Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
How the hell did I end up here?
My attention is caught when I see a car pull into the cul-de-sac. Nick’s car. “Is he for real?” I whisper, standing from the dwarf wall. The anger is reignited as I wander to the end of the path to meet him on the pavement. Has he come to make me feel even stupider? Does he expect me to fall into his arms, sob and apologise?
“You need to leave,” I say, my tone defensive and hostile. “You can’t just keep turning up at my parents’ house, Nick.” Is he hoping for an ally in Dad?
“I thought . . .”
Oh my God, he does. He thinks there’s a chance? After everything? I laugh under my breath and turn, walking back to the house, hoping that simple reaction tells him what he needs to know with no further energy drained. But then something comes to me, and I stop.
“Why did you change your name?” I ask, facing him.
The wave of surprise that crosses his face can’t be hidden. “What?”
“Your name.”
“Is that what he told you?” He stands taller in some kind of pathetic display of strength. It’s defensive. And really fucking suspicious.
“No, it’s what Clark told me.” Wide eyes stare back at me, and I tilt my head, suddenly interested. “Why did you change your name, Nick?”
“My mum remarried after my dad died,” he says, his words rushed.
“Wait. Your dad died?”
“Yes, my dad died.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me that?” We were together for five years!
“I did tell you that.”
I laugh. “Nick, don’t you think that’s information I would remember? So Frank’s your stepfather? You took your stepfather’s name?”
“Yes.” He shrugs, but I know there’s way more to it, just by how shady he’s behaving.
“Just like that, you took on another man’s name?”
“Mum wanted me to have the same name as her.”
“I call bullshit.”
“I’m telling you the truth, Amelia.”
“You wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped you around the face, Nick.”
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I didn’t have the best relationship with my father. He expected a lot from me. I didn’t cope well with the pressure, and after he died, I wanted to be my own man, be recognised as me, not as my father’s son.”
“So you forgot he ever existed? Didn’t think to mention to me that your dad died and you changed your name?”
“I must have told you, Amelia.”
“You never told me.” I don’t need to rack my brain. He did not tell me. “I don’t even know who you are.” I feel like I’ve lived in the dark the whole time I was with Nick. Been deceived, made a fool of way before I met Jude Harrison. “Stay away from me, stay away from my family, and stay away from my work.” I’m one stride away from the front door when it swings open, my brother appearing.
“There you are.” Clark exhales, relieved to find me. “I was worried. Do you feel okay? Sick? Because Rach is getting terrible morning sickness, and she thought you might be too.”
I stare at him. Just stare.
“You’re pregnant?” Nick blurts from behind me.
“Oh fuck.” Clark tilts his head slightly to look past me and confirm who’s here.
“Pregnant?”
I’m frozen, my brain failing me. Think.
“Pregnant?” Nick says again, his voice getting louder, closer. “You’re fucking pregnant?”
“Who’s pregnant?” Mum appears behind Clark, and my whole world just got a little bit messier.
I close my eyes briefly, at a loss. “Me.”
“Oh my Christ,” Mum breathes.
“Is it mine?” Nick asks, his expression everything I hate. Hope.
“Nick?” Dad joins Mum on the doorstep. “Is what yours?”
I stare at Clark in complete despair. Poor thing looks absolutely mortified, his eyes wide and full of apologies.
“Amelia’s pregnant,” Nick declares.
“What?” Dad coughs over his shock. “How ridiculous. She can’t be.”
“I’m pregnant.” I say the words clearly for my dad to hear, looking back at Nick. “And it’s not yours.”
He jerks, like he’s been shot. “Him?” he gasps in disbelief.
I don’t need to answer. This is horrific. Utterly horrific. And not because of Nick; I couldn’t give two shits about him. But my family?
“Amelia?” Dad sounds as lost as I feel.
“Okay, I think we need to give them some space,” Clark declares, taking Mum and Dad and pushing them back into the house.
“Pregnant?” Dad cries. “She’s pregnant? But how?”
“Oh, Dennis, come on. Do you really need an explanation?”
“Yes! She just told me she’s split up with Jude, whom, by the way, is a cracking chap. Why is she splitting up with him if she’s expecting his baby?”
“Jesus.” Clark throws me so many apologetic looks as he herds my parents back into the house, slamming the door.
I stare at the wood, feeling Nick’s presence, unable to face him. “He’s a cracking chap?” he says over a laugh. “So you’ve obviously not told your parents that he was using you.”