Chapter 78

When Carter finally leaves for the airport I crawl into bed. Mom put Evangeline to bed an hour ago before cleaning up dinner and leaving as well.

I’m a coward. I know this already. Not exactly news to me by now.

I should have told him.

But he was here for an entire week and this is the first I heard of it. That hurts more than I’d like to admit.

I glance at the clock. 9pm. My phone rings and I answer without looking.

“Hey Greyson. I’m fine I’m in bed. I managed to keep my dinner down. Sorry I was so weird earlier. I just wasn’t sure what to say right then. It was a lot of information for one day. I know you’re worried but I just want to sleep before I have to see Elana tomorrow and tell her she’s having a grand child. Pretty far from wedlock.” I sigh.

Silence hangs on the other end and I furrow my brow.

“Greyson? Did I put you to sleep?” I ask sitting up and flicking my light on.

The call drops and I sigh.

When my phone rings again I roll my eyes.

“Why did you just hang up on me?” I ask.

“I didn’t call you until now.” Greyson says sounding confused.

My eyes widen and I put him on speaker.

I scroll to my call logs and gasp.

“What’s wrong? Cassie?” Greyson says.

“Oh shit. Greyson. I just told him I was pregnant on the phone right before his flight takes off because I thought it was you!” I screech.

“Are you sure it was him?”

“YES!”

“Okay. Just breathe. It’ll be okay. Just tell him you were sleep talking.”

“Greyson.” I growl.

“It’ll be fine. Okay? Relax. I’m sure he didn’t even hear you. You know how sketchy airplanes are.”

I flip back on the bed.

“You’re right. It’ll be okay.”

“Exactly. I just wanted to see if you were better now.”

“I’m dealing.”

“Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner.”

“You too.” I sigh hanging up.

But I don’t sleep. I watch the clock. When his plane lands my phone stays silent.

I breathe easier and eventually fall asleep.

By dinner the next day I still have yet to hear anything so I assume he didn’t hear me and maybe he pocket dialed me by mistake. It happens all the time right?

When I arrive at the restaurant I realize I’m the only one missing so we order.

“I have an announcement to make.” I say clearing my throat. “Yesterday I fainted at Second Chance and Cara urged me to go get seen. I’m fine.” I say holding my hands up. “However I did find out that I am pregnant. Before you ask yes it’s Carters. And yes he knows.” I breathe.

“Well shit. Congratulations.” Kai says smiling at me.

I smile back and we resume eating. Elana winks at me and I shrug.

After dessert I take Evangeline home and tuck her in.

“You’re having a baby?” She asks sitting up slightly.

“Yes. How do you feel about it?” I ask tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I think it’s cool.” She beams. I can’t help but laugh. I kiss her head and stand up leaving her to her sleep.

I climb into bed and fall fast asleep for the first time in weeks.

I wake up to my phone ringing. I run my eyes and sit up.

Sleep vanished along with it any coherent thoughts as I read my caller ID.

I think about ignoring it but I know he won’t stop until I answer.

“It’s one in the morning.” I say answering.

“Yeah well maybe if you hadn’t waited until I was on an airplane to tell me I was going to be a father I would call at a reasonable time.” He snaps.

“If I looked at my caller ID you still wouldn’t know.” I deadpan.

“Clearly.” He mutters.

“Why are you calling me?”

“I’m kind of pissed Cassandra. That’s why I’m calling you.”

“You have no right to be. We had a deal.”

“I think the baby that’s half of me inside of you breaks that deal.”

“I don’t.”

“You are unbelievable. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be back home in 8 weeks for my vacation and we will be speaking then. That’s a promise.”

I roll my eyes and hang up. Awesome. 8 more weeks until I have to deal with this mess. Yet now that I know its all I’ll be able to think about.

I roll back over and close my eyes praying that sleep will find me again tonight.

At 3 in the morning I finally manage to fall back to sleep for a few more hours.

When I get up again I make breakfast and take Ang to Kai and Mallory’s so that I can run my errands.

When I make it to the center I see Cara training a few new girls.

I put my stuff away and introduce myself. I’ve seen them a few times around here.

I’m glad Cara recruited girls that have worked in the field before because it can be tricky.

I sit down and let one of them start off the meeting.

I believe her name was Kadence.

She’s a few years older than me but she’s nervous. I smile reassuringly at her and she smiles back.

“I’m sure you’re curious to the new faces around here. Since the center is doing so well we decided to hire some extra hands. These ladies have worked in the field longer than I have and I’m sure they will make great assets. Treat them with the same respect as the rest of us.” I say sternly before turning the spotlight to Kadence.

She introduces herself and tells the room about herself but I find myself drifting elsewhere.

Carter.