Page 113 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

But of course, this wasn’t just a job. It was Archer and Olive and her debilitating fear that she’d ruined all three of their lives and didn’t know how to fix it.

And she was pregnant. A pretty huge and concrete reminder that she did in fact need to sort this all out. Soon.

‘Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Let’s just take one problem at a time,’ Kira said. ‘Any preference where we start?’

Iris shook her head, letting her hair fall around her. It was dirty and tangled. She was a hot mess. It had been two weeks since she’d quit and moved out of Archer’s house and she hadn’t done much more than cry on Bex’s couch and eat sugary cereal. It was the only thing she could keep down.

‘So … the pregnancy…’ Kira started, watching Iris to see if she would completely fall apart at the mention of it. Iris nodded, swallowing the surge of emotion that happened every time she thought about carrying Archer’s baby.

‘I don’t even know how it happened,’ she said, as if figuring that part out would solve anything. ‘I’m on the pill.’

Bex snorted.

‘What the hell does that mean?’ Iris snapped.

‘You’ve never exactly been reliable when you take that thing, Iris. It’s only effective if you take it regularly and even then…’

‘Oh, like you’re so damn perfect, Bex!’

‘I’m just saying!’

Isabel whistled, bringing the attention of both women to her. ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere. It doesn’t matter if it was a damn immaculate conception. Do you want to continue with the pregnancy, Iris? Because you have options.’

All three women were looking at her now. She had options, thank God. She didn’t have to keep this pregnancy if she didn’t want to.

But what if she did?

That was the part that actually scared her. What if shedidwant to keep it? Then what?

‘What would you do?’ Iris asked quietly, knowing that only she could make this choice but still wanting to know what her friends would do in this situation.

‘Well, you know I’m a dog mom for life,’ Kira said. ‘But I have no plans to have human children, probably ever.’

‘I used to say that, too,’ Iris said.

‘And you’re allowed to change your mind,’ Kira said. ‘Or not.’

‘I think I would keep it,’ Bex said, surprising everyone. In all her relationships with men and women, Bex had never mentioned wanting to have kids.

‘Really?’ Iris asked, sitting up straighter on the couch.

‘Yeah, even if Archer’s not in the picture anymore, you could do it, Iris. Our moms did it.’ Bex shrugged. ‘I think you’d be a good mom. And I think I would be, too. And I would help you.’

Tears slid down Iris’s cheeks again and she pushed them away. ‘Thanks, Bex.’

‘Jane was a surprise,’ Isabel chimed in. ‘We were definitely not ready for kids yet and I considered not going through with it.’

‘You did?’ Iris turned to Isabel, surprised again by her friends’ choices.

‘Definitely. We were broke. I still had a year of college left to go. It was objectively not a good time to have a baby, but…’

‘But?’ Iris was on the edge of her seat.

Isabel smiled. ‘But, I don’t know. Ididwant to be a mom. And I loved Marc and we decided to keep the baby.’

Iris sighed.

‘And it was really fucking hard.’