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He stared at Mimi’s car.
What was she doing in Panama City? She’d graduated from high school last week. He knew that because, living in Whispering Bay, you knew that kind of stuff. He wondered what she was doing for the summer. Maybe she’d gotten a job or maybe she’d be doing a gig as a summer counselor at one of those fancy camps in North Carolina. She’d talked about doing that. This could be his last opportunity to see her for a long time. Maybe forever.
He watched from a distance as the driver side door opened, but instead of Mimi, it was her brother Luke who got out of the car. Zeke had gone to high school with him. They’d shared a few classes together but they’d never been close friends. What was he doing with Mimi’s car? Technically, though, the car didn’t belong to her, it belonged to her parents. Maybe now that Luke was home from school for the summer he was driving it instead of Mimi.
Zeke followed him a couple doors down from the recruitment office into a doughnut shop. Luke was about to order when he turned around and spotted Zeke behind him in line. He looked a lot like his sister, dark hair, blue eyes, and Zeke automatically went to shake hands with him, until he saw the way those blue eyes went ice cold with anger.
“What the fuck are you doing in here? Are you following me?” Luke didn’t bother to lower his voice, causing several of the doughnut shop patrons to turn and stare at them.
Zeke shook his head, confused by Luke’s hostility. Yeah, he’d been following him, but it was because he was hoping to hear how Mimi was doing. “Take it easy, man. I don’t have any problems with you.”
“Well, I have a problem with you. Let’s go outside and have a little talk.” He nodded his head to indicate the parking lot.
What the hell was Powers so pissed off about? Maybe he’d found out his little sister had lost her cherry to him and he wasn’t happy about it. Having a little sister of his own, Zeke could sympathize. Okay, so he’d let Luke chew him out, maybe he’d even let him get a punch in if it made him feel better.
They’d barely made the parking lot when the punch came. Fast and furious and with a lot more heat than Zeke expected.
He rubbed his right cheek. “Damn. You feel better now, Powers?”
“I’m never going to feel better about you, dickhead.”
“Look, I realize you’re upset, but I cared for Mimi. She meant a lot to me. And I wasn’t the one to break things off.”
“Who gives a fuck what you feel? You’re not the one who has to listen to her cry every night. Do you know how much pressure my parents are putting on her to give up this baby?”
Zeke felt like he’d been punched again. Only this time it was in the gut and he couldn’t get a breath in. “What the fuck are you talking about? What baby?”
“Are you shitting me? You must be one hell of an actor to pull off that off innocent act. My sister’s six months pregnant. Like you didn’t know.”
Mimi was pregnant.
The realization took a few more seconds to sink in. He’d been careful to use a condom each and every time they’d been together. Obviously, not careful enough, though.
Had she known when she’d broken up with him? He did a few mental calculations. She’d been acting strange in the couple of weeks before she’d called it quits. One time, they’d gone to get fries at Burger World (Mimi’s favorite were the chili-cheese) and she’d gotten sick in the ladies’ restroom. She’d told him it was a stomach bug, but it all made sense now. Why hadn’t she told him?
“I swear to you I didn’t know. Where’s Mimi now? Is she still at home? I need to see her.”
Luke studied him, like he was wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him. “Mom said you didn’t know about the baby, but I didn’t think you were that stupid. I guess she was right.”
Zeke curled his hand in a fist, careful to keep it close to his side. He didn’t want to hit Luke Powers. But if he didn’t tell him what he wanted to know right now…
“This is my baby, too. I have rights.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Luke’s face hardened. “If you’re going to harass her you can forget about it. You might have a couple of inches on me but I swear to God, I’ll take you down before I let you hurt my sister again.”
Zeke might be taller than Luke, but Mimi’s brother looked like he was all muscle. Not that he’d consider fighting him. The guy had every right to call him out. Frankly, he was surprised Luke had left this to a chance encounter. If he was in Luke’s position, he would have dragged heaven and hell looking for the guy who’d knocked up his little sister.
“I just want to make sure she’s okay. And to offer whatever help she’ll let me. Please, man, you got to believe I only want what’s best for Mimi.”
After a few minutes of deliberation, Luke told him what he wanted to know. Mimi was currently at home. But not for long. She and her mother were leaving first thing in the morning to go hide out in some cabin in North Carolina. Zeke thanked Luke and jumped on his bike. He was careful to keep to just ten miles over the speed limit but it was hard. The urge to fly down the highway and get to her before her mother got wind he was on his way nearly choked him. Patience had never been his strong suit.
He pulled his bike into the Powers family driveway. Mimi’s mother was distantly related to Earl Handy, the grandson (or was it great grandson) of Cyrus Handy, Whispering Bay’s founding father. Some of the Handys were loaded. Some weren’t. Mimi’s mom fell on the ‘weren’t’ side of the family, although they still did better than okay. Her dad owned a couple of Ace Hardware stores, including the one in town, and her mom was an elementary school teacher. Luke had just finished his sophomore year at Duke, the Powers family alma mater. Mimi had told him it was always expected that she would go there, too.
He pressed the ringer and kept his finger on it. He didn’t give a shit if he was being obnoxious, he only knew he had to see her now.
Mimi flung the door open. “What the?” Her blue eyes went wide. “Zeke…what are you doing here?”
She didn’t look much different from the last time he’d seen her. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her face was scrubbed clean, making the tiny freckles across her nose stand out. She wore shorts and her long slender legs were pale, like she hadn’t been out in the sun for ages. His gaze zeroed in on her stomach. She wasn’t big pregnant, like some women he’d seen, but it was there all right, in the form of a strange looking bump in her tummy.
