Page 43 of Lyrical

“You did.”

“Right, Michelle. I told you it was perfectly fine with me to ask Chase to jack off into a cup so you could rub it all over your face.”

I mean, what the fuck? If she wanted it that badly, I’m sure she could hire some student at the local college who was hard-up for some extra money. Or break into a damn sperm bank. Whatever. As long as she kept my man out of it.

“Honey, I specifically recall you telling me you’d share. Can’t fault me for wanting some of that Chase cream. Not when I can see proof that it works.”

“God, Michelle. Whatever you thought I said, it wasn’t that. So just never—”

She pointed ahead. “You got a fancy red car pulling in your driveway.”

I turned around to see Candace’s red Saab. “I have to go. Just don’t….” I glanced back at Michelle who was already walking off with Sasha.

Okay, now what? I hadn’t spoken to Mike since that night he’d picked up Daniel from my mom’s. Thankfully there’d been no reason to. I curved around the side of the house and stopped Mike from coming up to the door and ringing the bell.

“Daniel’s taking a nap.” I was instantly transported back nineteen years. It was much simpler when there were bars around his bed, and blondies were something he wanted to bake, not spend a night in a hotel room with.

“Okay.”

“And you need to do something about your car. It’s not reliable. Either get it fixed or else we need to make other arrangements until he can buy his own.”

“It has problems starting sometimes when it gets too cold. Let him park it in the garage.” Well, that would explain why it started up the day before; it’d warmed up into the thirties.

“Yes, but what if he’s off somewhere and the temp drops? I don’t want him stranded, and he might not always be able to get a ride. And I remember you having problems with it in summer too.”

He nodded. “All right, I’ll have it looked at again.”

This is going too easy. He must want something.“Are you here to see Daniel?”

“Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about something first.”

“If this has anything to do with Chase, don’t bother. I’m not getting into it with you again.”

He dragged his foot over the stone walk, kicking little bits of snow around. “No, I’m not going to mention him now.”

“Now? How about not ever? Unless you can be—”

“Dammit, Jillian.” He looked up. “I’m not here to fight with you, okay? I just need a little help.”

“Help?”

“It’s about Candace.”

“Come on, Mike. We’ve been through this before too. If you don’t want to marry her, stop stringing her along, for God’s sake. Either end it or—”

“She’s pregnant.”

“What?” I blinked a few dozen times. “Pregnant?”

He dug his fingers into his scalp, looking like he was trying to puncture it. I assumed he wasn’t ready to pass out cigars yet. He still hadn’t moved past the jump-off-the-bridge stage.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Jillian.”

“How far along?”

“I don’t know. Maybe six weeks.”

“And how is she doing?”

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