Page 36 of The Boyfriend Material Novellas

I. Can’t. Breathe.

My stomach is upside down.

My world is inside out.

Amy guides me from my bathroom to the couch in my apartment, draping an arm around me.

“How did this happen?” I ask, my voice stretched thin.

“Well, when a man loves a woman—”

“I know how it happened! But how the hell did it happen?”

She shrugs, rubbing my shoulder. “Protection doesn’t always work perfectly. I guess you’re in the one percent of something.” I drop my head into my hands, breathing hard. She runs her hand over my back. “It’s going to be okay.”

I snap my head up. “How?” I cry out. “How is it going to be okay? The father of my child is leaving. I’m going to be a thirty-year-old single mom.”

She flashes me a cheery smile. “You’re going to be anawesomethirty-year-old single mom. And your baby is going to have an amazing aunt, because I am going to be here for you. So will Josh and Mom and Dad, and maybe even Tabitha when she deigns to return from Paris. But that’s beside the point. You’re going to be all right. That’s what matters.”

I gulp, emotion clogging my throat, tears filling my eyes. “I love babies. I love kids. I want them. I just didn’t expect to have one accidentally. When I’m not even married. Or engaged. Or living with the father. I’m not evenwithhim,” I say, my voice breaking.

Amy waggles her head in amaybe, maybe notway, saying softly, “Well, you kind of are.”

“But I’m not.We’renot.”

“You’ve spent the last month hunkered down in your apartment watching Netflix Christmas specials and banging to ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.’”

I laugh at her summary of my relationship with Vaughn. “I wouldn’t say we did much watching of Christmas specials.”

She stares pointedly at my belly. “That much is apparent. And so is my point—you two pretty much are together.”

The pang in my heart returns, the ache that happens every time I think about him leaving. But I try to focus on the practical. “We agreed it would end when he moves. That was always the plan. Butthis? This, I did not plan.”

A laugh bubbles from Amy’s chest. “That’s the part that’s hard for you, isn’t it? Since you hate surprises so much.”

“They’re the worst. But what if it was a mistake? Should I take another test?” I ask, voice wobbling.

“Sure. If you think the five you already took were wrong.”

I wince, squeezing my eyes shut. “Ames . . .”

“Quinn,” she says, soft but firm. “You’re going to be an amazing mom.”

I let her words sink in, let the reality wash over me.I’m going to be a mother. I’m going to have a baby.

It’s all so thoroughly unexpected, and I have no clue what to do with surprises.

But I know this: I have to be at the party in thirty minutes.

I take a deep breath, wipe away my tears, and put on my best party-planner face.

Because in thirty minutes, I’m going to see the man who’s walking out of my life while I’m carrying a piece of him inside me.

And I’m going to have to deliver one hell of a surprise.

16

QUINN

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