“I’ll go look. You two talk.”
Grady bolts from the living room, disappearing in four long, rushed strides. I turn back to Angela. She gives me a weird little smile. “I’m honestly happy for you guys. Your chemistry was embarrassingly obvious.”
“I… I… it’s not… I mean…”
She waves a pale hand between us. “Oh shut up, Landon. I won’t tell anyone about this, and my little development will most definitely throw everyone off the trail if you choose to keep it.”
Her words tumble around in my shocked brain. “Keep it? Me? And you? How far along are you?”
She’s acting like the threesome is where this happened. It would have to be if she thinks it’s mine because that’s the last time we had sex… or maybe we conceived before that? I don’t know. But she walked out three months and a half ago, and the threesome was two weeks before that, so…
“You either keep it by yourself, or you don’t. Like I said, I’m not asking to get back together. And I don’t want to be a mother. I never have.” She lays a hand on her stomach, rubbing it lightly. “I also know that I couldn’t… I didn’t want an abortion. I’d be all for it in any other situation, but I know you thought you were infertile. This could be yours, and you wanted kids. It was the one thing I wanted to change about you. So, I just thought it would be wrong for me not to tell you. So I’m telling you and giving you the option of keeping it or not.”
I run a hand through my hair, and it snags on a knot. I grimace and rub my face. My skin feels tingly. My fingers are numb. I’m definitely in shock. “Thank you, I guess?”
“You didn’t want to know?”
“No. Yes. I mean, I don’t know,” I blurt out and take some trembling steps until I’m able to lower myself onto the chair. I cradle my head in my hands. “I just don’t know what to think or say. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“That’s how I felt when what I thought was food poisoning turned out to be a nine-month souvenir of the end of our relationship,” she retorts. She isn’t being mean or harsh. I think she’s just kind of drowning in the realization, like I am. “Anyway, I’m here. Now you both know, and you can tell me what you’d like to do.”
Grady walks back in with a steaming cup. His hand is trembling as he places it on the coffee table in front of Angela. “I think this is the one.”
She reaches for it and sniffs as she raises it to her mouth. “It is. Thank you.”
We both just stare at her as she sips. “Morning sickness is no joke. It should be over by now, according to the internet, but I might be one of those unlucky ones that has it for longer.”
“My mom had morning sickness for seven months with me. And then it transitioned to chronic heartburn,” Grady offers.
I turn and look at him like he’s insane. This, all of this, is insane. “What is even happening right now?”
The words come out much louder than they should. I put my head in my hands again.
“You’re going to be a dad, if you want,” Angela says, her voice cutting through the screaming in my head. “That’s it. It’s probably not ideal. If you don’t want to be a dad, I can handle it. I’ll walk out of here tomorrow, and you’ll never hear another word of it. Same goes for you, if it’s yours.”
“It can’t be mine. I mean, statistically the chance is small.” Grady sounds like he’s trying to convince the universe. “There was no penetration on my part, and even though… I mean, there are some recorded cases of… I just, I mean, the odds… I think I should go.”
“You’re both freaking out. I get it. I don’t expect a decision right this second.” She gets off the couch holding her tea. “But I am gonna ask if I can have a shower and a nap while you two try to figure out how you feel about this. I took the red eye. I’m exhausted, and that always makes the nausea worse.”
“Yeah. Whatever you need,” I manage to croak out.
Angela brushes past me and out onto the porch. When she returns a second later, she’s got a small suitcase with her. “I’ll take the front room upstairs, if that’s cool. I take it you two are both in here now.”
Her head tips toward the main floor bedroom. I watch Grady shake his head. “I have my own place. This isn’t… we’re not.”
Angela rolls her eyes as if exasperated. “Oh, for God’s sake. I have no idea how someone so big and scary-looking is so afraid of his own feelings. Okay sure. You’re not anything more than teammates who like to play with each other off the ice, too. Sure. Got it. Our little secret.”
She walks down the hall, through the dining room, and climbs the stairs. I hear them creak as she goes until the sound of my thundering heart blocks them out. “Holy fuck.”
Grady looks over at me, his hands in his hair. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Neither do I.” He starts for his suitcase again and grabs his coat out of the closet. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you space. To think. I need it too.”
“Don’t you think it might make more sense to talk this out together? Since it involves both of us?” I ask as he moves toward the door that leads to the porch.
“It’s not mine.” His voice is more confident than before. “As your friend, I’ll support whatever decision you make, but you have to make it.”
