Page 87 of The Wedding Hoax

We’d barely have any time together before we had to be parents.

Assuming that Simone still wanted to be with me at all.

I groaned as I fell back against my bed, my head suddenly thrumming with pain and regret.

Would Simone even want to try with me? Could she forgive me after all the bullshit I’d said to her? That I’d accused her of?

I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was already too late for us. That no matter what I said or did now, Simone had already made up her mind.

There was a crushing weight on my chest, swirling into the pain that still throbbed in my head.

I’d lost everything.

Simone. Our future together. Our baby.

I’d lost everything because I was too afraid to have it.

And I was going to hate myself for the rest of my life for it.

34

SIMONE

I didn’t miss Harry.

That was what I kept telling myself, even if there was a hole in my heart.

It was so much harder being away from him than I could’ve ever imagined. Even though we hadn’t been together that long, he’d clearly had an effect on every part of me. It didn’t help that I was still living in his house, haunted with memories of him in every corner.

Still, I’d need to find a way to get over him, sooner rather than later.

After he’d accused me of being after his money and left, I realized that we never truly knew each other. There was no way he could’ve really gotten to know me and accuse me of something like that, which made me wonder if everything between us had something shallow at the center.

Maybe we just liked each other in bed. And I’d made the mistake of thinking there was something more to it than there was.

“Is Harry still at work?” Mom asked as she turned the corner into the kitchen in her wheelchair. “It’s been two days since I’ve seen him, hasn’t it?”

“It’s a really busy time,” I replied with a forced smile. “I’m not surprised if he’s been sleeping at the office. When it gets chaotic like that, they need all hands on deck.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Sure about Harry being busy?”

“Are you sure that you want to lie to me about this, Simi?” she answered. “Instead of just telling me the truth?”

“How do you know I’m lying to you?”

“Because I can read you like a book.” My mom sighed. “And because even if Harry was spending his nights at the office, there’d still be some kind of sign of life from him. He seems like the type who’d send you flowers and a singing telegram if he was away from you for more than a few hours.”

“A singing telegram?” I playfully scoffed. “I don’t think either of us would enjoy that very much.”

“I’m serious, Simi. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that you’re going to be a grandmother.”

“Wait. Really?” My mom’s eyes went wide.

“Yes, really.” I smiled down at her, this time the expression genuine. “I would’ve told you sooner, but I didn’t want to distract you from your surgery. I wanted you to focus all your energy on your recovery.”

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