Page 89 of Shots Fired

Mum turns to Kate as she begins crunching on a breadstick.

“What?” Kate asks. “It’s the truth.” She points the breadstick at me. “He still pisses me off now, from time to time. It does make for great sex though.”

“Yes, yes. We get it.” Mum waves a hand in front of her before focusing back on me. “If it isn’t Liam”—she rolls her eyes toward her friend, who’s still chomping on the breadstick—“and it isn’t Emmett, then who is he?”

“Fuck!” Kate announces. “Did you bang Archer Moore? Everyone else has, so …”

I don’t need to answer because I’m sure my face says it all.

Mum tips her head to the side, analyzing my response. “Holy moly, it is, isn’t it?”

Is it me, or has it suddenly gotten really hot in here?

“Yes.” My voice is a whisper. “I’ve been sleeping with him for a while, and … well, not taking my birth control properly. Then I got sick, and I think it failed to work altogether.”

Mum holds up a hand. “Wait. How long have you known?”

I shrug. “A little over two weeks.”

“Two weeks?!” Mum exclaims, and heads turn towards us. She clears her throat and reaches for my hand, taking it in hers. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? You told me all was fine after your latest doctor’s appointment.”

It would be so easy to chalk my silence up to shock and trying to come to terms with the news. Maybe even living in denial. But none of those reasons would be the truth, and I know it.

Twisting my lips, I look between Mum and Kate. A server approaches our table, but she must sense now isn’t a good time to take our order, and she immediately spins on her heel.

“Archer’s not the guy everyone seems to think he is. He really cares about me. The day I found out I was pregnant, I was due to meet him after chess club. I wasn’t planning to tell him right away, but then I got in his car, all upset and overwhelmed, and he looked at me like his whole world was about to crumble beneath him. He thought I was going to end our hookup arrangement, and I could tell he was worried about me. He pulled me into his lap and looked at me in a way no one had ever done. He makes Liam look like a poor excuse for a man, and the words tumbled right out of me.”

My eyes flick from the menu lying on the table in front of me and up to Kate.

“He’s changed a lot. Sure, he’s fucked women around in the past, but he blew all my theories about him out of the water the second he told me he wanted our baby more than anything. I think he wants to be with me. No, Iknowhe does.”

I then look Mum straight in the eyes. “That’s why I haven’t told you before now. Not because I haven’t wanted to, but I think, deep down, I’ve enjoyed sharing these past two weeks living in a secret and peaceful baby bubble with Archer. In the beginning, the whole hookup arrangement was about having fun because we found each other attractive. I think that fun might be turning into something more. It was, even before I fell pregnant.”

I stop talking, wetness balancing on the rims of my eyes, and I notice the same in Mum’s too.

“Wow, Darcy,” Kate breathes out, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t know if this is the right time to say this, but … I’m really happy for you. For both of you.”

So much of me wants to leap from my seat and hug Kate again. I knew she’d get it. Instead, I stay planted in my chair, staring at Mum as more tears emerge, casting wet streaks down her flawless makeup.

“How many weeks are you?” she asks, voice thick with emotion.

“Seven.” My hand is still in hers, and I squeeze it tightly. “I have my first scan at eight weeks.”

She nods once, picking up a napkin and using it to swipe at her cheeks. “Do you want me to come with you?”

If I’d fallen pregnant with Liam’s child, I know my answer would’ve been an unequivocal yes. But I’m not carrying Liam’s baby, and I’m so damn relieved he isn’t the father, even if, at one time, he was the only future I could imagine.

“I want you to be involved in my pregnancy journey, and I’m going to need you and all your experience and love. I know this isn’t going to be easy.”

“But you want Archer to be there with you?” she asks, no bitterness or upset in her tone, only understanding.

“Yes. And I don’t think he’ll want to be anywhere other than at my bedside.”

“He’s in love with you.”

My gaze moves to Kate as she speaks, twisting her wineglass around with the stem between her fingers.

“Head over heels, in fact.” She looks up and smiles at me. It’s possible she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. “I speak only the truth, Darcy. I’m also only repeating what my husband has told me. He’s said on multiple occasions that Archer’s in love. He can tell by the way Archer’s game has stepped up a gear. After all, the same happened to him when we started dating.” She eyes me carefully. “With that in mind, just do me a favor, okay?”