Page 14 of Claim Me

“Indigo still isn’t back at the farm. I’m worried he’ll give up his life here and stay in the hills.”

Sync rubs at his bearded jaw and looks out at the road. “You know how the foster boys get tangled up in their heads. I’ve gotten lost a few times myself.”

Sync was always high-strung himself. His mom was an evil bitch while his dad was a sneaky weakling. She would lash out, and he would play mind games. As a teenager and young man, Sync couldn’t shake the anxiety their bullshit created inside him. He only started to settle down once the twins were born.

I don’t know much about Indigo’s family except his mom wasn’t right in the head and his little brother got adopted but he didn’t.Did I do something the other night to remind him of his mother?

“I think you and Indigo have the same problem,” Sync says, startling me. His gaze is on Deirdre dancing around me. His fingers are messing with Kiera’s ponytail. When he focuses on me, he sighs. “You’ve been in a state of hysteria for a while.”

“Excuse me?” I cry, irritated now.

The girls’ brown-eyed gazes flash to me. Protective of their mom, they frown at Sync. He notices them taking my side and steps back.

“When Natasha returned to Banta City, you believed things would be easier. Instead, everything has been nuts. All that stuff with Hunter. It’s getting normal again, so you and Indigo are rattled over what’ll happen next. That’s all this is, Siobhan. It’s okay to feel weird about the world changing. Everyone’s moving off the farm and having babies. Change has rarely been a good thing for Indigo, so he flips out. But you’re smarter and stronger than he is. That’s why you need to stow away your crazy and stop looking for reasons to get upset.”

Sighing, I shake my head. “You soggy fry, you were being so sweet until the very end.”

“Sweet only gets you so far. Sometimes, you need to tell the truth.”

I wonder what Sync would think if he knew I hooked up with Indigo. He acts like I’m free to ride anyone I want.

Once we’re home, the girls keep my mind busy. We play outside, take a walk, and do laundry. They tell me about school. I share my plans to try a new recipe. The twins laugh at how I loathe cooking.

I wasn’t always such a disinterested cook. I used to make Sync big home-cooked meals like he never enjoyed when he was little. But Sync doesn’t care about food. He’ll eat anything. As our relationshipsoured and I began to feel trapped in a love affair long past its expiration date, I’d toss a cold grilled cheese sandwich on a plate for his dinner. Sync never complained. He just shoved it down his gullet and created space between us.

“I sometimes forget how terrible the end of my relationship with Sync felt,” I tell Natasha through the bathroom door days later.

I’m currently peeing on a pregnancy test at the large Douglas Fir timber frame home she shares with Bear. Hunter and I came over for our weekly lunch here. I hadn’t planned to fess up about Indigo but keeping a secret is killing me.

“I mostly remember the dread of being in the same room with someone who didn’t want me anymore.

I rest the test on the countertop and flush the toilet. Opening the door, I find a sad Natasha waiting for me.

“What’s wrong, Siobhan?”

When I gesture back at the countertop, Natasha’s blue eyes widen. Her hands move to her round belly where baby Olívie waits to be born.

“How late are you?”

“A few days. It might be stress.”

Hunter appears from a hallway leading to where Tack and Bear hang out with four-year-old Jacinda and Hector. My friend’s red hair is currently unruly while growing out a pixie haircut. She has it pinned back with an array of colorful barrettes. Her baby bump is small yet perched high, making it seem more noticeable than Natasha’s was at this point.

“What is happening?”

Shrugging, I mumble, “I might be pregnant, but I’m probably not.”

“How?”

“Indigo.”

My friends put the pieces together without me needing to dumb it down for them.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Natasha asks.

“He got upset!” I say as my voice turns into a squeal. “He got cold and hurt my feelings! I was ashamed! Then, he ran away and hid! I feel guilty! I don’t want to be the bad guy!”

Natasha and Hunter stare at me like I’m insane. That’s how I’ve felt lately. My crazy has only gotten worse since I realized my period was late.

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