Page 27 of Books and Hookups

I hesitated. “I can come back later.” I didn’t want everyone there to hear what I had to tell Danny, not until we’d figured a few things out.

“Come in, come in. It’s no problem. I’ll take his place at the bar. How hard can it be?” She patted my upper arm, then tugged me inside.

Fine. I was doing this. It was best to get it over with. As we always said at the newspaper, bad news might sell papers, but it didn’t improve with age. The woman towed me toward the bar. When Danny spotted me, his grin faded, and a tiny line formed between his eyebrows.

“Daniel,” the woman said. “Lucieis here to talk to you.” She released my arm and stared at Danny, then at me, like she was deciphering a code.

“Hi,” I said. “Could we go somewhere quiet?” The woman narrowed her eyes at me.

“Sure,” he said. “Thanks, Ma.”

Ma?

He walked to the hallway, but before we got to the restrooms, he opened a door to the right, and I followed him into a tiny office. An ancient metal desk held an old desktop computer and a CRT monitor. Shelves above the desk bowed under the weight of a collection of binders. Metal shelving on the other two walls held an assortment of booze, boxes of napkins, and a giant tub labeled “Christmas Decorations.”

I shut the door, squared my shoulders, and faced him.

Danny rolled an armless chair from the corner in front of me, then leaned against the desk. I lowered myself onto the chair. But I hated sitting below him like a misbehaving child, so I stood. “You sit,” I said.

The furrow between his eyebrows deepened, but he obeyed. I didn’t take his place on the desk. Instead, I paced to the metal shelving, then took a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant.”

“Wait. What?” He didn’t look shocked, only confused.

“I’m not saying it again.”

“But I—but you…”

The tension in my shoulders eased. At least he wasn’t going to ask how I knew he was the father. “I forgot, okay? I got busy with work and didn’t get the emergency contraception, so here we are.”

“Are you okay?” He jumped up. “Sit. Get off your feet.”

“I feel fine. It’s not like I’m like…like that.” I gestured behind me like we could see through the wall to the baby shower beyond. Though, if I carried this through, I would eventually get like that.

Shit. I paced, wishing there was more space in the tiny office. “Who is that, anyway?”

“My cousin Belinda and her wife, Jung-mi. They’re expecting twins next month.”

“Twins?” Holy shit, what if he’d put twins in me? I put my hand over my racing heart.

“Don’t worry,” he said like he was reading my mind. “They don’t run in my family. Well, I mean, I have siblings who are twins, but there aren’t any others in the family. Ma always figured it was their father’s genes, but he didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Anyway, Belinda’s having twins because of the artificial insemination. Do they run in yours?”

“No. Thank god.”

There were a few beats of silence as I wiped the image oftwosqualling babies from my brain.

“Do you know what you want to do about it?” he asked.

“I…I don’t know. I just found out yesterday. It’s a lot, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“Look, I know it’s a lot for you too. And I’m really sorry I fucked up.” I swallowed.

“Hey.” He caught my hand, halting my pacing. “I had just as big a part in this as you did. It’s okay. And whatever you decide, it’ll be okay.”

“You want me to decide?”

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