It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 16

My mom was pregnant.

Pregnant.

My eyes instantly shot to her stomach—which still seemed as flat as usual.  I tilted my head to the side, trying to visualize a baby growing inside.  I just—I couldn’t do it.  “You’re kidding, right?” I asked disbelievingly, my eyes still glued to her stomach.

“No,” my mom said, grinning.

“OMG, Mom that’s great!” Garrett hollered, hopping up and rushing to my mom, throwing his arms around her.  He hugged her so hard that I thought she was going to crumble into pieces.  “OMG, OMG, OMG!”

I laughed as my mom tried to push him away, but failed.  In the end she patted his back awkwardly, sending a hopeless expression between my dad and me.  “Honey, you’re choking me,” she finally sputtered out.

Garrett instantly let go, stepping back and flopping back into his spot beside me.  I inched away, not wanting to be touched.  “When did you find out?”

“About two weeks ago.”

Huh.  So for two weeks she’d known there was something growing inside of her, and she decided not to let me in on the secret.  Was it just me or was that incredibly sneaky?  Her excuse was probably going to be something along the lines of, “Oh, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you!” or “I’m sorry, I just—I didn’t know how.”

Yeah, because people didn’t use those sorry old lines all the time.

“Why didn’t you tell us when you first found out?” I demanded, crossing my legs and folding my hands in mock-seriousness.  “I mean, that’s two weeks of secrecy you can never take back.”  I sighed dramatically, showing her that I was kidding.  “How will I ever be able to trust you again?”

“I wanted to tell you when the whole family was together!” My mom smiled brightly.

My dad finally decided to join the conversation, sitting up in his spot on the recliner.  “I wanted to tell you guys right when we found out, but whatever.”

My mom shot him a pointed look.

“So, how are you going to fit the baby in here?” Garrett asked.  “Is it going to have the guest room?”

“Oh, that room is a little too small for my liking.”

My eyes narrowed.  There was something in my mom’s tone and the way that her gaze flicked to me as she spoke that I did not like.

My mom smiled, clapping her hands together.  “We’re going to have to move Brianne into the guest room.”

Oh hell to the freaking no!  “Um, excuse me?” I stood up, my hands clenching into fists at my sides.  My jaw worked angrily as I glared as hard as I could at my mom.  Sadly, she didn’t seem really at all fazed by my hostility.  “That’s been my room for seventeen years!  You can’t move me now.”

My mom sighed, her excitement deflating as her gaze leveled with mine.  “I’m sorry, but the guest room—”

“Should be fine for an infant,” I snapped venomously, cutting my mom off before she could finish her sentence.  “I’m seventeen!  I need more space than a baby.”

Garrett glanced between me and my mom.  “Brianne—”

I held up a hand, silencing him.  “Mom, seriously, think this through.”  I gestured to the stairwell.  “You can’t just spring something like this on me.  I don’t want to switch rooms.”