Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure, but he sounded confident. “Good. We don’t want any distractions.”
Like me and Nate.
Or the baby.
“You okay?” Dad asked. “Something’s bothering you.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Aw, come on. You can’t hide anything from your dad. Remember that time I found the mid-term report you hid under the bed? The C in math?”
“Dad, I was eleven.”
“And I knew then, just like I know now.” He crossed his arms. “Spit it out, Mandy-Pandy.”
Oh God. Wasn’t talking about Mom’s sex life bad enough?
I heaved a breath, meeting my father’s gaze for what had to be the first time since I found out I was pregnant. Somehow, Dad could make me feel like I was a kid again, in trouble for breaking the glass face on Mom’s grandfather clock.
But this time, the trouble was worse.
I hadn’t told Mom I was pregnant yet, partly because I knew how she’d react. She’d yell. Compare me to her engaged daughter. Fret and scream and blame herself all to get me to console her. I could handle that, I had all my life.
But Dad?
We were always the closest. I didn’t want to hurt him.
The last thing I wanted in this world was to disappoint my father.
“It’s kinda complicated…” I should have spilled it then. The words caught in my throat.
“Boy trouble?” Dad winked. “Well, I guess man trouble.”
Sure. That was easier to talk about. “I guess so.”
“Found a guy you like?” Dad’s eyes narrowed. “Is he treating you good?”
“It’s not that. It’s a…possibility that will never, ever happen.” I bit my lip. “Did you always want to marry Mom?”
“God no. Have you met your mother?”
“Then…why?”
“Because she was the one I thought about when I went to bed at night, and she was the first person I wanted to see in the morning. Nothing more to it than that. I asked her to marry me, and she refused. Twice. But when it’s right, it’s right.”
“Is that all it takes?”
Dad laughed. “No way. Learn from my mistakes, Mandy. If I knew ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago how to take care of my relationship and put the ego and pettiness aside? Well, your mom wouldn’t be hiding in country clubs getting booty calls, would she?”
Shudder.
He smiled at me. “You are a beautiful young woman, and men will chase you. The key is to find the one you can’t live without—and then you protect that relationship, because it is as fragile as it is precious.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Anytime.”
I checked my phone. Lindsey demanded I leave the office before closing to help with the decorations, but my mind wasn’t on her chosen craft for the night. Dad had made sense. He always did, but this time he’d made more.
I woke up this morning dreaming of Nate, and it wasn’t a fear about the pregnancy or panic about telling him. It was a vision of us, snuggling, together.
That was worth protecting.
I stopped on the way home to grab our pizza, though I couldn’t eat the greasy, sloppy mess. I’d ordered a Hawaiian specifically for the pineapple to eat, but Lindsey was onto me. She knew I hated her favorite type of pie.
“You’re not getting out of arts and crafts.” Lindsey took her dinner with a suspicious glance. “Don’t even try it.”
“Just wanted to be nice.”
She waved a pair of scissors at me, but we had two dozen paper bouquets to make. Every Pinterest page had different instructions for the flowers, and she didn’t have time to stop and nag. The project demanded all of her concentration, which was good. The pregnancy was bad for my mood swings, and even worse for hiding how I felt. My emotions weren’t on my sleeve anymore—they were tucked inside a glove I’d use to slap people who riled me up.
I managed to avoid her inquisition, but she still puttered around me as she nibbled on the pizza. She and Bryce stopped to eat. I kept trying to turn tissue paper into roses to avoid questions.
“Something’s different about you…” Lindsey said.
I folded the paper and made a cut. “I’m a little tired of paper crafts.”
“No, it’s not that. You’re…more…” She snapped her fingers at Bryce. “What’s the word I want?”
Bryce didn’t respond well to a Prescott woman’s glare. He knew better than to cross me.
“She looks fine,” he said.
“No, there’s something.” Lindsey tapped her chin with her ring finger. “You’re calmer.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. The scissors didn’t work. I reached for the X-Acto knife to properly frill the leaves.