Page 17 of Accidentally in Love

“Okay.”

“Make sure you take your prenatal vitamins and lean on the baby’s father. Let him be your support system. Even if you aren’t together.”

I chewed on my lip. It had been a couple of days since I told Nolan about the baby. I’d been a little abrupt with him when I told him to leave. After he left my apartment, I felt like such a bitch, but I was so nauseous I just wanted him to go away. He was trying to be there for me, and I was cold and callous to him. That wasn’t fair of me. I hoped I hadn’t hurt his feelings, but maybe I should have asked him to come to this appointment with me.

Doctor Lee handed me a printout, and I took the grainy photo of the early sonogram from her. When I looked at the image, my heart climbed up into my throat. That tiny bean was growing inside me. Nolan and I had made this little life together.

“Oh…” I sighed as I looked at the image in my hands.

Doctor Lee smiled at me again and squeezed my hand. “You’re gonna do great. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself, okay?”

“Okay.”

I left the office, and my heart felt like it was going to burst. I drove back to my tiny apartment and realized I was exhausted and hungry. I cut out of school early to get a later appointment, and now I was too tired to make dinner. I got out of my car, and instead of going upstairs, I made the short walk over to the brewery.

The brewery was probably the coolest place in Drakesville. It used to be an old Rolls Royce showroom bought by another brewery before Nolan and Declan bought it. The old owners spent all their money on decor and ended up going under. When the MacGregor Brothers bought it, they didn’t have to do a lot of remodeling. There was already a bar, bathrooms, and a place for Nolan to brew beer. He just had to bring in his own equipment. At first, they only had beer, but they turned it into a fully functioning brewpub with a full kitchen over the past couple of years. It was my favorite place in town, and all my favorite people worked there.

I spied my sister’s pink hair behind the bar when I walked inside. My sister and I couldn’t be more different. Where I was petite with dark hair, Gemma was tall and lanky and had been dying her hair bright pink since she was a teenager. She had a sleeve tattoo of black and grey flowers down one of her arms, so paired with the bright hair, she stood out.

I walked over to the bar and sat down on a barstool. Gemma gave me a brief wave while she poured beers for a group of rowdy co-eds. One of the other bartenders, Felix, came over and dropped a coaster in front of me. Felix had that edgy tattooed bad boy look about him, but he was a total softie. And also a huge flirt.

He leaned on the bar, and Gemma made an annoyed face behind his back. For whatever reason, my sister and Felix didn’t get along, and I didn’t know why. Any time I pressed her, she changed the subject. I’d get it out of her one day.

“Hey, Avs, you want that new pumpkin beer?” Felix asked and gave me a wink.

“No,” I said with a frown. I really wished I could have enjoyed more of that beer before its creator knocked me up. “Can I get a water and a menu? I’m so hungry.”

His eyebrow quirked up in confusion. “No beer? But Nolan made that one specifically for you.”

I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t think that was true. Nolan liked to experiment with different beers. My liking pumpkin beers was just an excuse for him to make one.

Gemma came over to us and shot Felix a glare. “Felix, fuck off. I need to talk to my sister.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Touchy, touchy.”

Gemma nodded her head at the two women seated at the other end of the bar. “Go help those two. I got this.”

He winked at her sardonically and walked to the other end of the bar. Gemma plunked a water down in front of me and handed me a menu.

I perused it with a groan. “I don’t think I can eat any of this stuff.”

“Get a salad. The goat cheese one is so good!”

“I can’t!” I cried.

“Why not?” Gemma asked, twirling her pink hair around her finger.

“No soft cheeses! Or sushi. Or fish at all. Or deli meat.”

“No hoagies?” Gemma asked in shock. “Remind me to never get pregnant.”

“Zero out of ten, do not recommend,” I said. I scanned the menu again. “Can I get the burger, but make sure it’s well done?”

Gemma smiled at me. “You got it.”

I watched her put my order into the system, and my eyes scanned up to the TV screen above my head. The hockey game was on, and the Bulldogs were getting creamed by New York. Our mutual love for hockey might have been the reason Nolan and I became such good friends in the first place. Not liking hockey was practically against the law in my house; dad was a Bulldogs fiend.

I checked my phone to see what time it was and realized it wasn’t late enough for me to be this tired. Incubating a baby was exhausting, and I wasn’t even that far along yet. I pulled the printout from my pocket and looked at it again.