Page 90 of Shattered Hearts

“It’ll be okay,” she reassures me, a hand stroking down my back. “I promise you it will be.”

“I hope so.” My voice is hoarse from crying the entire drive home. “Thank you for coming over.”

“Do you think I would leave you to deal with this on your own?”

I snort a snotty laugh.

Mum and Dad appear in the living room. Dad gives me another hug, kissing my hair, before Mum swoops in, doing the same thing.

My baby might not have its dad, but it’s surrounded by people who love it and me.

“We’re going to run to the store. What do you feel like for dinner, Laynie?” Mum asks, surprising me.

Clearing my throat, I answer, “Can you please make some pasta? Bolognese?”

“Sure.” Dad grins, cupping my face. “I can make that for you, kiddo. We won’t be too long.”

I sit down with Macie on the couch, Freddie purring away at my ankles, and relay everything Fiona explained to Mum and I.

She gasps and tears up, making me cry once again as we hold each other. “It’ll be fine, Laynie. I know it will be.”

I sniff, my shoulders shaking as I pull back to wipe under my eyes. “I just have to pray that this baby starts moving.”

“Does music help?” she asks.

I blink at her, making sure that Macie is being genuine and not joking. “I don’t think so. It’s not like there’s a club in there.”

She chuckles softly. “I mean maybe some classical music could get it grooving?”

I huff out a breath, “Maybe I’ll try it.”

Macie grins as I pull my hair out of my face and take her hand in mine, avoiding her gaze. “There’s something else I need to tell you, but you can’t tell anyone. Not even Reid.”

She bites the inside of her cheek, nodding. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I mustered up all my courage, my foot moving nervously, as I murmur, “Grayson kissed me.”

“What!” she shouts, the word echoing through the house. It’s loud enough to startle Freddie, who is getting comfortable on my lap. “When?”

I swallow. “The night before his birthday party. While we were at the bakery.”

She stands. “You waited this long to tell me? A week and a half later?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” I retort.

Macie sinks back down, her face stunned like a fish. “You kissed him back, right?” My chin dips in a nod, and I watch her face light up. “This is amazing. You and Grayson, together finally after—”

“We’re not together.”

She pauses. “What? Why not?”

My eyes drift to my stomach that’s half buried behind Freddie’s fur. “Because I can’t do that to him. Not with the baby.”

Macie frowns. “What do you mean because of the baby?”

“It’s not his, Mace.”

“So?”