same pod.
We fought like cats and dogs, and always had.
When three very opinionated females lived under the same roof, things were bound to turn shitty.
“Why didn’t you tell us that you were breaking up with Mark?” he asked softly. “If you’d have just shared that you weren’t sure things were going to work out with him, things would’ve probably gone better. It was like, one week he was having dinner with us and everything was great, you and your mother were talking wedding plans, and the next y’all are broken up and you’re pregnant by someone else. Can you not see how that’s not a shock?”
Okay, well when he put it that way…
“Sammy is good friends with him. They grew up together. It’s hard to trash someone that your brother likes. That y’all like. That grew up coming to our house when he was a teenager. I don’t totally hate the guy, I just don’t like him.” I paused.
I totally didn’t address the pregnancy issue.
Like, for real, I should have, but I was too much of a chickenshit.
My family knew I was impulsive.
And hell, this time, I think I really was impulsive—I mean who the hell ordered sperm and impregnated themselves with it because they wanted a baby and didn’t want to wait to do it the ‘correct’ way?
Me, that’s who.
Then, without totally thinking things through, I said stuff that I shouldn’t have said.
“I’m seeing someone,” I blurted. “It’s new. We’re new. I don’t want you to scare him off.”
My father’s frown was ferocious.
Why the hell was I lying? What had I just done?
What would it accomplish other than to piss my family off when they finally found out the truth?
Because I did, at one point, plan to tell them the truth.
When they were looking at me more clearly.
“As for Mark…” I said. “Mark and I have been done for a while. I just didn’t want to tell you because y’all are so gung ho on him. Y’all expected wedding bells and babies and a new house. Meanwhile, he doesn’t even want to stay in Texas. Did you know that he wants to move up north?”
Dad’s eyebrows climbed high. “No shit?”
“He doesn’t like working down here. Dad, he wants to move to New York. He wants to move and ‘make a difference’ where it’ll matter. Apparently, he can’t make a difference down here. That’s why he bought the electric car. He’s trying to leave a better ‘carbon footprint.’” I paused because my father’s eyes glazed over a bit. “And he said that he doesn’t want to be down here anymore because we’re all a bunch of people that don’t care about the environment.” I paused. “And he’s a vegan now. Did you not notice how he didn’t eat the last few times he came over?”
Mark had changed a lot over the last year.
I wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, that had set him on that particular path, but he’d started to force his beliefs on me as well.
And I had to tell him the truth, New York had never appealed to me.
There were just too many freakin’ people.
Plus, I already had my dream job here. Not to mention my family was here—even if they weren’t always the most supportive of people.
“Fine,” he said. “But I want to meet this guy that you’re seeing.”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Sure,” I squeaked.
Lies.
I wouldn’t be introducing them at all—my fictional boyfriend/baby daddy was always going to stay just that. Fictional.
“I gotta go.” He paused. “Are you dealing okay with the wreck? Do you need me to do anything about it?”
I shook my head. “Not as of yet. The parents are taking care of everything because they don’t want their son to get into any more trouble. They’re trying to be extremely super helpful. My car’s already in the shop. Getting fixed up as we speak.”
He nodded. “Which shop?”
I rattled off the shop that I’d taken it to in Longview.
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said as he dropped a kiss to my forehead. “I have to get to work.”
I watched my father leave with half an eye on him, and half on the couple that were still standing on the front stoop of Grans’ place.
My brows rose as I slowly closed the door on them.
Was Grans home?
I didn’t know.
But Dad wasn’t the only one that had to get to work.
I did, too.
So, ignoring the couple on the other stoop, I got ready for work, glanced once at my SWAT calendar that was hanging on