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She told herself that they just weren’t a good match in the bedroom. When

they started dating, she was eighteen. Joe wanted to have sex before she

did. She wasn’t sure. She wasn’t even sure that she wanted to date him, but

she’d never had a real boyfriend before, and she’d convinced herself that

she had to at least try. Maybe then she could prove to herself that the burn

she felt when she looked at Deanne Daniels was nothing at all. That the

thoughts and the dreams she sometimes had were just darker, naughty

fantasies because she lived in a little, repressed town.

She’d never thought about birth control beyond condoms. They’d

used one every single time. Still, after six months of dating, she’d found out

she was pregnant. Joe meant to stick around. He really did. He wanted to do

the right thing, but as the pregnancy went on and it was obvious to both of

them that they weren’t even attracted to each other and didn’t mesh well in

any department, least of all physically, Taylor told Joe that if he wanted out,

he could have his out. She didn’t want to get married. She didn’t want to try

to force things to work. If he wanted to be in the baby’s life, that would be

more than enough for her. Joe was nice enough and he could have made a

good father figure.

Unfortunately, her option for an out was taken a little too literally

and after a vague promise to support her and maybe share custody, Joe

disappeared. He and his parents were renting a house and they literally

disappeared in the middle of the night. Taylor was horrified, but not entirely

terrified. She’d pretty much known that she’d end up raising her baby

alone. With Joe gone, at least she could focus on her and her child.

Even though she had never expected to get pregnant, she loved

Chloe from the minute the pink lines showed up on the test. Her parents

were amazing. They’d been shocked and upset at first, but by the time

Chloe came, they’d adjusted to the idea. Taylor knew she never could have

done it alone. Chloe was a good baby, but any baby is a lot of work. Not

only did she live at home, rent free, her parents watched Chloe when they