Page 38 of The Homecoming

Brandon parked the truck behind the farmhouse next to Autumn’s car. “What about Jason?”

“I don’t know how he’s gonna take it,” she said. “He’s not been himself. He barely eats, he doesn’t really sleep. He sits around playing video games in his room. He’s moody, and he refuses to talk about it.”

He shrugged. “Maybe he’s still just acclimating.”

“Hasn’t it been long enough?”

“How long does it take to get over nearly being blown up?” He got out of the truck.

Autumn opened the truck door and Brandon helped her down. “I don’t know how he’s going to react to finding out it’s Daniel’s.”

Brandon stopped. “You didn’t tell him about the two of you?”

“God no,” she replied. “What could I tell him? ‘Hey big brother, I spent the summer screwing the daylights out of your best friend because he turned into an insanely hot man.’”

Brandon laughed. “Well, something slightly less detailed than that, maybe.” They climbed the stairs to the back porch and into the farmhouse. Autumn entered the office to find Rebecca on the couch and she dropped her bag from the doctor’s office, spilling the contents on the floor.

Crap.

Brandon ran into Autumn’s frozen body as Rebecca stared down at the papers strewn about the floor. She turned back to Autumn, tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong?” Autumn asked her.

“You’re pregnant.” They stared at each other for a beat. “Great. Hannah’s getting married, you’re having a baby, and I walked in on Kyle with another woman.”

“Oh my god.” Autumn rushed to Rebecca’s side as Brandon picked up the pile of pamphlets and placed them on the desk before sitting in the desk chair.

“I’m sorry for just showing up,” she said. “But Hannah’s busy with everything, and I didn’t want to bring her down. But now you’re pregnant.”

“Yeah, but I’m not happy about it,” Autumn said.

Rebecca looked at her with pity, and Autumn hated that she’d said anything about it. “Oh honey.”

“Never mind that,” Autumn said, shrugging off the topic. “What happened?”

“Oh… well, yeah,” she said, shrinking back into the sofa. “I talked to Kyle about him being all distant, like you suggested. And he said that he’d just been so busy and stressed with work and we hadn’t been very romantic lately… blah, blah, blah. So I thought I’d be spontaneous and cook him a romantic dinner when he got home from work. When I opened the apartment door, there was his bare ass as he was screwing some chick on the kitchen table. Just legs, tits, and ass everywhere.”

Brandon left the room without a word.

“Wow,” Autumn said. “What did he have to say for himself?”

Rebecca shrugged. “I ran out of there and it’s not like he could chase me. Guess I got to my car before he found his pants.”

“So you didn’t yell at him,” Brandon said, returning with a half-full bottle of wine. He pulled the cork out and handed the bottle to Rebecca, who took a large gulp.

“No,” she replied. “I wanted out of there as fast as I could. I’m done, and I don’t want to see him or talk to him right now.” She sat the bottle down on the floor and leaned back. “So why aren’t you happy?” She patted Autumn’s leg.

Autumn fell back against the corner of the sofa, pulling her legs up and facing Rebecca. “’Cause it’s the last thing I needed right now.”

“Is it Dan’s?” she asked.

“Of course it is.”

“Then I don’t see the problem. That man worships the ground you walk on.”

“He’s never seemed like the fatherly type,” she replied. “So I have no idea if he even wants a kid. And once again, he’s not here, and he hasn’t called me once.”

Rebecca sighed. “I’m sure there’s a very good explanation for that.”

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