Page 83 of False Start

Oh, God.

My eyes welled with tears. “Mom, what if… what if Kyle never knew I was pregnant?”

She frowned at that. “Honey, youtoldhim you were.”

“No,” I said, the word wet and garbled. “I told his parents.”

Mom’s face slackened. “What? But you—”

“Told you I’d told him, I know. Because I thought I did. I showed up that morning, I knocked on the door, and Michael and Lynette answered. They said Kyle was sleeping but they saw how upset I was and I… I told them.” My eyes were blurring more and more by the second. “Mrs. Robbins hugged me. She told me it would all be okay. She told me they’d tell him as soon as he woke up and have him come to the house.”

I sucked in a breath, my heart racing.

“But he didn’t. And he didn’t answer my calls. And when I saw him on Monday, he looked like he hated me. He… he turned away from me like I’d hurt him. But what if that wasn’t about the baby? What if it was because I wasn’t there for him, because I hadn’t…”

I could barely keep up with how fast my brain was working.

“What if he didn’tknow?”

My mom leaned toward the camera, but Sebastian came barreling out of his room and down the hall, doing his battle cry that usually led to him running into my legs full-force and wrapping his little arms around them.

Mom painted on a smile at the same time I did, and Sebastian leapt into her lap.

“I’m ready! And look, I tied my shoes up just how you showed me!”

He leaned back far enough to kick his feet into the air, and Mom and I shared a look before we both smiled at him.

“Wow, you sure did!” Mom said. “Okay, blow Mommy a kiss and then go use the restroom and we’ll get going.”

“Can I get a bag of rocks at the gift shop?!”

If it weren’t for the lump in my throat, I would have laughed at that.

“We’ll see how good you are,” Mom said.

Sebastian blew me a kiss, which I caught with as much focus as I could, pressing it to my cheek with a smile. He leapt up and ran toward the bathroom, and Mom turned to me.

“Okay, here’s what you are going to do,” she said calmly. “You’re going to hang up this phone, take a deep breath, wash your face, and lie down on the floor for ten minutes.”

“Mo—”

“Ten. Minutes,” she repeated, holding up a finger. “Andthen, you can gather your thoughts, and talk to him.”

I nodded, my eyes filling with tears again. Kyle had gone to golf and brunch with the guys before the wedding. I likely wouldn’t see him until it was time for both of us to get dressed and go. I couldn’t drop this on him right when we were supposed to walk out this door, fend off the media, and be happy for one of his best friend’swedding.

It would have to wait until tonight.

And just like last night, a sickening realization washed over me.

Because I knew before it even happened that this conversation would change everything.

Kyle

“Shit.”

I hooked an arm around Madelyn’s waist, pulling her back into the elevator before anyone realized we had even stepped off.

“Forget something?” she asked, her eyes wide as I punched the number for our floor.