“I needed to tell you. I can’t carry this alone.”
Bailey reached for me and wrapped her arms around me. “You’re not alone.”
Billie joined a second later, the three of us hugged like we had so many times over the years. Like we had in college when Bailey confessed my brother broke her heart when he left townten years ago. “Not even for a second,” Billie said, and for the first time since I found out the news, I didn't feel alone.
Bailey smoothed her hand down my back, assuring me she would be there for me. “You’re terrified.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be good at this,” I confessed, feeling way too vulnerable at this moment with the two people who knew me best. Better than my brothers, probably better than I knew myself.
“You will,” Bailey whispered. “Because you already love this baby. Because we already love this baby.”
I shook my head, fear creeping under my skin as I tried to visualize my future. Alone with a baby, not a clue what to do or how to care for it. Then there was Jase. How could I keep this secret when he was so close?
“I don’t even know how to love like that. Not really. Not after what I had growing up. I don’t want to mess this up.” My voice cracked, tears flooding me once more.
“Then don’t do it alone,” Billie said. “Do it with us.”
For the first time since I saw those two pink lines, I let myself cry in someone else’s arms. This was the beginning of everything changing, and the first time I believed I might actually be strong enough to become someone’s mother.
Chapter Six
Jase
One Month Ago
“Jase, I’m sorry, okay? I know you hate coming up here, but I don’t have anyone else to call. You know if I’d called a plumber, he’d just have overcharged me and probably would have tried to take advantage of me once he realized I don't have a husband and was livin’ alone.”
Indigo Harper stood across me in the shortest pair of denim shorts known to man, her blonde bombshell hair in perfect waves cascading down her back, and a crop top that fit more like a bra than a shirt, giving me an eye-full of perky cleavage through the low-cut neckline. She had on a full face of makeup that made her look like some pageant beauty queen, which would have been completely fine if it wasn’t nearly eleven o’clock at night.
This week, her sink was clogged. A huge mishap that needed immediate assistance, even this late at night. Last week her car battery broke down, only it hadn’t. The cables had come loose, and she had no idea it was such an easy fix. Next week, who knew what it would be? Maybe the nonexistent cat she had was goingto get stuck up in some tree, and she couldn't bother the fire department with something as insignificant as saving a cat when they had genuine emergencies to deal with.
Point is, this was my third weekend in Raleigh, visiting Indy. When she called me a little over a month ago to tell me she had moved back to North Carolina from her family ranch in Texas, I spit my drink out, nearly choking when it went down the wrong pipe from my surprise.
Just a month prior, I’d seen her in Florida, on the arm of her fiancé, Malcolm. Apparently, she and Mac, as she called him, had a bit of a disagreement. It must have been big enough to have her fleeing their shared home and forcing her to take a break to figure out if she wanted to move forward with the wedding.
I knew I shouldn’t have answered. I knew I shouldn’t have come out to see her, but Indy and I spent nearly five years together, so of course she threw in the “we have history”card.
“Yeah, well, maybe next time try throwing the burnt chili in the trash bin rather than down the sink. Your garbage disposal needs fixing. I’ll send a guy I know who’s done some work for us at the ranch to do that. He’s based in Crossroads and does a good job at a decent price. He won’t overcharge you, and is a happily married man.”
Indy reached for me and ran her fingers over my bicep as she thanked me. “Oh, Jase. I don’t know what I’d do without you. You're my hero.” I shut my jaw tight to hold back the laugh I wanted to let out. Funny, when she was the one who broke up with me, got engaged to a new guy, and then suddenly, now that she was “on a break”, I was the hero?
Her touch felt foreign, even though it should have felt familiar after all our time together. I’d officially moved on and harbored no feelings for her. This was proof.
“Don’t worry about it, Indy. I needed to drive out this way for some supplies. I wasn't planning on coming until tomorrow, but…”
In reality, I didn’t need to come out this weekend, and Bailey was going to kill me for skipping out on my shifts at Stingers again. Then again, she was probably too busy with Nash Bishop—my ex-best friend who was now back in Crossroads after leaving a decade ago. Nash had recently moved into her apartment.
Since moving in with the siblings who resented him for leaving wasn’t an option, I felt obligated to help somehow. Guilt for my part in why he left weighed heavy on me, but I couldn't have him stay with me. Nash living on my father’s ranch was completely out of the question.
The reason Nash left all that time ago was that I found out he had slept with my sister. Yup, my best friend fucked my sister—total fucking cliché. Worst of all, I’d done the same fucking thing I condemned him for, and now my guilt and resentment was eating me alive.
“You can just spend the night here,” Indy said, creeping in closer to me. She wrapped her arms around my torso, her head nuzzling into my chest, but my arms remained outstretched where they wouldn’t touch her. “I feel horrible for making you drive out here so late. It’s the least I could do.”
I cringed at her offer, knowing exactly this is what she was going to do. I’m no idiot. I knew from day one that her sudden need for my handy skills was a ploy for something far more wicked. Wicked isn’t quite the right word, but with Indy, there was no knowing what to expect. Our entire relationship had been a clusterfuck of never knowing which side of her I was going to get. For one, she was sweet, loving and very affectionate. However, her jealousy and insecurities were always at the forefront, causing us to fall into the same routine ofexplosive arguments that would only end up with Indy using sex as a method of apologizing and never addressing the actual issue.
Much like she was trying to do now.
I pulled away from her embrace and gave us some much-needed distance. “Indy, you know that’s not a good idea. I have a friend I stay with when I come out here, and he is already expecting me. Besides, I need to be up early tomorrow to drive over to the Bootstrap Distillery to pick up some cases of bourbon I’ve been waiting on.”
