Page 6 of Peach

He shoved the drawer closed a little too hard, and a book fell off the dresser. A slip of paper flew out. He bent to pick up the book and the paper. The book was fiction, paperback, and had an apple on the cover. He set it on the dresser, thinking it, too, would probably end up in the trash. The piece of paper was small and looked weird. He turned it over, staring at the image that didn't make sense.

Andy had brought the image from Mel’s ultrasound tothe base and showed it around. It looked just like this. He looked at the writing in the corner. The date was about a month ago, and it had the name Beale on it.

What was his mom doing with an ultrasound of a baby from someone named Beale? Of course, his parents had a life outside of what he knew, but why did it include an ultrasound? What was going on? No question, he had to get rid of Haisley, but he needed to understand why his mom had this in a book in her bedroom. That meant she knew the person.

“Give me that,” Haisley said as she reached for the ultrasound picture.

Peach held it over his head on the opposite side of his body. He felt like a child playing keep away. For some reason, this woman brought out emotions that he'd cut off a long time ago. "Hold up. What is this?"

Haisley frowned as she reached for the slip of paper, draping her body over his. “It’s none of your business.”

Anger was evident in her tone. He knew he didn't get women. No question, he didn't pay attention to the women he slept with. During his first year in the Navy, he'd dated someone he thought he would end up married to, but she'd ripped his heart out and stuffed it down his throat. No more. He wouldn't allow himself to get attached, so he stopped trying to understand them. But there was no mistaking the fact that this paper meant something to Haisley. But why did his mom have it?

He met Haisley's gaze and held it. Something clicked inside, and his gaze dipped to her midsection. The sweatshirt kept him from seeing if she was carrying extra weight around her belly. Mel was the only person he knew fairly well who was pregnant. She'd been nice enough to let him feel the baby kick. It had freaked him out but also brought tears to his eyes. He had watched Mel go from tiny tolooking like she was hiding a basketball under her shirt. Could this woman be pregnant?

His gaze flew to Haisley’s, and he could see it on her face. For one brief second, he wondered if the baby was his dad's child, but he knew better. His father wouldn't do that to his mom.

“Haisley, why did my mother allow you to move in?”

A gasp escaped her lips, and she took a step back. “W-what do you mean?”

“This. Let me guess, your last name is Beale.”

Her lips thinned, and he wondered if she was going to run away like she had earlier. "Just give it to me."

Peach studied the words and dates in the bottom left corner of the photo. “So you were ten weeks then. That means you’re about fourteen weeks along.”

Her shoulders rounded, and she looked like she was trying to make herself look smaller. He'd done everything wrong. Anger, sadness, and exhaustion had him acting like an ass. Maybe Ava was right. He needed to polish himself a little and quit being so boorish.

“Listen, I’m sorry I’ve been a total dick. I say things I don’t mean. I'm rude and blunt, and maybe I'm just a jerk. I should have talked to my parents more, but I thought I had more time. I'm sure they would have told me about you and their trip if I'd called them more."

Haisley pressed her lips together and then rolled her eyes. "They were sad you hadn't come out to visit."

He nodded. “I know. I haven’t wanted to come back.”

“Why?”

“I love my parents, but I don't agree with a lot of stuff that happens around here. I don't know, maybe with the city coming closer, it'll get better. I just don’t agree with most of the people I went to high school with.”

Haisley huffed and cocked her head to one aside. “Your parents didn’t agree with a lot of the people around here.”

He shook his head. “I interrupted your breakfast. How about we take a break, and you can get some food?"

She shook her head, and he narrowed his eyes and screwed his lips up to the side. The eye-roll she gave him almost made him laugh.

“Come on. You need food.”

“Are you sure you want to throw all this stuff away? I could go through it?—“

“No!” Peach said, realizing he might have yelled as Haisley’s eyes went wide. “Sorry. There’s just some stuff in there I know they don’t want anyone else seeing.”

Haisley chuckled. “Your parents had an active sex life.”

He gasped. "Oh my God. I don't want to know." He stuck his fingers in his ears and started humming.

Haisley laughed and shook her head. When he took his fingers out of his ears, she spoke.

“I had to get earplugs. Just know they were happy. They loved each other.”

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