Page 135 of Driven Daddy

Then again, foisting a baby on him might give him a reason to sprint far and fast away from this unbalanced author who was just starting to get her shit together.

Here, Penn! Here’s a baby to ruin it all with reality.

Even thinking it had me cupping my non-existent belly.

If there was a baby in there, I’d never look at it like a mistake. I didn’t remember my mother. I looked down at my onyx ring and tried to picture my dad. There was just a vague memory of a handlebar mustache and eyes similar to mine.

I wasn’t sure if it was a real memory, or just a child’s hope.

But that wouldn’t bemykid’s future.

Even if I had to do it all myself.

I got out of the car and rushed into the store, coming to a screeching halt when I found a familiar face in the women’s health aisle.

Bridget turned to me, her eyes wide. “Are you kidding me?”

I blew out a breath. “So, which one do you recommend?”

“Oh, Rita.” She rushed forward and reached for my hand. “Are you okay? Your eyes look a little…off.” She squeezed my hand. “And your hand is like ice.”

She was trying to be nice, but I was pretty sure I looked like a crazy person at this point. I laughed, and I hoped it didn’t sound as manic as I feared. “I threw up like six times, I think.” I tried to rein in the the nerves, but they felt like they were going to geyser out of me. “And I’m so afraid I’m going to ruin everything.”

At her shocked face, I brushed by her to the shelves.

“Okay. So, which one? I should probably just take all of them, right? The early ones? Not the ovulation one, I’m probably good there.”

“Rita.”

I rushed on. “This one looks good. Big plus sign right there to tell you the big old yes, huh? Or this one that actually hasthe wordpregnant. No missing there.” I turned to her. “Crazy, right?”

“Rita, it’s going to be okay.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that one.” I looked around the store, my heart beating out of my chest. Or was it my head? It felt like it was definitely both. Wait, was that one of the baristas from Brewed Awakening?

“Maybe I should just go back to the city.” My laughter echoed in my ears. “The bodega around the corner from my apartment only knows I like to pet the dogs that come in. He doesn’t care if I have a kid. Or if I’m not really pregnant.”

She came up beside me and gripped my shoulder. “Breathe, honey.”

“I’m breathing.” The store had little spots all of a sudden. Was there a disco ball in here? “Okay, maybe I’m not.” I bent forward and blew out a slow breath. “Crap.”

Bridget rubbed my back. “You’re fine. We’re fine.” She lowered to the floor and sat cross legged in front of me. “Maybe you want to sit?”

I laughed and fell to my knees in front of her. “I’m actually losing it.”

“Nah, just a little panic attack. I’ve never seen you chatter like this.”

“Oh, that’s the running monologue in my head. I usually keep it under wraps.”

She laughed and covered my hands on the tops of my thighs. “You feeling better?”

“I’m trying not to think what’s on this floor, but yeah…a bit.”

Bridget snickered. “You’re probably right about that.” She pushed herself up and we both used each other for leverage to get off the floor. She dusted off the seat of her jeans. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do.” She reached for two of each test.

One with the plus sign the size of a baby fist. Dear, God, I had to use the word baby. One with the words spelled out, and the last one with the traditional pink lines.

“We’re going to buy these and go take them at my house. Travis is having a father/daughter dinner date so we should have a few hours to get ourselves together.”

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