Page 87 of Stick Work

Tears keep falling down Taylor’s cheeks. “No more secrets,” she whispers. “No more lies. I can’t—” Her voice breaks, her whole body trembling. “Secrets are how we got here. I just… I can’t do it anymore.”

She buries her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as Kalen steps in front of me. “What the fuck, Elias?” Kalen asks. “Is this some sort of mix up, like the marriage?” I get it. He’s desperate for an alternative explanation. Just like I was. He shakes his head like he’s physically trying to reject what he just heard. “This isn’t happening.” But even as the words leave his mouth, I can see the reality slamming into him. His shoulders go rigid, his expression hardening. “You got my sister pregnant.”

Taylor’s voice cuts through the air. “Kalen,” she snaps, her tone so sharp we both turn to her. “It takes two to get pregnant.”

She’s defending me.

As my insides soften, so do Kalen’s. “Taylor. Jesus. You’re just a kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” she shouts back, but suddenly his anger is back and he swings to face me. His fists are clenched at his sides. “You’re the one who should have known better. I fucking trusted you.” His hands slam into my chest with a sharp jab. “You were my best friend.” His voice is laced with disgust. “Why the fuck did you quit the bunnies, Elias? They throw themselves at you. Maybe if you’d scratched your itch with one of them, you wouldn’t have knocked up my sister.”

I wince at the crude words, but I don’t fight back. I just take it because I deserve it. But there’s one thing I need to make clear. “Kalen,” I begin, trying to quiet the chaos in my mind as I struggle to work this out—to figure out what’s next. What does Taylor want? “I quit bunnies because…I just…” I gulp, my throat too tight to get the words out as my best friend glares at me like I’m the worst human on the face of the planet. “Taylor.”

“I think you need to leave so we can figure this out,” Kalen hisses.

I blink. What? “I’m a part of this, Kalen,” I argue.

He lets loose a humorless laugh. “You did your part.”

“Kalen,” Sahara says, gently touching his arm as Taylor sobs.

“Taylor?” I ask. “What do you want?” I grip the ring in my pocket, wanting her to ask for it back, to tell me she wants all this.

For the briefest of seconds, I see something familiar on her face, something that looks like hope. Love. I move closer, my heart pounding in my ears. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I’ll do right by you.” Ask her to marry you, dude. Tell her you love her and want to make this real. But she’s young. She has her whole life ahead of her. This can’t be what she wants, and if I push, if I force this, she’ll regret it. Just do, bro. “But that’s…. I don’t want…” Those words slip out from under my breath. Shit. Now I’m talking to myself. Out loud. But I can’t force Taylor. Can’t ask her to give up everything for me.

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, Elias,” she finally says, her back straight, but there’s hurt in her eyes, and it cuts me like a serrated blade. “You should leave.”

I’m about to protest when Kalen gets up in my face again. “Taylor, if you want me to leave I will. But we’re not done.” I storm out the door, and as my eyes water, I blindly head back to my car. My heart thumps against my chest as I drive the short distance home, but the second I step inside, I nearly fucking sob. Everywhere I look, the throw pillows on the sofa, the candles on the table, the soft blanket draped over the chair, I see the woman I love. She decorated this whole place for me.

I walk to my bedroom and throw myself on the bed, my brain spinning as I place my forearm over my eyes.

I’m going to be a father.

A family of my own, the house, the white picket fence, it’s all I ever wanted. But there’s a big part of the equation missing. My phone rings and my heart jumps. I quickly fish it from my pocket and when I see that it’s Grandma, I groan. I am not in the mood to talk to anyone. I toss my phone aside, but it rings again and again. Apparently she’s not giving up. I finally cave and answer.

“Hey Grandma, what’s up?” I try to inject enthusiasm into my voice but fail miserably.

A beat of silence and then, “Just checking to see how my grandson and granddaughter-in-law are doing.”

I’m about to tell her we’re fine, working on getting things ‘fixed’ but I can’t bring myself to do it and that’s probably because I need someone to talk to.

“Taylor is pregnant,” I blurt out.

Another beat of silence, and then, “I know, Elias.”

I sit up, my body tight. “How did you know?” Jeez, was I the last to find out? Did she tell my parents too? Maybe even the entire wedding party?

No, she’s not like that and I know it.

“When you get to be my age, you know things,” she says quietly. She usually snorts those words out with a laugh, but she’s not laughing now. “Are you not happy?”

“Grandma,” I finally blurt out. “None of it was real.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, a weight I didn’t even realize I was carrying lifts off my chest. God, all the lies, the bullshit, the act I’ve been playing. It’s actually been eating at me. Could that be why Taylor blurted out she was pregnant? It all became too much for her as well.

“We were faking a relationship,” I continue. “So Mom and Dad would stop trying to set me up.”

“I know.”

Of course she knows. Grandma always knows.

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