“Cap in the mudroom, buddy,” Jaxon instructed and Ares obeyed immediately. “Who wants waffles?”
“Me,” three feminine voices resounded, along with a little boy voice.
Jaxon grinned and pulled the waffle iron out of the cabinet.
Harmony pulled me off the stool I was sitting on and guided me into the front room. It was sort of private and I could tell she wanted to talk.
We sat facing each other on her fancy sofa and I smiled. “What’s up?”
“So, what’s the plan?”
I chuckled. “I don’t have a plan. I’m still not convinced any of this is real.”
“Have you told Wes?”
“Wes?”
“Hello, the guy you’ve been dating?”
Oh, shit, Wes.
I bit my lip. “Um, Wes isn’t the father. We haven’t even slept together.”
“What. The. Hell?” Harmony squeaked.
“Mom? Are you okay?” Skyler came rushing into the room, sitting in between us, and handing her a jar with money. “You said hell, you need to put a dollar in.”
“Yeah, baby, we’re fine,” Harmony said, pulling a dollar from her sweats pocket and dropping it in. “Aunty was just telling me something surprising.”
“Oh, what was it?”
“Sky!” Jaxon called. “Come help with the waffles.”
Skyler wrinkled her nose, but did what her father told her.
“Who’s the father?” Harmony whispered.
I dropped my head in my hands and shook my head. “It doesn’t really matter. He wants nothing to do with me, so he’s not going to want anything to do with the baby.”
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I lied as I burst into tears.
“Oh, LiLi, what happened?” she asked, wrapping an arm around me.
“I have no idea! It was all supposed to be really casual and that wasmyrule. It was good. But then I fell in love with him and I didn’t realize it until the second he called to say he didn’t want our arrangement to continue.”
She kissed my temple and sighed. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s fine. He’s been very clear from the beginning that he has no interest in having kids and I refuse to be a liar.”
“But you’re not a liar.”
“I know, but he won’t see it that way. He’ll see it as me trapping him into something he didn’t want.” I pulled away from my sister. “It’s fine. He doesn’t need to know. The odds of this pregnancy actually lasting is a crapshoot, so there’s no point in saying anything anyway.”
“Who, LiLi?”
“I will tell you, but I swear to God, if you tell anyone—”
