We walk through the front door, and lucky for me, they’re at the table drinking coffee together.
“Hey you two!” As if noticing the time, my mom furrows her brow. “Rhett, you’re usually the first one out the door. Rough morning?”
“Not as rough as it’s ‘bout to be,” he mumbles inaudibly to himself. “Yeah. We wanted to talk to you guys.”
My dad’s face drops, and with the force, he sets down his mug; I know he knows.
“Well, alright. Sit down, do you want coffee?” my mom asks, suspicion clear as day on her face.
Shaking my head no, I go to sit down, but the nerves tell me otherwise. “You know what, I think I'd rather stand.” If we need to bolt out of here, it’s quicker this way.
Rhett goes to talk, but I brush his hand with mine and shake my head. I need to do this.
My mouth starts moving before I really even think. “Rhett is the father to my baby and was recently promoted to boyfriend after much deliberation and a series of unfortunate events that turned out to be pretty great in the end. I kept it a secret because Rhett had something going on that could affect the baby, so we were waiting until we had answers, but then Weston found outand now everything is a shit show.” I take a deep breath in after that rush of words.
My mother opens and closes her mouth like she spent her past life as a fish. My dad is staring at Rhett with a look I can’t describe, but if I was on the receiving end I’d be shitting my pants.
“Do you love her?” my dad asks, voice firm.
I look to Rhett to see how he is handling this. To no surprise, there is no evidence on his face right now that this is even bothering him. I knew he was nervous, but the second he is faced with anything hard, he puts on a brave face.
His next words make my heart soar. “With everything that I am.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” My dad shrugs and picks up his coffee mug. Like we didn’t just drop a big ole bomb on him. “You’ll take good care of her and that’s the only thing that matters in the end. That she is loved and cared for,” my dad says as he brings his coffee to his lips.
My mom and I stare at each other as if we are sharing the same thought. How the fuck are they both so calm and collected right now? Maybe my hormones make it a little more difficult, but this felt like big news.
The relief I feel is palpable even if I am entirely bewildered by the reaction from my father. My mom still hasn’t said a word.
“Mom, you want to chime in?”
“To be honest, I am shocked I never pieced it together. I wish you would have trusted me enough to tell me sooner, but I understand. You were doing what you thought was best.” She stands up from the table and rubs Rhett’s arm as she steps in front of me.
“I love you no matter what. And I am incredibly happy for you.” She looks to Rhett. “For the both of you.” She pulls me into her arms and I feel content.
When she pulls back, I add, “Thank you for taking this so well. I want to warn you that Weston is mad, which is fair, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
As if being summoned, the front door opens, and when I turn, I am face to face with West again.
He looks between Rhett and me, probably putting the pieces together about what is happening right now. He pivots on his heels and walks right back out the door.
He might be able to live with being angry at me and not speaking, but I can’t. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. He’s been my built-in best friend my whole life, and yes, I messed up. But we are supposed to love each other unconditionally.
I high-tail it out of my parents’ house to chase him down.
“Weston, wait!” I yell to his back as he power walks to his truck.
He jumps in the truck and somehow my pregnant ass eats the distance and rips open the passenger door to jump in.
My breathing is ragged and I genuinely cannot remember the last time I jumped that high that fast. I feel like I deserve an Olympic medal for the effort I just put out.
I glare at him from the seat; he can be mad at me, but I am mad at him too.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” He looks forward.
“Well, lucky for you I don’t give a fuck. We’re going to talk this out like adults.”
“Adults don’t hide shit.”
