Page 43 of Forced Arrangement

“What are you doing?” I ask her.

“Just a minute,” she says distractedly. “This looks so different than the version we have in the UK,” she mutters, scrolling quickly.

I watch her type in payment info and hit confirm before she turns to grin at me.

“What are you up to?” I ask her.

“Solving a problem for you. I have a delivery arriving in about an hour,” she says with a grin. “No need to tell anyone about our little secret due to the magic of technology.”

“You ordered?” I start to say, then fall silent as Franco wanders into the kitchen.

“What are you two whispering about?” he asks us, but there’s a smile nestled into the corner of his lips.

“Oh, you know, just having a little hen do here in the kitchen,” Justine says, her accent front and center.

“A hen…what?” he repeats, looking genuinely confused.

We both laugh. “A hen do is a bachelorette party in the UK,” I explain. “But sometimes it’s used as a bit of a joke about when women are gathered together gossiping and stuff.”

Franco shakes his head. “You English are strange folk.”

“You mean sexy folk,” Justine says with a sultry smile.

I tune them out as they banter back and forth, worrying over the idea of being pregnant. I don’t even know how I feel about such a thing coming to pass. I had never actually even considered having children. I had been too scared of exposing them to the risk that my mother and I lived with every day.

But it didn’t matter now. If I was actually pregnant, then all of those desires, worries, or concerns didn’t really matter anymore. Now I would have to figure out what to do about this new life. How would I protect it? Would I tell Angelo? Would I keep it?

As soon as I think about any option other than keeping my baby, my mind immediately rejects that choice. There is no way that I’m not going to have this baby.

“Oh! My delivery is here!” Justine announces abruptly. “I’ll just pop down and make sure I grab it, then I’ll be back.”

Franco and I watch her leave. My heart is pounding in my chest. Now that I can find out the truth, I feel terrified.

Franco gets a call and leaves the room. I sigh in relief. I don’t think that I can hide my panic for much longer. It feels like Justine hasn’t been gone for even a moment before she shows back up with a plastic drugstore bag in her hand.

She looks around, sees that Franco is gone, and gestures for me to follow her. Like a sleepwalker, I go with her into my bedroom.

She’s talking about how to take the tests, and saying she got three, just to be safe. Her words wash over me. I feel nothing as I take the tests. Even the tips of my fingers are numb.

We wait for the little window to reveal the truth I’m dreading. The minutes tick by, slow and torturous.

When the results appear, I stare at them, my stomach lurching.

Pregnant.

For a moment, everything is still. The world stops spinning and all I can hear is the sound of my own breathing, too fast, too shallow. This wasn’t part of the plan. This changes everything. Justine’s hands come to rest on my shoulders.

“I know,” she says soothingly, stroking my hair back from my face. “But it’s going to be okay. You’ve handled everything else so far. You’ll handle this, too.”

I press my hand against my abdomen, the reality of it sinking in. A baby. Angelo’s baby.

Fuck.

Chapter Fifteen

Angelo

Those girls are thick as thieves.

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