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Tyler
“I’m gonna be a dad.” I can’t stop smiling.
“What? No, no. It has to be wrong. It’s a false positive.” Brooklyn grabs the test from my hand and stares at it.
“Baby, I think it’s pretty rare have a false positive when it comes to a pregnancy test.”
She fumbles with the box, trying to get the second test out of it. I reach for the instructions that fall from the box to show her. “See, I think it measures the pregnancy hormone, HCG, so if it’s not there, it won’t show as positive.”
“Oh, what the hell do you know? You’re not a woman,” she snaps, grabbing the test she dropped on the floor and marching back into the restroom. She shuts the door behind her. A moment later, she’s back with the second test in her hand. She paces the floor as she stares at the screen.
The seconds tick by and it feels like the longest three minutes of my life. She stops dead in her tracks, staring at the test.
“No, no, no, this can’t be happening,” she mutters as she tosses it onto her desk and grabs the empty box. “Did it only come with two?”
I nod and reach for the second test. Again, pregnant.
“What the fuck?” she shouts and raises her hands over her head as she paces again.
“Baby, it’s going to be okay.”
“Tyler, do you realize how busy I am right now? I feel like I’m already running on fumes and we still have a few more weeks before this launch. Not to mention I’m still training my new employees. I love this job. I need this job.”
Her eyes are pleading and I reach for her. “I know this was unplanned and not the best timing, but your job is safe. You know that. There’s nothing to worry about in that regard, because you’ll always have a job here.”
She pushes my hands off her arms. “That’s not the point, Tyler. I love my job, and I don’t want to stop doing it to raise a baby right now. I’m not ready.”
“Nobody is ever ready, Brook, but I know we’re going to make amazing parents. We’ve got this.”
“Stop it!” she shouts tearfully. “Just stop. You’re doing the same thing Neal did. You’re invalidating what I’m feeling right now. Just let me feel.”
“Okay,” I say, taking a step back to give her some space, “what can I do to make things better?”
She glares at me. “Haven’t you done enough already?” she says, pointing to her belly, and it stings.
“What about what I’m feeling, Brook? Does that even matter to you?”
She shakes her head and covers her face with her hands. “I’m not ready to be a mom yet, Tyler. I’m not.”
I’m trying my hardest to be understanding, but I don’t know how to be in this moment. I’m elated, excited, happy—all of the above—finding out that I’m going to be a dad. I realize she’s the one who has to carry the baby, but for fuck’s sake, it wouldn’t kill her to pretend to care about what I want.
I toss the pamphlet onto the desk. “Well, you’re pregnant, Brook, so we need to figure it out.” I open her office door and slam it behind me.
I speed back to the ranch, slamming my truck door when I get there and marching my sulking ass into the stables.
“Hey, boss, I’ve got those fence post diggers loaded up on the ATV for you,” Carl says as I approach him.
“Well, what the fuck you waiting for? Grab Teller or one of the other hands and get up to the pasture and get to work.”
“Oh, okay, I just thought,” he stutters a bit, “you said—”
“Seriously, can’t anyone do anything right around here?” I kick a shovel that was left leaning against the barn wall and it clatters down the walkway.
“Jesus, what crawled up your ass today?” Decker leans down and picks up the shovel.
“Not in the fuckin’ mood, Deck,” I say as I keep walking.
I spend the next hour doing stuff my ranch hands normally do, but I need a way to release my anger—one that doesn’t involve punching a wall. I bale hay until I’m sweating bullets, my chest heaving as I toss the hay fork on the ground and walk outside.
