As a single mom in a small town, there's only one thing I want. Another baby. When all the roads to getting what I want lead to dead ends, I turn to one of my best friends for help.
In my mind, Trent Castillo is the perfect baby daddy. He has good g...
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"Oh, Jesus," Trent breathes out the word, and the shock on his face is clear. "You're pregnant?"
"I took a test when I was in New York City. I haven't been to the doctor to confirm, but Maggie said it's rare to get a false positive."
"Maggie knows?"
"Trent, everyone is going to know."
He stares at me for a beat, and I can see the wheels turning, as though he's picking his words carefully. "Congratulations."
"Trent." I close my eyes at the ridiculousness of that word. "I know the timing—"
"Obviously, you can't tell anyone now that I'm the father."
"And you think people won't be able to put two and two together? You were living in my house. I went to the station and told the police why the footage was deleted. People talk."
He runs his hands along his face. "I'll leave Little Falls and go back to Utica."
"You've got to be kidding me," I say, anxiety sloshing around in my stomach. "That's your solution."
"Have you seen the shop?" He gestures around him. "There's no one here, Em. What am I clinging onto?"
"Clinging on?" I scoff. "You're not clinging onto anything. You're letting it all slip through your fingers like you don't care about any of it." I shut my mouth before the rest of what I'm thinking and feeling spills out.
"I've learned when to cut my losses," he says. "There's a difference."
"There is, and it's not the one you've created. Cutting your losses in when going after something is doing more harm than good. When you were a kid, you went after something with your whole chest, and it blew up in your face. You chose wrong. But this situation and that situation couldn't be further apart."
"I hurt people then," he says, "and I'm hurting people now. I can't keep going after something that hurts people."
"You think leaving doesn't hurt? That leaving isn't harmful? What about the people who've come to depend on this shop in Little Falls? The people who took a chance on you and your ability to fix things that were broken?" My voice catches, and I try to steady myself. I won't cry my way through this conversation. "What about Amir?" My voice is so thick with unshed tears that I almost don't recognize it. "What about me?"
"People in this town aren't going to be nice about me being questioned, about the shop being under suspicion. Tell me people haven't already said shitty things to you?"
"You know what made those shitty things people were saying worse?" I ask, stepping toward him. "Knowing that I didn't have you standing behind me. You were nowhere. I couldn't go home and tell you about the stupid thing someone said to me, or the terrible way someone made me feel. I was alone. I was alone when I had to explain to Amir why kids are camp were asking him about you going to jail."
