day we’d met. The second-best pizza in Colorado. I’d called Brad earlier and told him I wanted to tell Patty and Ennis about our situation at dinner. They were my two closest friends here at school—other than Brad himself—and I didn’t want to hide this from them, especially since things would be moving quickly. I told him not to mention my mother’s suicide attempt, though. I couldn’t go there yet, even with friends.
We ordered our drinks and pizza, and then the table got quiet.
Which was unusual, since Patty was there.
Did they know something was up?
“How’s Sean?” Patty finally asked Brad.
“He’s good. Likes his new place,” Brad replied.
“I hardly see him around anymore,” Patty said. “He’s always with that new girlfriend of his.”
“Lorraine? Yeah. But Murph isn’t serious about her. She’s just his flavor of the week.”
I winced. Patty had been Sean’s flavor of the week, except only for two days. Patty stayed her bubbly self, though, and didn’t seem to mind talking about Sean. “Tell him I said hi if you see him.”
“Will do,” Brad said.
He didn’t say much more. He was giving me time to bring up our news. I loved him for it, but I wished he’d talk. The silence was deafening, and it made my mind wander to my mom. I had to call Dad later.
“How did you like Daph’s parents?” Patty finally asked.
“I like them a lot. They’re both very nice.”
“Were they surprised that you guys got together so soon?” Patty asked again.
Brad looked at me.
Now or never.
“They were surprised about that, yeah,” I said. “They were surprised about a lot of things.”
So surprised my mother had a mental breakdown, but no…not going there.
I cleared my throat. “So…Brad and I… We have some news.”
“What’s that?” Ennis asked.
Brad picked up the pitcher of cola the server set down and poured us each a glass. I took a long drink, letting the sweetness flow over my tongue and down my throat. I was suddenly parched. I took another drink.
“We… Well… We’re going to get married.”
Patty, in the middle of bringing her glass to her mouth, stopped it in midair. Ennis’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead.
“Big surprise, huh?” Brad said.
I got the impression he was trying to sound jovial, but instead he sounded a little nuts.
“We know it’s really soon, but the thing is…” I took another drink of Coke. “I’m pregnant.”
This time Patty’s glass had made it to her mouth, and she spat soda all over Ennis. “Oh, God,” she said, grabbing a napkin. “I’m so sorry.”
“No problem,” Ennis said. “I’m used to beautiful women ruining my shirts.”
He was alluding to the first night in the dorm, when I’d gotten sick all over him. My cheeks warmed.
“Obviously, we didn’t plan this,” Brad continued. “We used protection, but sometimes it doesn’t work.”
“So when you went to the health center last week…” Patty said.
“Yeah. That’s when I found out.”
“Do you feel okay?” she asked.
“So far, but the nurse practitioner said I’m too early for morning sickness yet.”
“Maybe you won’t get it,” she said. “My mom says she didn’t have it for my brother at all. With me only a little.”
“My mum said she was sick the whole nine months,” Ennis said. “But maybe it’s a British thing.”
I adored Ennis, but I wished he’d kept that to himself. I didn’t want to think about nine months of nausea.
Patty swatted Ennis on the arm. “What a thing to say! That won’t happen to you, Daph.”
“I sure hope not.”
“You’re really getting hitched, huh?” Patty said. “So you’ve discussed all the…you know…options?”
I nodded. “We have. This is what we both want. Right, Brad?”
Brad had been so quiet, letting me take the lead. “Yeah. We’re going to the ranch next weekend to tell my parents.”
“What kind of wedding are you going to have?”
“We haven’t discussed it,” I said. “I can’t think about that until we tell Brad’s folks. But there isn’t a lot of time for a wedding anyway. Plus, my parents can’t afford anything big.”
“Mine can,” Brad said. “If you want a big wedding, you’ll have it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t.”
“Sure you do,” Patty said. “I’ll help you. This should be your day to shine.”
“I try to shine every day,” I said. No truer words. I was determined to get the most out of life. “I don’t need a big wedding for that.”
“Come on,” she urged. “I want to see you get married.”
“Well, you can come, then. You and Ennis. And Sean. Our parents. And whoever else you want, Brad. But it