Page 63 of Broken

Bridgette turned around to look at her, and our parents started having one of those silent conversations only best friends could.

I looked at Izzy, seeing the tear tracks running down her cheeks. Our gazes met, both of us suspecting where this was going.

“Adoption.” It was like Mom finally breathed, relief spreading through her tone as Bridgette nodded. “They give the baby up for adoption and then they can finish school and go off to college just like they’re supposed to.”

“We’re keeping the baby,” I said firmly.

“What? Honey, why would you do that? You two have such bright futures ahead of you. You have so much talent. Do the right thing,” Mom pleaded.

“Izzy, Tucker, be reasonable,” Bridgette piled on. “You’re too young, and you’ve barely started dating. A baby is so much responsibility. You don’t even realize how much. Give it to someone who can take care of it.”

Izzy shook her head, defiance clear in her expression. “You don’t know what you’re asking, Mom.”

“I don’t? I work in a NICU, Isabel. I see babies all the time that are fighting for their lives. I see parents just wishing,praying, they pull through. I see the ups and the downs and the hardships. I hadtwinswhen I was twenty-two years old with not an ounce of family close by to help out aside from your father,whileI was going to nursing school. But no, I must not know what I’m talking about.”

Izzy stood up then, flushed with anger. “You may see all of that, Mother, and I know what you had to do was rough, but you don’t get to tell me how to feel. I love this baby,” she declared, her hand flying to her stomach. “I’ve already agonized over what to do. Over whatIcan live with, and Icannotjust give it away to strangers. Adoption isnotan option!”

“Isabel–”

“No.” She held a hand up and rushed out of the room, the slamming of the front door echoing through the front of the house.

All three parents turned to look at me, and I stood, meeting each and every one of their gazes. “My future is not over. It’s with Izzy. I knew that even before we knew she was pregnant. We may find it terrifying, cuz I’m not gonna lie. We do. And you may not like our choice, but it’s ours to make. We’re keeping our baby.” There was finality in the calm of my voice, and I followed my girlfriend out the door, leaving our parents standing in the living room, speechless.

I found Izzy waiting in my truck, and I opened the driver’s side door to join her. She was shaking, her face flushed crimson in frustration as tears leaked down her cheeks.

“You okay?”

“Just drive.”

She buckled and pulled her knees up to her chest, and I drove. For as long as she needed. And hell, I sure needed it, too. Shelovedthe baby? I was still trying to believe it was even there. It wasn’t like she was showing at all. It barely even seemed real. But down in my gut I knew it was. This wasn’t like the bullshit Lisa had tried to pull back in September. I just didn’t know how I was supposed to handle it.

But I couldn’t lose Izzy.

I headed down the highway to Summer Ridge and took the back roads, finding loops and other routes on our way back to Breaker Ridge until Izzy pointed down a familiar road.

“Go there.”

I looked at her. “You’re sure? We won’t be able to go in.”

She rested her chin on her knees. “I know.”

I pulled up minutes later to a grassy spread at the edge of the sand that we’d parked on dozens of times in the past. We just sat, staring out the windshield at the large house in front of us, the beach and ocean spreading out past it on either side. An ache resonated in my chest knowing this was as close as we could get.

“Do you miss it?” Izzy whispered.

Like I lost a limb.“Yeah.”

“I still hate that your grandpa sold it.”

“Me, too.”

The house in front of us held so many memories. So much of my childhood had been spent here. Not just with family but with friends, too.

“I still remember Daddy, that last week we spent here for the fourth before I went to dance camp? We didn’t know then.”

“I know.”

“I hate that I didn’t come home.”

---