that detail slaps me in the face too. She’s been sick a lot recently. Suddenly and violently before being completely fine. Hungry even.
The idea that maybe Amanda is pregnant settles into the room like a thick, stuffy heatwave. Is it possible? I mean we haven’t exactly been careful, but I assumed she was on some kind of birth control. That and I’m…forty-eight. I kind of just assumed the likelihood wasn’t that high.
Curiosity gets the best of me, and I go into the bathroom. In the small waste bin, there are multiple seemingly clean wads of crumpled up tissue paper. I pause for a moment, asking myself just how crazy I am, before bending down and pulling the tissues out of the bin only to reveal…two pregnancy tests.
Holy shit.
The whirlwind of mixed feelings about the whole thing are spinning around in my brain like a tornado just before it hits the ground.
Man up, Hardin. You’re about to put a ring on her damn finger. A real one. Whatever the tests say doesn’t matter.
I pull them out and my eyes lock on the little circles.
I blink.
My phone rings and with my eyes still on the sticks, I answer it.
“Listen, Ave. If you are calling again just to rub it in my fucking face that you knew before me–”
“Yo,” Noah’s voice cuts in. “Listen, man. I’m sure you saw the pictures. I’d be pissed too if I was publicly married and my girl was on a dating app. I mean the least Amanda could do if y’all are on the rocks is cover her tracks.”
I stop. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Amanda’s profile being on that dating app. I don’t know if it’s old and she just hasn’t deleted it but–”
I walk out of the bathroom, sticks still in hand because I am too shocked and confused and overwhelmed to work my hand muscles right now.
“Is it an active profile?” I ask.
Noah grunts out a sigh. “I think so. Listen, I am sure you are freaking out and already know this but she’s gotta get that shit on lock. We have a lot of artists on the line right now and Davies isn’t going to work with us if–”
