Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Here.” I hand her the box.
“Do you have syrup?” she asks me and I look at her, picking up the one that is sugar-free. Her nose scrunches up as if she just saw the most disgusting thing she could ever see.
She holds up her hand. “Order me pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage.” She shakes her head.
“See that?” I point at her. “That I can do.” I pull up the app to order food and look up at her. “Regular pancakes or do you want chocolate chip?” She looks up at the ceiling, contemplating her answer, and I take in how beautiful she is.
“Buttermilk,” she answers, and I nod putting in the order.
“Thirty minutes,” I tell her and she nods, walking over to the couch and sitting in the corner, curling her feet under her.
“What did you order?”
“I’m not telling you.” I shake my head, sitting next to her on the couch, putting my arm around her legs, and bringing her into my side.
“Is that because it’s healthy?”
“It’s not that healthy,” I defend myself.
“What is it?” She puts her hand on my arm and I feel somewhat settled just by one touch.
“Mushroom, spinach, and pepper omelet,” I say and her face grimaces. “The whole egg and not just egg whites.”
“Whoa,” she teases, “living on the edge.” I throw my head back and laugh at the same time she leans forward and kisses my neck. “I love the sound of your laugh,” she whispers in my ear before sitting back in her corner. “Now, we should talk before the food gets here.”
“Let’s do that,” I agree, not sure how to start, but one look from Ariella and I know she’s about to start it.
“How are you feeling?” She puts her elbow on the back of the couch and leans her head on her fisted hand.
“A little freaked out,” I confess to her, and she nods with a sad smile on her face. “It’s not like we were together and this was the next step. I mean, it’s not like this was planned or anything. It’s just like we had this amazing fucking night and then we parted ways and then six weeks later it’s like hi…” I lift my hand to wave at her. “Hello, I’m pregnant.”
“I get it,” she admits to me. “I spent a good two days in shock myself.”
“How did you find out?” I ask her, wanting to know everything she has been up to in the past six weeks .
“I had coffee one morning,” she starts to tell me the story, she laughs when she tells me about ordering pregnancy tests from an app, “and well, then nine tests later there was no mistake. I got a plus sign, two lines, and then one that literally said pregnant in the middle of it.”
“I’m sorry you went through that alone.” I rub my hand up and down her leg, before draping it over her.
“I kept them all in the bathroom on the sink in a cup.” She smiles and then laughs. “Every single time I went to the bathroom and then would wash my hands, I would look at them to see if maybe they changed.” She makes a joke of it. “Spoiler alert, they didn’t.”
I look at her looking at me. “My birth mother used me as a bargaining chip with my father,” I start to say, and for the first time in my life, I open up to someone about my childhood. I mean, it’s not really a secret, everyone close to me knows. I’m pretty sure even Ariella knows from the gossip over the years, but I’ve never, ever said it out loud or admitted it to someone.
“I don’t know how she felt when she had me, but I know as the years went on and my father started to fall out of love with her, I was the carrot she used to dangle in front of my father.” She puts her hand on my arm, rubbing it up and down before sliding her fingers through mine. “I was too young to know what she was doing, but when I got old enough, I knew it was not right. When my father was home, it was always me and him. It would be him who would take me to hockey practice and to the games. We would watch television together and she would never be around. They even had separate bedrooms, that should have been my first clue.”
I shake my head as she squeezes my hand softly. “When he wasn’t there and it was just me and her and she didn’t have an audience, she would barely speak to me. I was sent off to watch television or play on my iPad or, better yet, I was ushered off to my best friend’s house. But the minute my father was back, she was loving and pretending she gave a shit.”