Page 48 of My Girlfriend is Not the Father

Mason rounded the corner and rubbed his hands together. ‘Okay, what do you need? Food? Let’s go for dinner and celebrate!’

The last thing she needed at this moment was dinner. Ugh, what she would give to be in the mood to celebrate what was so deeply deserving of celebration. She hated that this moment was not what the dads planned. But she knew herself well enough to know that tonight she couldn’t take a loud restaurant and the men gushing. The energy she’d spend to fake it would make her crack. She yawned and threw her hands over her head. ‘Ah. I’m so tired. But you guys go. Go celebrate. Snap me a gram-worthy pic.’

Drew cocked his head without a word, knowing damn well she loved food as much as she loved Chucky, and rarely gave up the opportunity to eat out. ‘No way. This is a group effort. Come on. We can go to the cities, stay local, seriously whatever. We have to celebrate. This is huge.’

Ugh. She didn’t want to ruin this for him. ‘A woman in my condition cannot just go traipsing around the town.’ She added a British flair to her voice in an attempt to cut the questioning look. ‘Seriously. I really, really want you guys to go enjoy this huge moment, but I’m dead tired from today.’ She refrained from pulling out some emotional baby-puppet strings and saying something like she was worried about overexerting the growing cells.

Her efforts must’ve worked because Drew and Mason eyed each other with raised shoulders.

‘Cool?’ She moved into the living room and plopped on the couch. Chucky nuzzled up to her legs. She stroked his fur, which held a superpower level of calming antidote, and soon she relaxed.

Mason’s forehead creased as he stared at Lucy. ‘We need to do something for you. Anything you want.’

This notion of Mason ‘taking care of his family’ and ‘repaying debts’ – even though she’d explained to him a hundred times it wasn’t necessary – was clearly killing him. His face screamed ‘help me help you’. She had to put him out of his misery.

‘Oh! I know. I will love you forever no matter what, but I will double love you if you can run to the store and get me one pint of Chunky Monkey, and one pint of Chocolate Truffle.’ Her stomach was turning so much that the idea of ice cream made her queasy. ‘Is that okay? I don’t want to hold up your dinner plans.’

Relief flushed Mason’s face. ‘Absolutely. Want salt and vinegar chips, too?’

She grinned. ‘You guys seriously know me to a terrifying level.’

‘Drew, you coming?’ Mason asked as he stuffed his phone and keys into his pocket.

‘Nah, I’ll stay with Luce until you get back.’

For the first time ever, a slight thread of disappointment weaved through her. Go with your husband!! she wanted to scream. Her thoughts couldn’t process with him here.

As Mason’s car backed out the driveway, Drew sank into the couch and slung an arm across the overstuffed pillow. ‘Thanks for sending Mason on that mission. I think he would’ve crumbled without some kind of assignment.’

‘No idea what you mean.’ Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

He tapped his fingers against the back of the couch, his freckles spreading as he smiled. ‘Well, Luce, like it or not, we’re bonded for life.’

She smiled at the sweet sentiment. To her, though, the pregnancy wasn’t what bonded them. It was him biking over in the rain with his rickety green ten-speed the night her mom died and staying with her all night. It was her clinging to him like he was a lifesaver when they snuck his dad’s old DVD of Blair Witch Project and scared themselves to death when they were twelve. It was him buying her strawberry cotton candy when he was at the fair while she was grounded and tapping on her window to sneak it to her.

The pregnancy was just another layer of lifetime bonding glue.

‘You gonna tell Jade?’ he asked.

Even though Lucy and Jade were hard-locked in the friend zone, she and Drew had talked about Jade a lot. A few weeks ago, they all finally met at a bowling alley and the guys liked Jade immediately. Which was not a surprise. Anyone who meets Jade loves her in a snap. Jade and Drew bonded over the buffalo cauliflower appetisers (what’s the point unless it’s chicken, Lucy had complained). And Jade and Mason hit it off when they both refused to wear the bowling alley shoes and droned on about various communicable diseases.

‘Are you cool if I tell her, like, right away?’ Lucy asked.

Drew tapped on his crossed leg. ‘It’s your story as much as it is ours. Please don’t forget that. Your body, your choice, on everything. Including who you want to tell and when.’

‘As notarised and filed with two different law firms. Got it.’ She grabbed the remote. ‘GiGi’s?’

‘Your obsession with The Golden Girls is for the record books,’ Drew said. Chucky snorted at the perfect time, drawing a giggle from Lucy. ‘Do you think you’ll change from your self-proclaimed Rose to Dorothy or Blanche while rocking your pregnancy?’

‘Maybe I’ll become Sophia. Who knows?’ Lucy cracked a grin and tapped the power on. The moment Drew shifted his focus to the television, her mouth faded into a straight line. She wasn’t sure if she’d change characters, but one thing was certain. Things were already changing.

***

An hour after the guys left, Lucy’s heart leapt at the sound of a knock on the door. Skipped heartbeats aren’t good, right? She’d probably already damaged some of the belly cells.

‘Hey, you! Missed you.’ Jade stepped into the house and wiped her Doc Martens on the mat. Her hair had switched from lavender to a mix of deep cinnamon and sunset gold. Lucy decided on the spot that no colour in existence could look bad on Jade.

‘Hey!’ Lucy reached up for a hug and squeezed. ‘Missed you, too.’