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“I’m sorry,” she eventually murmurs, her forehead resting against my chest. “I’m so sorry.”
My arms tighten around her as I turn my face into her neck, my eyes closing as I inhale deeply. I know this isn’t her, keeping something like this from me, that isn’t who Lis is and I can’t imagine this is how she saw any of this playing out either.
“I was scared to tell you,” she whispers, gripping my sweater. “I could barely believe it myself, and I…I just…” she trails off, the rest of her words cut off with another sob.
Pulling back, I cup her face in my hands, brushing her tears away with my thumbs. “I don’t ever want you to be scared to talk to me, Lis,” I whisper. “About anything.”
“I know,” she cries. “But this is huge, this is…”
I pull her against me again. “I know it is,” I say, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “But you still should’ve told me.”
She nods against me. “I know. That’s why I’m here now, to tell you.”
I ease her back again, my hands on either side of her jaw. “When did you take the test?” I ask.
Lis swallows hard, her gaze dropping as she licks her lips. “In Phoenix.”
“When?” I repeat.
She looks up at me and I can see the fear and hurt and sadness in her eyes. “Christmas eve,” she whispers, not looking away.
Four days ago.
Four days ago, she took the test and she’s only now telling me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, my hands still holding her face. “You’ve known for days, Lis. Why didn’t you?—”
“How could I, Nick?” she starts, cutting me off. “How could I tell you when it will change everything?” Her voice is loud in the silence of the house and when she moves to pull away from me, I let her.
I blow out a breath. “Um, because it’s my kid too and I deserve to know.”
“I know,” she exhales, holding a hand up. “I know, okay. I haven’t handled this the best and again, I’m sorry.” She starts to pace, one hand on her hip, the other scrubbing down her face. I can feel the tension radiating off her from where I stand.
“Lis,” I say, reaching for her. She stops as my fingers curl around her wrist, glancing back at me, her cheeks still wet with tears. “Can we talk about this without fighting? Please.”
She nods, sniffing and I slide my hand down, linking our fingers together before walking us into the living room where we both sit on the couch. I shuffle closer to her, dropping my arm around her shoulders.
“It’s not like I went out and bought it,” she starts. “I was getting towels from the cupboard at Nina’s, and it was just there.”
“But you must have thought it was a possibility?” I ask.
She looks up at me. “No, I legit thought I had the stomach flu that was going around. It was everyone else who thought it.”
“Everyone else?” I ask, confused. None of our friends even know we’re together, so why would they think Lis could be pregnant.
“Nina and Harper,” Lis clarifies. “Harper was just giving me shit, fishing for info on us, but Nina…” she trails off, wiping her cheeks. “She knows about us, obviously and when she was teasing me about falling asleep…”
“But they don’t know about…?” I ask, waving a hand in her direction, remembering Lis said no one in my family knows.
“No,” she replies, shaking her head. “But…” She blows out a breath, shaking her head as she continues, “I puked at work and accidentally blurted it out to a customer and, well, people heard it.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, knowing all too well how gossip spreads around here. I’m surprised I haven’t heard the news from someone already.
“Yeah, it’s not ideal, obviously and I did ask everyone to keep quiet, given I hadn’t told you yet.”
“So, you told them it’s mine?” I ask, again wondering why I haven’t heard from Max or Alex at this point. Nothing stays quiet at Badger Creek for long, and gossip especially runs rampant. Fuck, I can’t even imagine what Lis must have gone through when we broke up. I mean I wasn’t here, but it can’t have been good. It never is.
“No,” she says, shaking her head again as she gives me a wry smile. “I didn’t say anything about that, but I’m sure people will put things together.” She waves a hand at me, and I grab it, lifting it to my lips, pressing a kiss against her knuckles.
