Page 41 of The Homecoming

“Kinda like what you did for Dan.” She moved to the bench and sat down.

Weasel stared at her a beat before shaking his head. “Not at all.” He sat next to her. “He didn’t ask me to find you and tell him where you were. He asked me to find you and make sure you got home safely. He never asked me where I found you or what we talked about.” He stretched his lanky limbs and yawned. “There’s a difference.”

“Kyle wants to know where she is,” she said absently.

“Kyle can kiss my ass.”

“No love lost there,” she said.

He smiled and nudged her arm with his elbow. “You’d tell me if things were going to hell with your brother, right?”

“Things aren’t going anywhere with him.”

“That’s not really an answer.” He studied her intently.

“What?” she asked.

He shook his head. “You’ve got my detective senses tingling, Ms. Mac. And I don’t know why.”

She shrugged. “Got me.”

“You’re hiding something from me,” he replied.

“Alright, Sherlock, it’s all fine,” she said. Autumn went back inside leaving Weasel on the porch.

22.

Shirley McMillan sat at the kitchen table in her robe with a cup of coffee when Autumn walked in. The morning sun streamed through the green cotton gingham curtain that hung from the window, bathing the room in a cheerful glow that deceived the chill in the air. She smiled at Autumn, and Autumn’s stomach lurched. She’d tossed and turned for hours, knowing what she had to do. But that didn’t make it easy.

“You came in late,” Shirley said.

“Yeah.” Autumn sat across from her. “Rebecca and Kyle broke up, so we stayed late at the farm cheering her up. We had pizza and played Parcheesi.”

“Well, that sounds like a lovely time.” She smiled, sipping her coffee. “I thought we’d all go as a family and pick out a Christmas tree today.”

Autumn nodded, but soldiered on. “I need to tell you something, and it’s not easy. So, I’m just gonna come out with it.” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”

Shirley sat her mug on the table. “Are you sure?”

Autumn nodded. “I’m in my fourth month.”

She took a long drink from her coffee mug. “It’s Daniel’s?”

Autumn huffed and nodded.

“I told you that you shouldn’t be carrying on like that with him. I also told you to marry him.”

Autumn shook her head. “We weren’t together long enough,” she said. “And besides, I’m fine.”

“Fine,” she echoed. “You’re not fine. You’re unmarried and pregnant. What are people going to think?”

“You’re pregnant?” Jason stood in the doorway, crossing to the refrigerator before staring inside. “By who?”

“Daniel,” Shirley said.

Jason froze. “Madera?” He slammed the fridge and whirled around. “Madera’s the ‘just a boy’ from before? That’s not ‘just a boy’, Autumn, not even close.” He shook his head with his jaw clenched. “That rat bastard, I’m gonna beat his ass.”

Not to argue with him, but Jason wasn’t equipped to beat anyone at the moment, much less Dan. But it wasn’t the time to bring that up. “Why on earth would you do that?” she asked.

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