I don’t think she’s much of a hugger. She tries to pull away at first, but I hold her to me anyway, and eventually, she hugs my waist. Her body shakes as she trembles against me, her tears soaking through my polo shirt. “Shh, it’s okay. I’ve been wanting to talk to you too. I told you I don’t do stuff like that. It’s been eating me up inside, thinking you hate me for what happened.”
She pulls away, shaking her head. “No, this isn’t…” Taking a swipe at her face, she steps back and jams her hands into her jacket pockets. “Trevor, I’m pregnant.”
Huh?
She’s standing in front of me, but steadily being pulled farther away as the bustling lobby fades to fuzz around me. Her lips are moving, and yet, I hear nothing besides the echo of the last word she said.Pregnant? I scan her entire face, blinking rapidly when I don’t find an ounce of humor. My stomach drops, the taste of bile rising in my throat.
It’s not until she snaps in my face a few times that I’m transported back to the lobby. “Did you hear me?”
My hands shake as I take a deep breath. “Y-you’re…and I’m the…?”
“Yeah, Trevor. You think I’d come all the way to San Francisco if it wasn’t yours? You’re the only one it could be.”
“But how? We used a c?—”
“Condoms break. Leak. Microtears. I don’t fucking know. They’re only, like, 98 percent effective. It happens.” Her snappy attitude is a quick switch from the sobbing she was doing seconds ago, but I’m still stuck on the pregnancy part. We were careful. Wedid everything right. Looking into her eyes, the only thoughts rolling through my mind are all the improbabilities. I believe her completely, but the chances are so minuscule, I just need a minute. My hand finds hers, and I dazedly pull her off to the side. I don’t realize I’m holding onto her so tightly until she tugs her hand away and shakes it. “We can take a DNA test.”
“For what?” The stupid question slips from my lips before I can filter the thought.
“A random woman says she’s pregnant with your baby, and you don’t want a test?”
“From a random woman? Yeah.” I turn to her. “But you’re not one.”
“Yeah,okay.” She scoffs.
“Willa, I’ve seen the kind of person you are. You’re blatantly honest. If you say the baby’s mine, I believe you.”
“I…” Her jaw hinges as if she’s waiting for words to fall out on their own, then her eyes drop to her lap. “I really need to pee.”
“Yeah. Yep.” I shake my head to knock the last few tendrils of shock out of my system and place my hand on her back as I guide her to the restroom. Waiting on the bench outside the door, I try to make sense of my rapid thoughts. Willa’s pregnant.I’m the reason she’s pregnant.It’s my fault.I’m responsible for ruining her life.Shit.She must hate me for it.I need to make this right.There’s no way in hell I’m letting her deal with this alone.I have to figure out how to make it as easy as possible for her,how to care for her.I need to?—
Willa steps out and sits next to me, not attempting to say anything else. It only takes one sideways glance at her curled-in frame before I’m on my feet. “Let me grab my things. I’ll be five minutes, and then we can go talk. Please, don’t leave.”
I wait for her to nod and take off for the stairwell, checking over my shoulder when I get there before jetting up to the second floor. I just need to move, do something with the energy coursing through me. Willa’s pregnant. I’m the father. We have things to figure out, but I need her to know she’s not alone in this.
CHAPTER NINE
WILLA
The drive to Trevor’s apartment is quiet. Nope, worse.Silent. He turned the radio off in his SUV as soon as he slid in the driver’s seat, and neither of us have said a word.How do you open Pandora’s box when it should have stayed hidden on the shelf? Once he pulls into the parking garage and cuts the engine, we inhale simultaneously.
I haven’t been able to look at him since I erupted into tears in his arms. Talk about awkward. Weeping over client photos is one thing, but sobbing in the arms of your one-night stand because he knocked you up is another thing entirely. I couldn’t get ahold of the tears before they fell. I’m embarrassed, to say the least. This whole situation is embarrassing. I’m used to being called a screwup, but it took thirty-one years and one drunken night for me to feel like it might be true.
“Come on, Jim,” he says, reaching for his door handle. I take another couple of breaths, and by the time I reach for mine, he’s already opening my door, offering his hand to help me out. Once I’m safely on the ground, he doesn’t let go, despite my tugging.
Trevor’s place is neat, organized, and bare. He has no pictures or artwork on the walls. No knick-knacks scattered around the few books on the built-in mahogany shelves. Not even a throwblanket or pillows on the dark leather couch. There’s a TV on the wall, a desktop in the corner, and a whole lot of white space. I’m surprised the windows have curtains.
He slides his wallet and keys onto the white granite countertop in the kitchen and walks toward the fridge. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? If I don’t have it, we can order in. You need lots of snacks when you’re…”
“Pregnant, yeah. I got the whole spiel last week when I fainted at work.”
“You what?” He abandons the fridge and rushes to my side. “You fainted?”
“Yeah. That’s how I found out I was pregnant. I passed out at work. Ashlie had to take me to urgent care. She knows, by the way, which means Hunter does too.”
His face twists like I’m missing the point. “I don’t care who knows, Willa. Are you okay? What did the doctor say?”
“I hadn’t eaten all day, and my blood pressure was low. It’s all better now.” Even as I’m saying it, he guides me to his naked couch and plops me down on it.
