Page 27 of Break Out

She gave me a sassy head tilt. “Oh, I do know. I busted my ass to get scholarships to afford it. Did you tell him you’re pregnant?”

My head tipped to the side. “It couldn’t be helped. He noticed I’m a little green in the gills.”

“Really?”

I shot her a small smile. “He can be observant, Lex.”

“Did he offer congratulations?”

“No. In fact, he wanted to know if it was one of his friends… I shouldn’t have told you that. Only gives you more fodder.”

She grinned and pointed a finger at me. “Damn skippy. Only someone ready with their rebound would immediately assume you turned to one of his friends. I’m sweaty and sticky, so I’m hitting the shower.”

On Sunday evening, Alexandra went to the library. I curled up on the sofa with some ginger ale and my cell phone debating making a call.

Ever since I moved to Gainesville, Mom and I had a standing date to talk every Sunday night. My hesitation stemmed from the fact I felt like this was an in-person conversation, but not knowing how Mom would react – I might be better off going the cell phone route.

The phone vibrated, and then rang, Mom’s name on the display – she’d beat me to the punch.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, sweetie. How are you?”

“I’m good.”

She asked after Alexandra, and I kept it to the bare basics.

“A little birdie—named Abby, by the way—tells me that you had a… tryst.”

A sneak-attack, that figured.

I rolled my eyes. “A ‘tryst,’ you and the romance novels, Mom.”

Her tone became dry. “That should be us and the romance novels, and stop changing the subject. Jordan dumped you and you had a one-time-only thing with someone?”

This seemed as good a time as any to lay it all on the table.

“Yeah. Are you sitting down?”

She chuckled. “Yes, but why?”

I took the deepest breath. “Because, I found out yesterday that I’m pregnant.”

She chuckled again, but cut it in half. “You aren’t joking.”

“No, I thought about waiting to come home and tell you, but—”

“Have you told the father?” she asked.

I hesitated. “We didn’t exchange numbers.”

“Well, surely you can look him up.”

After a long blink, I said, “He was from out of town – hell, I don’t even know where he’s from, just that he said he’d never be back here again. Not to mention, the only name he gave me is Steel. I don’t know his first name, and as common as that surname is…”

I trailed off and the ensuing silence from Mom scared me.

Finally she whispered. “Okay, I can understand how that’s challenging.”

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