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“Well, you have me now, Lennon. You’re wearing my ring, you’re living in my home, and you’ve taken my last name. Does that mean you’re ready to let yourself look at me that way?”

The night I yelled at him and he said those words, I couldn’t give him an answer.

It took me less than twenty-four hours to figure out the answer, though.

Easton Buckley has always been the man I measured everyone else against, and now he’s my husband.

He showed up at my house on prom night because he wanted to take me to prom.

He showed up for me after Dad’s heart attack.

He offered to marry me to take care of my baby and me.

And now we have a chance to explore whatever the hell is going on between us, and I’d be a fool not to take it.

“You look lost in thought.”

I look up and find Mom standing over me, smiling with amusement.

“Well, I sort of was.”

She sits in the chair beside me as we watch Nora, Blair, and James toss the ball.

“Anything you want to get off your chest?” Her hand settles over mine on the armrest.

The last thing I should discuss with Mom is what happened last night, especially since she doesn’t know the truth about our relationship. More important, if I get her talking about sex, she’ll never stop.

“I just feel really overwhelmed,” I reply instead, hoping that’s vague enough.

“That’s normal, given everything you’re going through. But I hope none of that feeling comes from Easton.” I glance at her. “I always knew that boy was in love with you.”

Little does she know those words carry far more weight now. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“And you love him too, right?”

Do I love Easton? I’m not sure I’m ready to answer that question honestly because I do love him, but not in the way I’m exploring right now. Not as a romantic partner. I’ve just always loved him as my best friend, the one person I knew I could count on above all others, until the space between us became so wide that even a glimmer of a romantic relationship vanished as a possibility.

“The baby isn’t Easton’s, is it, Lennon?”

A bolt of anxiety ricochets through my chest as I stare at Mom. “What?”

She squeezes my hand with hers. “It’s okay, Lennon. I’m not mad. I just want you to know that you can talk to me, sweetie.”

My words are caught in my throat. “What…how…” Luckily, Mom keeps talking.

“When Easton came to pick you up from our house and move you into his, I knew.”

“How?”

She tilts her head. “The way you reacted when he touched you, as if it wasn’t familiar. And then watching you two at the football game. Sorry, sweetie, but if you’d been sleeping with that man, his touch wouldn’t have startled you in any way.”

Of course my mother would pick up on that of all things.

Closing my eyes, I let the first tear fall. “I’m sorry, Mom. I really am…”

She leans over and pulls me into her arms. “Lennon Banks Riley, you have nothing to be sorry for, so please stop apologizing.”

“I just thought you guys would think I was a screw-up again if I told you the truth, so this felt easier.”