Page 56 of Easy On Me

“Jase isn’t a douchebag.” Maggie crawled onto the other side of the bed to sit cross-legged and reached for the remote. “He’s a good guy facing a really messy situation.”

I narrowed my eyes, although Maggie didn’t look bothered in the least. “You realize you’re my friend. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am, and I’ll support you however you need me to. But that doesn’t mean lying to you.” She held my gaze, her mouth set in a stern line that made me think of Coach Bartlett, who’d handled my discipline the one time I’d gotten detention after moving in with Mama Nancy. “I know why you're mad, and I get it. But you’re angry at her and the situation. This sucks, but it isn’t his fault, Ty.”

“Stop being reasonable.” I settled against the pillows, frowning and grumbling beneath my breath. I cupped a hand over my lower belly. I couldn’t feel him yet, but I knew he was there. My stomach felt firmer, like the rounded edge of a ball. He was there, and I had to protect him.

With a smile, Maggie nudged my shoulder. “Someone has to be and you’re not there yet. I get it. I’ll let you be mad tonight. Tomorrow, we start thinking about what you want.”

“To forget he ever existed.” I thumped my elbow into the pillow behind me, hard. The idea made my throat ache, though. I loved my life with him, our life together, and didn’t want to give up any of it. I sniffled. “Never see his face again.”

She passed over the remote. “Find us something trashy to watch.”

“Like his ex’s YouTube?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “You know what? Forget trashy. Let’s go for fluffy. Find one of those baking challenge shows.”

Leaning against the headboard, I navigated to the Cooking Channel. Like meringue made anything better.

I tried to focus on the goofy bakers attempting to make cakes with crazy vegetable ingredients sprung on them at the last minute, but beets and jalapenos proved to be little distraction. My brain insisted on circling back to his words and their ramifications.

A sigh worked up from my chest. I’d had such hopes, and now with a few words in our kitchen, they were falling apart around me.

Elizabeth tracked me down today. She says she’s pregnant.

My mouth trembled. “I feel so stupid. I don’t know why I thought this would work out. Life never works out for me.”

“Girl. Hush that up.” Maggie scooted sideways and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, hugging me to her. “You are gonna be a mama. That’s life working out, right there. You’ll have me and Marilyn and Mama Nancy, not to mention my mama and daddy and Marilyn’s mama and daddy . . . you’ll be great at this.”

I sniffed, my eyes burning from crying in the car on the way over here. And in the shower. Crying never changed anything, but tonight, my emotions didn’t care. “I guess.”

Maggie pinched me. I slapped her hand.

“He’ll be a good daddy, too,” she said, firm tone reminding me of her daddy, Mr. Lane.

“Yeah. To both our babies. Mine and that skank.”

She squeezed me tight, the pressure grounding me. “This will work out. You know what Mama Nancy says.”

Hands over my face, I tried drowning her out with an exaggerated groan. She laughed and snuggled into me. Suddenly, she straightened.

“Hey, I can introduce you to one of my new clients. He does divorce and family law, so I bet he knows custody law, co-parenting, all that stuff.”

“The guy at the Mexican place tonight.” He looked like a lawyer with that bowtie. I narrowed my gaze, examining her face. She got a little moon-eyed when she thought about him. Oh, God.

“Yeah.”

“The one whose fiancee is a bitch.” How dare that woman look down on my Maggie? She was awesome, smart and hardworking and sweet, and that . . . blonde . . . wanted to act like she was less than because cleaned houses?

“Oh, she was awful.” She pursed her lips. “He’s not sure about her. The love of his life just married someone else.”

“But he’s engaged to another woman? That’s messy.” I snorted. “Sounds like Jase.”

Maggie put a couple of inches between us and pulled her knees up, looping her arms about them. “They’re close in age, and it’s a small town. I bet he and Jase know each other. He knows Noah and is not impressed by him.”

“Oh, he’s smart, then.” I nudged her shoulder. “Maybe I’ll call him for real.”

Bam.