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)
“I think I’ll be good. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” I use the palm of my hand to dry my cheeks. “It’s just…” I start, not sure what to say actually as she pulls into the parking lot of a restaurant that isn’t far from Jaxon’s.
“Do you want to have this conversation in there or in here?” she asks me and I just look at her.
“I don’t know.” My bottom lip is quivering. “It’s a fucking disaster,” I say and she reaches over and hugs me, making me cry even more.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispers, as she rubs my back and I want to tell her nothing will ever be okay because that is how it feels. “I promise.”
“I don’t know about that,” I finally admit to her as she lets me go. “I think we broke up two days ago.”
She gasps in shock at me just saying the words. “You think you broke up two days ago,” she repeats the dreaded words I just said, and I have to open the door because I think I’m going to be sick. “Okay, change of plans. We need to get you on a couch and—” She pulls out of the parking lot and starts to connect her call.
“Hey,” the voice fills the car.
“Gabriella, I’m two minutes away from your house and I have Ariella with me,” she states. “We’re coming over.”
“I’m walking to the door as we speak,” she replies. “Come in when you get here.”
“Get tissues,” she suggests, looking at me and smiling, “and maybe a garbage can.”
“Get tissues,” she repeats. “Why the fuck do we need tissues?” she hisses and then stops. “I have a bat and I know people.”
“Okay there, Tonya Harding, we’re pulling in now,” she says. I look at the house and see Gabriella standing outside with her long hair blowing in the wind. She comes down her steps and toward my side of the car and pulls it open. “What did he do?” she asks me and I just shake my head.
“They broke up,” Zoey shares and I shake my head even more.
“I don’t know if we did,” I backpedal. “It’s just—”
“Okay, let’s get you inside,” Gabriella urges, putting her arm around my shoulders, “and get you a cozy blanket and some tissues.”
We walk inside with me in the middle of the two of them. “I’ll give you a tour after.” She heads straight to the family room. “Do you want something to drink?”
“She’s pregnant,” Zoey shares, “we’re not making her drink.”
“Jesus, Zoey,” Gabriella retorts. “I mean water, juice, maybe some tea?” She shakes her head.
“I could go for some water,” I tell her and she nods her head, then looks at Zoey, who just nods her head.
We walk over to the couch and I kick off my sneakers before curling my feet under me and looking at the two of them sharing a look. “It’s fine,” I assure them, patting my hand on my stomach. “It’ll be fine. It’s all these hormones.” I put my hand on my stomach, something I’ve been doing more and more these days.
Zoey walks over and comes to sit next to me, putting her head on my shoulder while Gabriella comes back in with two bottles of water. “Okay, so what’s going on?”
“I don’t even know what to say,” I start and tell them the whole story about what Tiffany did, which gets shocked gasps from both of them.
Gabriella blinks her eyes two times before she turns her head to the side. “I’m sorry, she did what?”
While Zoey just says, “Oh. My. God.”
“It is what it is,” I say, grabbing a tissue and dabbing my eyes. “Am I pissed about it? Yes. Like, what the fuck, dude, how could someone do that to someone else? She was going to trap him with a child,” I say the words. “With a child for the rest of his life.” The thought makes me so mad that someone would do that to him.
“Well, he ended up trapping you with a child instead,” Zoey mumbles.
“That is not the same thing at all. He didn’t know he was trapping me,” I defend him, and she nods her head, agreeing with me. “But then he’s telling me all this and then he says”—I stop and take a second before I say the words—“I’m so sorry, Ariella. I never wanted this.” I look at both their faces to see if maybe I’m overreacting to the words but they both grimace.
“I mean, I think he meant he’s sorry that he got you swept up into this disaster of a predicament,” Gabriella tries to explain. “I don’t think he meant he never wanted this.”
“I know he never wanted this,” I repeat. “I mean, I wasn’t exactly planning on having a kid this way. I thought I would, I don’t know, be dating the guy beforehand and then, you know, get married and have kids.” I take a sip of the water. “It is what it is and I got pregnant, but I thought we dealt with it. Hearing him say the words ‘I never wanted this.’ It just—”