Yes! There’d been a condom. So when the hell had a baby entered the equation? “But we…we used?—”
“Protection?” she finished for me. “Yes. And it was apparently ninety-eight percent effective, just like the box said.”
My eyes were bugging out of my head.
My face must have looked like a horror show, because the corners of her mouth turned down. “It’s a baby, not an alien. People make them all the time. You don’t have to look that alarmed.”
I was alarmed. Very,veryalarmed. But every time I tried to open my mouth to say something coherent or supportive or just…anything, my throat constricted a little more.
“This is the part where you say something,” she said, her expression hardening.
I was trying.
“Literally anything would be great right about now,” she continued. “Do you not have a single question for me? Like ‘Oh, Isla, but how do you know you’re pregnant?’ And to that I would say, ‘Gee, if the missed period, fatigue, and tender breasts weren’t a dead giveaway, coming back positive on three separate pregnancy tests would’ve firmed it up.’”
She stared at me like she was trying to peer past my skull to the place my thoughts churned out. I might have made a noise—a hum or a pained grunt—but I couldn’t be sure.
Isla threw her hands up again. “Really, you can’t muster one productive thing to say?” She waved me off with a click of her tongue. She sounded angry, but I saw the disappointment on her face before she could hide it. “Whatever. I wasn’t expecting anything from you anyway.” She turned on her heel, storming back toward that tiny hunk of junk she called a car, spitting over her shoulder. “Just thought you’d want to know.” Her voice pitched up into a yell. “Ranger, let’s go!”
My kid.Me, a dad? I tried imagining a tiny bundle in my arms—a son or a daughter. My heart pounded at the base of my throat, and all the words dried up on the back of my tongue.
“But I can see that anything more than sheep is too much for you!” Isla yelled as she wrenched her car door open, waiting as Ranger dashed across the property and dove inside. She climbed in and slammed the door closed, reversing halfway down the driveway before I could even yellwait!
5
ISLA
“He’s a daft idiot,” Cat said, topping up my mug with English breakfast. My best friend knew the kitchen at the inn almost as well as I did—especially where I kept the tea—and she had insisted on brewing while I ranted. “But most men are. I suppose you can’t hold that against him.”
I snorted, leaning back in my chair and rubbing my tired eyes. I felt like I’d lived an entire lifetime since that disastrous conversation with Locke yesterday.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it over last night,” Cat continued, sliding into the chair next to mine. “If I’d known what kind of 9-9-9 emergency this was, I’d have closed up the café early.”
I summoned a smile. In the few short years I’d been back in Braeburn, Cat had carved out a place in my life like she’d always belonged there. She owned the cat café next door, and I’d spent more evenings there than I could count, sprawled out on the floor with cat treats and a range of furry, purry felines snuggled against me. They said a purring cat could actually be healing.Whether that was medically proven or not, it certainlyfelttrue as I’d worked through my grief after losing my mom.
“That’s okay,” I said, clutching my mug between my hands. It was decorated with pictures of Ranger on one of his many walks behind the distillery. I could feel his warm breath against my toes where he’d curled up on the floor. “I mean, this baby has to cook for eight more months. You’ll have plenty of time to catch up on my drama.”
“But did Locke really not sayanything?” she asked, raising her mug to her lips.
“Nothing productive.” I sighed. Cat was the only other person who knew about the baby. And, so far, her reaction had been far superior to the kid’s own father. Irritation prickled against my skin. “All he could do was sputter like a car engine. It wasawful.”
Cat grimaced.
“Like, on one hand, I get it,” I said. “This is a huge thing to dump on someone, especially considering we hardly know each other. ButIwasn’t prepared to get that positive test back either. You sort of just have to rally, you know?”
“Be an adult about it,” Cat said, agreeing. “Make practical decisions.”
“Exactly!” Frustration surged through me. “Why is the woman always expected to hold it together while the man gets to have an existential crisis?”
“It’s that bullshite patriarchy,” Cat said.
“I KNOW!” I cried. Ranger jerked beneath the table. I reached down to pat his head where it rested against my knee. “Did I want to have a complete meltdown when I found out? Sure. DidI have time for that? No. Because now I’m growing this tiny little life, and they need me to sort my shit out.”
Cat reached out and squeezed my hand. It was warm from her mug. “And I’m here to support. I’ll help you fix up the nursery and shop for baby clothes and strollers and all that.”
“You’d make a much better baby-daddy.”
She shot me a cheeky grin. “I’m going to be such a cool aunt.”
