Chapter 5

chapter

five

Charlotte

Six weeks later…

I stare at nothing. The landscape outside my windshield blurs into shapes and colors. I'm meeting my siblings for lunch. Obviously, I have news to share with them, but my brain feels like it's stuttering. Like I'm riding on an endless bridge with the rhythmic noise of the expansion panels.

Boom boom.

Boom boom.

My timer on my phone goes off letting me know it's time to meet Brendan and Chelsea. It at least jars me out of my recent fog. I grab my purse and phone, then leave my car to head into the restaurant.

Me and my younger brother and even younger sister try to meet at least every other week for a meal. We take turns picking the location. Today it was Brendan's turn to pick, and as soon as I walk inside of the small—but trendy—ramen place, my stomach growls, letting me know it was a good choice.

With the way the last week has gone, I wasn't sure how today would work. Of course, it's been nothing but one blindside after another. First the news from my job that my company is being bought out by another larger engineering firm. Normally this wouldn't matter overly much. They're keeping all of the current employees.

But then my immediate boss informed me that I was grounded for the next six months at least. They want me to train the incoming younger engineers on our specific product and can't afford to have me traveling.

Frankly, I'm not even that bummed about it. The thought of being on the road once a month as I have been for the last couple of years just fills me with exhaustion.

My attitude makes slightly more sense after my doctor's appointment.

Brendan is already sitting and munching on edamame.

"Chelsea's on her way. Of course she was about to leave when her jackass of a boss called her last minute with some bullshit emergency," my brother says.

"JD is not a jackass. He's just still trying to convince her to move to Saddle Creek where the company moved their headquarters."

"Which he's never going to do," Chelsea says as she takes a seat next to me. "Why? Why would I move there and be at his beck and call and then be stuck in some tiny ass town where I'm away from my family and he's still not what I want him to be?"

Chelsea has been in love with her boss for the last several years. Brendan and I are both positive he feels the same way, but our sister can be stubborn.

"Why don't you just drive there and jump his bones?" Brendan suggests as if it's as easy as that.

"Oh sure. Exactly how would that go? Excuse me, boss man, I'd like an impromptu meeting between your dick and my?—"

"Oh my God, please stop!" Brendan says loudly over her.

She laughs, having gotten the desired effect on our brother. Then she looks at me. "Holy shit, Charlie, you look so tired. You feeling okay?" She reaches over to me, putting the back of her hand against my forehead. "Doesn't feel like you have a fever."

The waiter stops over and we order. Thankfully he's quick with our drinks. I'm sipping on my iced green tea when I look at my siblings.

"So, I'm pregnant," I say.

Brendan chokes on his own tea.

Chelsea stares at me, mouth agape. Then she points at me and narrows her eyes. "I knew it! You totally hooked up with someone in Dallas, didn't you? It's about damn time you moved on from Evan."

"Gross," Brendan murmurs as he's wiping up his tea. "I do not want to hear about either of you hooking up. You are both virgins and will die that way."

Chelsea snorts. "Sure, big brother. But didn't you just tell me to go jump my boss?"

"Yes, and I regretted it the second the words were out of my mouth."

Chelsea rolls her eyes, then looks back at me. "Can you start from the beginning?"

"But leave out specific details about the S-E-X part," Brendan says.

I laugh. "Did you actually just spell that?"

"Whatever. I don't want to know about my sisters' intimate lives."

"To answer your first question, Chels, yes, I did meet someone in Dallas."

"Was it the guy you'd been talking to? I thought he stood you up."

"He did. This was someone different."

"Damn girl! When Sister Mary Francis over here," she throws her thumb in Brendan's direction, "isn't with us, I'm going to need all the dirty details. Just tell me this, was it good?"

I drop my head into my hands and peek at my sister through my fingers. "Let me put it this way, if that was an Olympic sport, he'd be the reigning gold medalist."

"Oh damn," Chelsea says.

"Y'all are the worst."

The waiter appears with our bowls of ramen and my stomach growls again.

"Okay, so hot sex in Dallas and now you're pregnant." Chelsea grabs my hand. "Wait, did y'all not use anything."

I shake my head. "Condoms every time."

Chelsea opens her mouth to say something else and Brendan throws an edamame into her mouth. "No more questions from you, pervert. Just let her tell us the details about the baby."

"Well, as you know," I motion to Chelsea, "my periods are like clockwork. So when it didn't show up this month, my first thought was early onset menopause."

My sister rolls her eyes. "Don't be stupid. I'm pretty sure you're still ten years away from that."

"Evidently you're right, but that was what I originally went to see the doctor about. I asked them to run a hormone panel. Shocked the hell out of me, not going to lie. Pregnancy wasn't even on my radar."

"What did the father say?" Brendan asks.

I wince. "I can't tell him."

My brother frowns. "That's bullshit. He deserves to know."

"Calm down, I just meant that I can't tell him because I don't know how to reach him. We didn't exactly exchange anything but our first names."

Chelsea whistles. "How have I never known that you're this dirty?"

"I hate y'all," Brendan says.

We chit-chat the rest of the lunch about the baby, plans, due dates, etc. Ultimately, I know I have my siblings' support. They both seemed excited about becoming an aunt and uncle too, which is nice. Honestly, I'm not even sure how I feel about all of it right now, so having their support means everything.

If only I knew how to find Max and tell him.

Not for the first time since that night, I regret not exchanging contact information with him. I'd be a damn liar if I said I didn't crave him every day. His voice, his touch, the sound of his soft chuckle against my ear. Those soft curls on his head and the hard planes of his body. Yeah, I've thought of him every day since that night.

At least now I have a little piece of him that I'll get to keep forever.