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“Jeez, babe. How terrifying,” she murmurs.
I blow out a breath.
I’m pregnant.
Now would be a good time to say the words. She can help me figure out how to navigate this—how to tell Lincoln. If I should tell him.
Of course I should, and I know that’s just my anger making way to my thoughts.
Still, part of me wants to just run away and never tell him. I want to escape to some remote small town with Jonah and this baby and disappear from this mess. I want to leave Vegas and never look back.
But I don’t have that option. There’s a child in the picture, and an ex who is his father even though I’d do anything to remove him from Jonah’s life. I have responsibilities here—or I used to, anyway. I guess I’m not sure where I stand with my family, and I no longer have a job.
Come to think of it, maybe running away isn’t such a bad idea.
“What about the podcast?” she asks.
I shrug. “I can still run the podcast. I just think…maybe he won’t be my cohost. Maybe I’ll find someone else. Austin Graham, maybe, just to stick it to the entire Nash family.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asks gently.
I nod. “I’m fine. You can check my charts if you want to see for yourself.” I’m bluffing, and I have no idea why I said that. If she checks my charts, she’ll see I’m pregnant, so I don’t actually want her to do that. But she won’t. She’s busy when she’s at work, anyway. “Mild concussion and banged up wrist. Not broken, just badly bruised and they recommended a splint. That’s the extent of my injuries.”
“Let me just take a look to make sure…” she says, and she lifts my wrist gently and pulls off the splint as she starts to inspect it. She nods as if she’s satisfied with the diagnosis I received, and then she rewraps it. “How does your head feel?”
“Fine. I’m just tired.”
“Are you ready for bed or do you want to talk more?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I mutter. “I guess…is it okay if Jonah and I stay here a while longer while I figure things out?”
She sighs as her eyes dart around a little. “I wasn’t going to mention this tonight, but…I gave my notice to the landlord already. We need to be out by the end of the month.”
My brows dip together. “Why?”
“When I told Devin you were moving out, he said we should move in. We’re still not telling Cade we’re together…for now. It’s a trial basis for Cade to spend more time with his dad. But we didn’t see any sense in paying two rents when we know what we want, you know?” she says.
“Oh, Sammy. I’m so damn happy for you.”
She leans over to rest her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, babe. But tonight’s not about me. Are you sure you’re good?”
“Yeah,” I murmur. “I’m good.” I’m not. I’m falling apart. I’m pregnant. My head throbs. My wrist hurts. My heart aches. My chest feels heavy. I can’t sit here smiling and pretending right now when I feel like I just lost everything.
“You need to rest, and I’ll check on you. I’ll get the boys to school in the morning, but I want you staying home tomorrow. You hear me?”
I nod as I stand. “Yes ma’am.”
She studies me a beat, and then she stands, too. She gives me a hug. “We’ll figure this out, okay? You can move into Devin’s with us…or something. And maybe you two will find your way back. You never know. Devin and I seem to have, and I never thought we would.”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “I don’t think so. But thanks for trying.” I offer a tight smile. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” she murmurs, and I head to my bedroom to finally be alone, where I promptly break down and cry as I try to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to move on from the man that was supposed to be the love of my life.
CHAPTER 3: LINCOLN
My mom is already in the kitchen when I saunter down the stairs after a hot shower that did nothing to touch the pounding headache I woke with, and she’s sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee.
When she glances up, she does a double take before she stands and walks over to me to inspect the bandage on my head. “What happened? Did Jolene hit you?”
