Page 67 of The Senator's Secret

“See?” Mable chirps. “Pregnant.”

“Maybe I’m just late, because I’ve been under so much stress,” I hedge. Periods are weird. They do that sometimes. I’m pretty sure I read an article in Cosmo about that. Everything will be fine.

“Uhh… sure,” Angie says. “That’s totally how it works.”

“So, is it really that bad?” Cody asks.

“He lied to me,” I answer.

“Well no one can tell the truth all the time,” Mable explains. “That would be boring.”

Cody and Angie both shoot Mable a withering glare.

“He blackmailed me into being in a relationship with him,” I tell them. “I didn’t know it was him at the time though. I thought he was helping me out of a bad spot. And then I fell in love with him.”

“Was he mean to you?” Angie asks me.

“No.”

“Did he hit you? Beat you? Talk ugly to you?” Mable asks.

“No, none of that.”

“Well, then what’s the problem?”

“Really?” I ask sharper than I meant to. “Were none of you listening?”

“Honey,” Cody starts, and I flinch at the term of endearment Jake seems to favor. If he notices, he doesn’t let on that he does; he just presses forward. “Men do really stupid shit all the time.”

“This is true,” Angie agrees.

“Even the very best of us,” he says. “No one is perfect.”

“Except me,” Mable inserts, making Angie roll her eyes. “And God.”

“I’m really tired,” I tell them, hoping some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met can take a hint.

“I’m going to fix you a sandwich,” Angie says before she waddles her very pregnant body out of the room.

“I’ll go into town and pick up a bottle of tequila and a pregnancy test,” Mable says helpfully. “Oh, and some vitamins. Then you’ll know which you need more after you pee on the stick.”

And then she’s gone too. Only Cody remains.

“You going to be all right, kid?” he asks in his slow Texas drawl.

“Eventually.”

“You want me to kick his ass?” he adds, making me smile my first real smile in who knows how many days. It feels brittle and unused but I still enjoy it all the same. “I was a badass pro football player, you know.”

“He was a Navy SEAL.”

“Well fuck that, then,” he answers. “This face is too pretty to pulverize.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” I tell him, and then he’s gone too and I’m left alone with my thoughts.

Could I ever forgive Jake? Do I even want to try? And what if I am pregnant? That would change everything. I’m not going to think about that one for now. Now, I just need to know if I can trust Jake again, and if so, can I let myself continue to love him? Because my heart is telling me that I never stopped.

On that thought, I yawn. Maybe it wasn’t a lie after all.