Page 53 of Thick & Thin

“What are you doing here?” he snapped. “You shouldn’t be in here.”

What was going on?

I understood he had been through a lot, but none of this was making any sense.

I stood and started toward him but stopped when he held out a hand.

“Don’t come near me,” he spat.

“Josh, I want to be there for you. Let me back in.”

He shook his head, his hand going to the doorknob to leave.

“Wait,” I called out, stopping him. “I need to tell you something. It’s probably terrible timing, but you should know that I’m …”

“I said get out!” he screamed, interrupting me just as I was about to tell him I was pregnant. “I don’t care about you. Don’t you get it? I never want to see you again, so just get the fuck out of my room!”

“But Josh, I need to tell …”

Just then, his dad came bursting through the door, having heard Josh’s screaming.

“What the hell, Jenny? We told you it wasn’t a good time.”

“I understand, sir, but …”

“No buts. Come with me,” he said, reaching out and pulling me by the arm.

I couldn’t leave yet.

Josh needed to know I was pregnant.

I needed his opinion on what we should do about it.

“Wait, Josh, this is about us!” I called out, pushing my hand against the doorframe to stop Mr. Black from pulling me out of the room.

Josh reached out; his eyes angry with me as he roughly pulled my fingers from his doorframe. “There is no us. There will never be an us. Let it go.”

And then his dad pulled me out of the doorway, and Josh slammed the door in my face.

The fight left my body, and my brain went numb. I didn’t fight as Mr. Black showed me to the front door.

“Just give him time,” he said as he pulled the front door open for me to leave.

I stepped onto the porch in shock and nodded. I couldn’t use my words. Nothing would come out. I stood there staring back at Mr. Black as he slowly closed the front door in my face. Once the door was closed, I crumpled. Tears soaked my face as I walked across the front yard and back toward Dad’s truck.

I had never felt this kind of pain before. Heartbreak was a bitch.

When I got back to the house, the lights were out, and Dad was in his room. I locked up and went to my room. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Tears soaked my pillow until exhaustion set in, and I finally fell asleep.

I woke the next morning to find Devin sitting at the foot of the bed. His head was in his hands, and his breathing was accelerated. I knew my brother. He had spent the night stewing, and the anger had reached the boiling point.

“Dev?” I sat up on my elbows and blinked the sleep out of my eyes.

“Who is he? I’ll kill the motherfucker with my bare hands.”

“Dev. Don’t be like this.”

“I don’t want to hear another word, Jennifer.” I gasped at his use of my full name. He never called me by my full name. No one did. He was pissed. Livid. “The next word that comes out of your mouth better be his name. That’s all.”

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