Page 50 of Barbed Wire Fences
“Rhett,” I interrupt, my voice flat and steady because I need to get this over with and start accepting my new reality. And so does he. “I’m pregnant.”
Silence.
“What?” His voice is barely a whisper.
“I’m pregnant,” I repeat. There’s no point in sugarcoating it. Rip the Band-Aid off. Start preparing for this new chapter of my life as a single mom. Because what eighteen-year-old guy afew months out of high school is ready to be a dad, especially when he can’t even be sure the baby is his.
My face flushes with embarrassment and I’m glad we aren’t having this conversation in person. Maybe this way I can detach from the emotions and put some space between us. Finally, he talks.
“You’re… You’re pregnant? Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Am I…” He hesitates, his voice cracking like he's going to cry. “Am I the father?”
“I don’t know.” The truth is brutal, but it’s all I have to give. I don’t know. The one time that I slept with Owen he used a condom, but so did Rhett.
The line goes silent.
I sigh and press on. “I’m calling to tell you that we’re good, Rhett. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle this on my own. I just thought you should know.”
“Jael, wait—”
“Seriously, Rhett. I’ll be okay.”
“When are you coming back?"
I laugh because I can’t believe he asked that. "Never."
"What do you mean never? You can't stay in school and have the baby in Virginia. How are you going to finish your degree with no help nearby?"
I let out a bitter laugh. “What difference does it make? What support would I have if I came back to Whitewood Creek?”
“You’d have me. You’d have my mom. You’d have your friends—”
“No, Rhett. I wouldn’t.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “You made that abundantly clear when I left and broke up with me.” My voice wavers as tears sting my eyes. “Goodbye.”
The next morning, I wake up to ten missed calls from Rhett and blood on my sheets. A chemical pregnancy, they call it—a very early miscarriage that happens within the first five weeks of pregnancy.
Clinically, I understand how common it is. Emotionally? It guts me more than I could have ever imagined because it means that Rhett was the father and it wasn’t just about the loss of the pregnancy. I know that I was losing Rhett too.
He called me three more times that day. I didn’t pick up. And later that night when I get home from my shift at the hospital, I send a single text to let him know he’s off the hook.
Jael: I miscarried this morning. You don’t have to text me anymore. Goodbye, Rhett.
???
I blink back to the present. Molly and Regan are both watching me quietly, waiting for me to finish the story about what happened in the basement during game night.
“It was good,” I finally say, my voice a little too even, “until it wasn’t. I said something that brought back all these memories Rhett and I had buried. It killed the mood for him, and he pushed me away, so I ran.”
Regan nods slowly. “I see.”
“And then we fought,” I add with a bitter laugh. “I stormed out, and we haven’t talked since.”
The table goes quiet, the weight of my words settling over us. It’s a moment before anyone speaks again.
“Ouch,” Molly says, her brows pinching together. “You and Rhett were always so close. Honestly, your relationship reminded me so much of how Colt and I were growing up though we never admitted we had feelings for each other until recently. He was my protector in a lot of ways, you know? Saw me when I felt like no one else did.”
