Page 11 of Reckless

Shit.

“I…It was a joke. You don’t look pregnant.”

“Well, I am,” Clem sniffed. “Ten weeks pregnant.”

What I did next surprised me maybe even more than it surprised the others. I bolted up and pulled my sister up from her chair into a hug.

“Is everything okay? Why are you crying?” I whispered in her ear, not wanting to share that question with the others.

“Hormones,” she whispered back, but it sounded like a rehearsed excuse. I let her go and patted Lucas’s back.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks. We’re still getting used to the idea.”

“Do Mom and Dad know?” I asked. Clementine’s face turned red. We were getting to the juicy part.

“Dad is cool. You know.” Of course I knew. Clementine was his favorite child. She could get away with anything. “Mom not so much.”

“Why?” Hannah jumped in the conversation. “I thought Sylvia liked you?” She turned to Lucas. “Did you do something to piss her off, Cole?”

“Hey,” he lifted his hands up in the air as if to surrender. “I did everything by the book. I proposed to that one ages ago.”

“Yeah,” I shot Clem a look. “What’s up with that? If you don’t want to marry him, just dump him. Who spends two years engaged?”

No one laughed at that one. Tough crowd.

“A lot of people have long engagements. Anyway. Mom is freaking out. She can’t stomach the fact that her youngest is pregnant without being married first.”

That sounded like my mother. She gave Clem and Lucas a hard time, I was sure of that.

“We are trying to organize…something. But it’s hard. It’s so last minute. It’s almost August and my belly isn’t getting smaller.” Clem paused and squinted, looking at something behind my back. “Umm, Hannah? I have only seen one picture, but isn’t that Nick over there?”

We all turned our heads at the same time. Hannah stood up with a smile on her face. I didn’t pay much attention to the arrival of the boyfriend, though. We were finally getting to the important part of the conversation, and I was eager to finish it.

I glanced at them just when that Nick guy planted a quick and dispassionate kiss on Hannah’s lips in the appropriate-for-this-type-of-establishment way.

Lucas and Clem stood up to introduce themselves. I didn’t. I wasn’t here because ofthathappy couple.

Nick was of the well-mannered type and extended his hand to me. I took it, a little annoyed. Why did Clem need all these people here? I got Lucas’s presence, but the other two could have been left out of this dinner. I opened my mouth to remind my sister of our unfinished conversation, but Lucas cut me off.

“Nick, you’re a doctor, right? Can I ask you a question? We are having a baby and we have some concerns.”

I hated men who usedwestatements. It was bad enough women used them.

“Oh, congratulations. I’m a cardiac surgeon, so not exactly the right person for your question, but go ahead.”

Nick had that fake facial expression all doctors had while talking to a highly skittish patient. The one that made you feel he really sympathized with you, while he actually thought you were wasting his time with stupid questions.

And come on, but…a cardiac surgeon? Seriously? That was so predictable of little Spencer. What was next? A three-story house in the suburbs? A bunch of kids running around on the front lawn? A Labrador chasing them, while Hannah carved pumpkins on the porch for Halloween decorations?

Although if I had to be honest, she looked like a girl who would be obsessed with Christmas. She was too cheery for Halloween.

“Is there anything food-wise that Clem should avoid?” Lucas asked. “She has a terrible morning sickness that stretches throughout the day. Her doctor told us it will pass by the end of the first trimester, but she barely eats these days.”

“How far along are you?” Nick asked.

“Ten weeks,” Clem answered. She was looking at him like he was about to save her life.

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