Friends with Benefits - Nicole Blanchard Page 0,58

stomach churn more. I found Tripp almost immediately, his number three like a beacon. My heart sped up at the sight of his dirty blonde hair glinting in the bright afternoon sunlight. Charlie wasn’t wrong. The sight of him in baseball pants wasn’t one to be ignored.

Not that I’d been able to ignore him at all lately.

“—and then he did this sexy little dance, and I jumped him,” Layla was saying when I could focus back in on their conversation. I was being an awful friend, but I couldn’t seem to think of anything other than the positive pregnancy test I had hidden under the sink in my bathroom.

“You dirty bitch!” Charlie exclaimed with bright eyes. “You’ve been holding out on us. Em, can you believe it? Our little girl is growing up.”

Layla rolled her eyes, then glanced at me. “What’s up with you? You’ve been very quiet. Is everything okay?”

I was too hollow to cry and too tired to lie, so I settled for something sort of in between. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Charlie sobered, her gaze sharpening as she studied my face. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought you and Tripp were great. ‘Having fun’ is what you said. Did he fuck something up? I’ll kick his ass.”

“No, he didn’t do anything.” He found me from his place on the pitcher’s mound and lifted his hand in a wave. For some reason, I felt the gesture deep inside my chest. I waved in return. “He’s been great. Much better than I deserve.”

“Oh, shut up. You deserve the best. And if he isn’t giving it to you, well, then we need to have a talk with him.”

“Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “Or we’ll kick his ass.”

“No need to kick his ass, he hasn’t done anything wrong at all.”

“It’s like pulling teeth,” Charlie said to Layla. “C’mon now, are we your best friends or what? Why do you look like your favorite pet was just run over? Is it your mom?”

“Not at the moment. Okay, there is something, but I need to talk to Tripp about it first. I promise as soon as I do, I’ll explain.”

“Cryptic,” Layla said.

“Agreed. But if you aren’t ready to talk about it, you know we’ll be here whenever you need us. It’s not anything else about your mom, right?”

“No, I haven’t heard from her since she took the twins. DCF came by to start a report and take a tour of the apartment. They said they’ll be in touch, though.”

They really were the best friends anyone could have, and I knew they’d be there for me if and when I was ready to talk about it all. Like they had been there for me when Chris and my parents left. And again when I had called them about what my mom had done.

“I’m sure it will turn out fine,” Layla offered.

“Damn right it will,” Charlie said.

“Thanks, guys. For now, I want to forget about it for a little while, if that’s okay.”

Layla gave me a sidearm hug. “Of course, it’s okay. We’ll look at hot guys in tight pants with you any day.”

They spent the rest of the practice game huddled close to me on either side, and I felt their concern and love wrapped around me like a hug. It helped dull the panic and shock to a bearable amount—at least until the game ended, and I was faced with telling Tripp about the baby. It had been a couple of weeks since my mom had taken the girls. Enough time for them to settle back into a routine. Now there was no more putting off telling him the truth.

I could tell he was excited about their win, but it was bittersweet for me. A pregnancy would ruin all of his plans. Those dreams to play pro ball? Up in smoke. Sure, people would say we could make it work, but I’d already been there. Not that I regretted taking care of the twins, but children change lives, and although they’re precious, it wasn’t always for the better.

They require sacrifice, and I would never want Tripp to have to sacrifice the dream he’d worked so hard to achieve. He’d already nearly lost it once. I couldn’t make him face that possibility again.

Tripp wasn’t the type to run from his problems, though. No, he was responsible, dependable. He’d want to do the right thing. Because of that, it was tempting not to tell him.

But he deserved to know, and I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t. I