I guffaw.
“Like that will ever happen.” I mean, honestly, what the heck is this girl smoking? Cat’s always inflated her importance, but to imply that someday she and Penn are going to have a family together is ludicrous.
“Laugh now. Let’s see how hard you’re laughing when Penn drops you the second he finds out that I’m pregnant with his baby.”
“Nice try.” I move to shut the door in her face, but her hand juts out, stopping it mid-swing.
“I’m serious.” She digs into her bag, pulling something out that I don’t recognize until she practically shoves it in my face. “Eight weeks.” She forces the ultrasound prints into my hand.
I stare down at them, mind not able to process what I’m looking at. I’ve never seen an ultrasound photo of a baby before and even if I had, I still don’t think I would believe what I’m seeing. Cat is pregnant... With Penn’s child... I can’t quite get my mind wrapped around what she’s telling me.
“You know Penn well enough to know that he’s not going to walk away from his own child.” She snatches the photos from my hand even though I’ve barely looked at them. “We will be a family, so whatever this is”—she gestures to me like I’m a pile of dog poop someone left in their front yard—“it’s over now.”
Her words snap me from my trance.
No way this is real...
But even if it is...
“I think Penn will be the one to decide that.” I clamp my teeth so hard I swear I can feel molars crack under the pressure. It’s the only way I can keep myself from saying more.
I want to tear into her. I want to list all the reasons why I hate her. Why I’ve always hated her. Why Penn would never choose her. But I know that’s not going to do anything but give her exactly what she wants—something to play against me. That is, if what she’s saying is true. But that can’t be... Can it?
“Are you really going to stand in the way of a child being raised by both of her parents?”
“It’s a girl?” I croak, the reality of what she’s actually saying finally starting to take root. Cat may be capable of a lot of things, but faking a pregnancy? Even that seems too far for her to go.
“I don’t know yet.” She touches her belly. “But I think so.” The smile that tugs up the corners of her mouth makes me feel sick, and it has nothing to do with the hangover still turning my stomach sour.
“Penn doesn’t have to be with you to be there for his child.” I force the words out even though they taste like bitter acid on my tongue.
If this is true, if she really is pregnant, then this is over whether I want it to be or not. I’m not the type of woman to share and with a child involved, I’d have no choice.
I watch it happen in slow motion, the future we could have had, our second chance, going up in flames.
Could I really be with him, watch him raise a child that isn’t mine?
I know myself well enough to know that I don’t think I could. Not with the child’s mother being Cat freaking Stewart. A woman who will make my life miserable at every turn.
“You think he’ll have it any other way?” she fires back.
I don’t know what to say to that because honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know what Penn will or won’t do. As much as I like to pretend he’s still the same Penn he’s always been, that simply isn’t true. Seven years is a long time. I know I’ve changed a lot. I’d be naïve to believe he hasn’t as well.
“Is there a reason you’re here telling me all of this instead of speaking to him directly?” I cross my arms in front of my chest, drawing my attention back to the fact that I’m still half naked.
“I wanted to give you the chance to do the right thing.”
“And what do you think the right thing is?” I give her attitude right back to her.
“For you to walk away.”
Even if that’s what I would be forced to do if what she’s saying turns out to actually be true, I would never admit it to her.
“Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you? You know what I think?” A humorless smile crosses my face. “I think you came here in hopes of guilting me into leaving Penn because you know that if given the choice, he’ll choose me.” I say it as if there could be no other outcome even though deep down, I’m not entirely convinced of this fact. “So why would I ever give you what you want?”
“It’s not about me. Hell, it’s not even about you or Penn. It’s about this child and the fact that he or she deserves to be raised with both of their parents. Would you really deny a child of this simply because you’re too selfish to step aside?”
“People raise their kids separately all the time. In fact, your parents are not together.” Though as I say it, I realize that’sprobably not the best way to support my case, given that she’s a horrible human being.
