Page 53 of All in with the Maverick Montana

“And now you’re eating for two,” Caleb added.

“I’ve been eating for two for months apparently.”

Faith hummed. “I wonder if you’ll have any cravings.”

Amy shrugged. She wasn’t much concerned with food cravings at the moment.

“You definitely have aversions. And that’s a thing too, I think. Like turkey bacon. You can’t stand the stuff. Must be why you always wrinkle your nose at me whenever I cook it.”

Amy looked at her, deadpan. “Are you serious right now?”

Faith licked peanut butter off the end of her knife. “What?”

“Disliking your turkey bacon has nothing to do with being pregnant. Trust me.” She shook her head, trying not to laugh. It felt like such a silly thing to laugh at, especially right now, when she was trying to work up the nerve to call Tru, but she couldn’t help herself. “That had everything to do with you choosing a subpar bacon variety.” Amy stopped laughing suddenly. “You know, Josh and I had a good laugh about that last night.” She put her phone down on the kitchen table and slumped into a chair. Last night already felt like a million years ago. So much had happened since then… So much had happened to rip apart this thing she and Josh were building.

“Oh, Amy,” Faith said. “He’ll be back.”

“I’m not sure he will,” Amy said, more to herself than Faith. If this was her reality, she needed to come to terms with it. “You didn’t see the way he ran out of here.”

“He cares about you,” Faith said. “I can see it in the way he looks at you. Trust me. You haven’t seen the last of Josh.”

Amy shook her head. “Even if I have, I can’t really blame him, you know? I’m sure he feels blindsided and maybe even like I lied to him.”

“But you didn’t,” Caleb said. “You had no idea about the pregnancy when you met him.”

“I know that. And I hope he knows that. But it doesn’t change the fact that we fell for each other. Maybe even imagined a future with each other. Heck, I know I was starting to. All the while this big secret was growing between us. And now suddenly everything we thought we knew is different.”

“Not everything,” Faith said softly. “Not the way you feel about each other.”

“I don’t know,” Amy said. How would Josh really feel about hanging around her while she was carrying another man’s child? “It might not be something he can get past.” Saying the words out loud, she hoped would make them hurt less. It was a logical argument. Something she should expect may become a reality. But it didn’t make them hurt any less. They spilled over her lips like sand, rough and grainy, getting caught between her teeth and making her throat burn.

“Just give it some more time,” Caleb suggested. “A man like Josh is a quiet thinker. Let him process everything that happened today. Then he’ll come back around, you’ll see.”

Amy blinked back tears. It was useless though. They fell and she swiped her hands over her cheeks.

“Oh, Amy,” Faith said. “Don’t cry. Please.”

“I’m not sad,” she said, sniffling. “I’m angry. I’m angry that after all this time Tru McCoy is still somehow screwing me over.”

“You don’t need to call him right now. You can take some time to process everything, too. Josh isn’t the only one who’s had a world-altering bit of news dumped in his lap today.”

“No. I need to call Tru because I need a plan going forward. It’s been almost four months already and I can’t just wing it. I’m having a baby and that baby deserves a plan. I need to know if Tru wants to be part of that plan so I can just move on with my life, I guess.”

“What can I do?” Faith asked.

Amy rubbed the last of the tears from her eyes. “Get me some olives.”

“Olives?”

“Yes.”

Faith laughed, and Amy did too.

“Okay, we’ll just run to the store before it closes.” She took Caleb by the arm. “You text me and let me know if you suddenly develop a hankering for any other random foods. But we’ll just cover the gamut. You know, peanut butter, pickles, salty, sweet, savory.”

“Thank you,” Amy said. Faith walked over and pulled Amy up into a hug.

“It’s gonna be okay. You know that, right? Whatever happens. Because you’ve got me and Caleb and the rest of our family. And this baby is going to be so, so loved.”