Page 49 of Broken Daddy

I practically run through the door and toss my purse to the side.

Nate’s hand catches my arm.

“Gen! Stop. We need to talk about this.”

His touch isn’t rough or too tight, just insistent. I pull away, but stay in the foyer, afraid to meet his eyes.

“There’s not much to talk about. Not until I take these tests.”

Silence forms between us. After a few beats, Nate nods.

“Okay. Yeah. You’re right; go do that and I’ll be right here.”

Pregnancy tests clutched in my hand, I start up the stairs. Tears are pressing at the backs of my eyes. The last thing I want right now is to cry.

“Gen.”

At the landing, I turn, looking down at him. He looks tired, but steady. It makes my erratic heartbeat slow.

“It’s okay. However it turns out. It’s okay.”

Chapter20

Nathan

Genevieve is crying.

My first instinct is to call her brother and ask him to come over.

But I don’t think either of us want to explain this situation.

I’mpart of why she’s crying. A large part.

My fears the other day, that she might be seeing someone in the city, were completely unfounded. When I tried to gently ask if there were other men in the picture, she shouted—then started crying.

Needless to say, Liz is going to have Eva for longer than I planned.

“What can I do?”

It’s the only thing I can think to ask. Gen lifts her face slightly, enough that I can see the tear tracks glimmer in the low light of the kitchen. She’s made this her place of refuge, and she’s tucked up against the counter as I lean against the island opposite her.

“Gen. How can I help?”

She coughs out a laugh, finally meeting my eyes. “I don’t think there’s much you can do in this situation, Nathan. I’m already beyond help.”

I frown as she wipes her tears and puts on a brave face, continuing, “I’m not asking you for anything. But—I’m going to keep it.”

All the air goes out of me.

Not for the reason she suspects, though. I can tell as her face falls.

“Obviously, I wasn’t planning on having a child, or children, maybe at all, but now that we—I—am in this situation, I don’t think I’d be able to bring myself to—”

Her breath catches, a hand going to her still flat belly.

Earlier, before she took the tests (all four of them—this girl is thorough), she changed back into sweatpants. Now it all makes sense, why she’s been wearing comfortable clothes and nodding off more and more.

“I don’t want you to have an abortion.”

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