The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,102

“I promise.”

23

Taylor had promised she’d spend the Fourth of July with her family. Mimi and Aunt Laurie had closed the store early, and her mother was making homemade salsa, guacamole, enchiladas and rice and beans for dinner. It was another one of Taylor’s favorite meals, but she couldn’t get excited about food when all she could think about was her mother hitting the dating scene.

She’d known something like this might happen eventually. She didn’t expect her mother to stay single forever. But so soon?

And wouldn’t you know it, Sierra wasn’t even available so they could talk about it. Dennis had insisted she go with him to visit his brother, who lived two hours away. She probably had her phone, but Taylor didn’t want to interrupt when her mean father was around.

A knock sounded at her bedroom door. “Come in.” She needed to set the table, so she was expecting her mother to roust her out.

But Caden poked his head in. “Hey, what’re you doing?”

She’d been writing in her journal, trying to decide what to do about the baby, which was proving much more difficult than she’d at first thought. She’d also been trying to come up with some way to tell Oliver. She hadn’t been able to make herself call or text him. She was afraid, even if he promised he wouldn’t tell anyone, that he’d confide in a friend, if not a family member, and word would get out before she even returned home.

She shuddered at the thought of showing up at school, could almost hear people whispering about her: Did you hear? Taylor’s pregnant! She’s having Oliver Hancock’s baby!

She winced at the humiliation and embarrassment that would cause. It didn’t help that Oliver was only a junior. Everyone would be surprised and wonder why she’d ever slept with him.

Caden was going to struggle when word got out, too. She imagined he’d be torn between defending her and wanting, once again, to beat Oliver up.

“Nothing, really,” she said and shut her journal.

He came in and closed the door behind him. “You okay?”

“Feeling kind of weird.”

“You have that thing pregnant women get—morning sickness?”

“No. I haven’t felt any of that yet. Hopefully, I won’t. It’s Mom going out with Quinn Vanderbilt that feels weird.”

“Yeah. Having Dad go missing was bad enough.”

“Exactly. And now Mom’s starting to date? What if it gets serious and they wind up married? That would make him our stepdad. Eww!”

He sat on the edge of the bed. “You don’t like him? I think he’s cool.”

She put her journal in the top drawer of her nightstand. She planned to shove it under the mattress later, but she didn’t want her brother to see her do it. “Because he gave us a free lunch at his restaurant? I don’t want anyone else in my life trying to tell me what to do, let alone a stranger.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t be like that.”

“It would definitely be like that. That’s what stepdads do.”

“We’re almost adults. And Mimi is right. It wouldn’t be fair of us to expect Mom to be alone. It’s not her fault Dad left.”

She rolled her eyes. “You always take everything in stride.”

“What else can I do? Getting upset doesn’t bring Dad back. Letting Mom know how we really feel might cause her to turn Quinn away. But she’d start dating someone else eventually. And maybe it would be someone we don’t like at all. Have you thought about that?”

“I’ve been busy thinking about my own problems,” she grumbled.

He shot her a sheepish glance. “Speaking of the baby, I need to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Remember when I said in the car that Quinn played volleyball with me for a few hours on Tuesday?”

“Yes...”

“Well, that was the morning that I found out Oliver was the father of your baby.”

“And?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“I was pretty upset and—”

“And?”

“I told him about the baby.”

She jumped off the bed. “No! Please say you didn’t!”

He stood, too. “I didn’t know he had any interest in Mom, let alone hoped to date her. I just thought he was someone I could talk to. It’s not like I can tell anyone else.”

Taylor started to fan herself and pace up and down beside the bed. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”

“Don’t freak out,” he said. “He hasn’t told Mom, or you’d know about it.”

“But he will tell her! That’s the thing!”

“No. He’s cool, like I said. This proves it.”

Taylor pressed a hand to her chest as if she could slow the pounding of her heart. Her mother