Page 12 of The Devil Gets His Due

And he doesn’twantkids. He said so himself. Therefore, it’s kind of generous of me to keep it a secret, from one vantage point.

I press my fingers to my temples. “I just have to figure some stuff out, okay?”

Like whether there’s even a chance I can get away with this.

Can I? He’s Ben’s brother, but he lives on the East Coast. I haven’t heard his name once since the party, so isn’t it entirely possible he’ll never hear mine again either?

We both leave the store empty-handed. Gemma hugs me goodbye, and I stop on the way home for donuts and then an açai bowl full of gross healthy stuff to make up for them. Sometime over the past week, food stopped making me sick, and I have not wasted any time getting reacquainted with the things I love: pizza and cookies and tacos, eating like someone who’s just emerged from a famine.

I eat one donut after another and only realize when I’m going to bed that I forgot to unpack the açai bowl, which makes sense since I never wanted it in the first place.

I’m going to be an outstanding mother.

8

GRAHAM

I’ve been waiting for Keeley’s name to be thrown in my face every day for months. This is, after all, the woman who told complete strangers about her plan to seduce a rock star. It stood to reason that she’d be unable to keep our Vegas wedding to herself. And if it’s going to come out, it’ll probably happen here, during my first family dinner since the holidays.

God, theirony. Ben, Simon, and Colin…they all went through a wild period, but now Ben is happily married, Colin’s about to be, and Simon—well, Simon is still single, but he’s young and making the most of it. They’d have a field day if they discovered that the only careful, responsible member of the family married a stranger he’d known for twenty-four hours.

My mother’s focus tonight, fortunately, seems to be entirely on Colin and the wedding he and his fiancée have yet to plan. But just when I think I might escape unscathed, she turns and asks me how things are with Anna.

If Keeley told Gemma, who’d undoubtedly tell Ben, this is the perfect chance for him to say,“Haven’t you heard? He’s got a wife.”But no one says a word.

“It’s still over, Mom,” I reply. “Just like it was the last time you asked.” Her eyes dip, but I ignore her sadness. I have to. She wants too many things for me, and I wish she’d just stop wanting them.

The conversation reverts to Colin’s unplanned wedding. It’s too good to be true, and weirdly disappointing at the same time. I guess there was still a part of me that hoped something might come from the whole thing with Keeley, though I can’t imagine it would have been anything good.

“How’s your friend Keeley, by the way?” my mom asks Gemma, as if she’s read my mind. “I had such a nice time chatting with her at the party.”

I thought I was ready for this, for the sound of her name, for the news that will follow. I’m not, though. Not even close.

Gemma glances at Ben. “She’s good.” There’s a tiny uncertain note in her voice, and my heart begins to pound.

Ben shrugs. “It’s not a secret anymore, right?”

Gemma frowns. “I guess not.” She turns to my mom. “She’s pregnant.”

I freeze, the drink I was about to casually sip suspended in mid-air.

“Pregnant?” my mother asks. “I didn’t realize she was seeing anyone.”

Gemma’s laugh is small, diplomatic. “I’m not sure that she is. It’s a bit of a mystery.”

“What doesthatmean?” I demand.

Ben’s brow raises, irritated at the tone I’ve taken with his wife, as ifGemmais some fragile flower in need of his protection. “What do you think it means? She’s pregnant and she isn’t telling anyone who the father is.”

It can’t be mine. She’d have told me by now.

Which means she’s having someone else’s child. I know I should simply be relieved…instead it feels as if something is lost.

“I did not seethatcoming,” says Gracie, my stepsister. “When’s she due?”

“October,” Gemma replies.

My mother’s eyebrows raise. “She must have gotten pregnant right around the time of your party.”

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