“I…guess? What’s his number?”
Mom showed me the contact information, but when I typed it in, a message thread from a few days ago came up.
I stared at the screen.
“What?” Mom asked.
That deadbeat was the unknown number who’d texted me?
Heart racing, I turned to Jen. “Did you use his phone to text me?”
“No. Why would I do that? I have my own phone and—ah, contraction.” She gripped the handrail tightly.
Did she even know I’d muted her messages?
“Tori? Are you okay?” Mom asked.
Jen scoffed loudly. “I’m the one having a baby.”
“Yes, but she’s gone pale. Do you need to eat something?” Mom asked.
“Yeah, maybe.” Breakfast was so long ago. All I had now was bile and rage churning inside me. This was no way to welcome a baby.
Angel called. He must’ve just gotten out of classes.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, hurrying off to answer despite Jen’s protests.
She’d probably vented to her baby daddy, and that was why he’d sent me those nasty texts. But he didn’t even know me.
For all I knew, he was the creep. He should be ashamed for getting a girl pregnant and ignoring her messages.
At least my boyfriend called me. “Angel? You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had. That I’m still having, I guess.”
“Wanna commiserate?” he said, his voice thick with exhaustion.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked, pacing the color-coded hallway.
He sighed. “I don’t feel great about that test.”
“Oh no, really? But you studied so hard, and you did great on the study guide.”
“The exam questions just kept building on these weird cases, so if you got one thing wrong, it’d affect the rest of them.”
“I-I’m sorry. I’m sure you did your best.”
“Eh, that wasn't my best. Neither of us got much sleep, and I probably didn’t study half as much as I should’ve this week.”
“Right…” Because of me. At least partially.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“I was going to find some food.” Eating my feelings seemed a lot better than screaming at a pregnant lady.
“Want me to bring something home?” he asked.
I paced further from my sister's room. “Oh, no. You must not have seen my texts during the exam. Um, Jen went into labor.”
