Like a force of nature she drags me to the aisle and grabs me a handful, shoving them at me. “Go take those and I’ll pay for them.”
I stagger back to the restroom and wonder what the hell is happening to me. I was thinking about leaving. I packed my bags last night and turned in my notice. I had it all figured out.
Now I’m peeing on a stack of little sticks and praying that I haven’t totally fucked up my life and Stone’s.
He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t want kids.
This can’t be happening.
But it is. One by one those damn sticks turn into little pink lines of joy and pain.
Leaning on the sink, I let the tears come. I’m having a baby. With a man who take my virginity and then disappeared like a thief in the night.
And that home I was looking for? All it’s going to be now is me and my baby.
“I’m gonna take good care of you,” I whisper. “I don’t care if your daddy doesn’t want me or you. I’m always gonna be here for you.”
Wiping the tears off my cheeks, I grab a piece of toilet paper and clean myself up as well as I can and step out the door right into warm, strong arms.
Tears streak down my cheeks again and I rest my chin on her shoulder.
“Oh honey. I’m so sorry. And so damn happy,” she says, patting my back.
Then she pulls back. “You can call me Sandy. We’re gonna be family.”
More tears streak down my face and her own smile falls. “What did my boy do?”
I just shake my head and cry harder, letting her pat my back and soothe at least some of my worries.
Maybe if I can’t have the man of my dreams, at least my baby can have a wonderful grandma to play with and visit after I leave.
CHAPTER 13
Stone
Like an avenging angel, my mama storms into the kitchen where I’m pouring a cup of coffee and slaps her gloves down on the table, ripping her coat off.
“Problem, ma?” I ask mildly.
“You are an idiot,” she snaps and puts her coat up. “I can’t believe that I birthed such idiots.”
Then she slams past me and muttering to herself, storms down the hall.
“What the hell, ma? I haven’t done anything.”
She whips around and a book sails past my head. I duck and dodge, well-knowing that now is not the time to defend myself.
“You got that poor girl pregnant and then just left? How the hell can you just walk out the door and leave her with no words other than sorry?”
One word sticks in my head and I gasp, falling against the counter. “Pregnant?”
Ma’s practically quivering with righteous anger. She points a finger at me. “You are an idiot. I can’t even look at you right now.”
She storms down the hall and up the stairs, ignoring my cries to come back. Reaching the top, she whips around and pointsat me. “That girl loves you. She would never have touched you otherwise. And you left and you have barely talked to her since. You haven’t gone to town one time. I’ve watched. I know. So you left her alone and didn’t even check up on her. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Stunned, I stagger into a wall. “I hurt her. I mean, I don’t really want to talk to you about this but I was rough.”
“Did she complain?”
