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“Sorry. I just…I’m struggling to get my head around all this.”
“I understand. You woke up this morning thinking you were going to have a perfectly normal day. I don’t even know how this happened.”
He raised his brow at that, nearly making me smile. “I mean, obviously I know how these things work, but we were careful, weren’t we?”
“Yeah, we were.”
“So, just a faulty condom or something?”
“I guess.”
Getting a read on him right now was damn near impossible. But I had to know, so I pushed on. “Okay. Just because, you know, I don’t want you thinking I planned it or…or something like that.”
“Why would I think that?”
Yeah, this was getting more awkward by the second. “You’ve, uh, you’ve never had someone try to, um, you know…” Fuck.
“Baby trap me? Jesus, Scarlett. You’re the most principled person I know. It hadn’t occurred to me in the slightest that that could be happening here.”
It was a good thing I was sitting down already, because the relief I felt at that had me weak at the knees. “Thank you for that. So in that case, um, what’s hitting you hardest right now?”
He ran his hand over the steering wheel, following the motion with eyes for a moment before turning his gaze back to me. “I’m not…to be honest, I’m not father material.”
“Oh.”
He stared at me helplessly for a long moment.
“So, what are you saying?”
Blowing out a breath, he turned away from me, staring through the windscreen. “Nothing, really. Well, nothing that’s to the point. Father material or not, these two babies are on their way. How I feel about it is not important.”
“It’s important to me.”
That made him look at me again. His face twisted into a wry smile.
“Do you want to come in for coffee? Talk about stuff? Or do you want to go?”
“I’ll come in.”
I led the way up to my apartment, keenly aware of Rhett’s presence behind me. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts andemotions, spinning so fast I could barely grab hold of one before another took its place.
This was really happening. I was pregnant. With twins. Rhett’s twins.
I fumbled with my keys, hands shaking as I unlocked the door and ushered Rhett inside. The familiar surroundings of my little one-bedroom apartment should have been comforting, but instead they just emphasized how drastically my life was about to change.
“How do you have it?” I managed to ask, my voice sounding strained even to my own ears.
“White with one.” Rhett took a seat on the couch, looking around curiously. I busied myself in the kitchen, focusing on the simple ritual of brewing coffee to try to ground myself. When the pot was finally ready, I poured two mugs and carried them over, sinking onto the couch beside him.
He took the offered mug with a murmured thanks, cradling it in his big hands. We sat in silence for several long moments, the only sounds the ticking of the clock and our breathing.
“So...” Rhett finally broke the silence. “Twins, huh?”
I huffed out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. Twins.”
“How are you feeling about all this?”
Biting my lip, I considered his question seriously. How did I feel? Scared, overwhelmed, excited, doubtful... the emotions were a tangled mess. “Honestly? I’m fucking terrified. This wasn’t part of the plan. I’m reeling.”