Heat sweeps up my neck when Cohen walks me out of his office and through the bar. Archer raises a brow, taking in my wrinkled dress and the orgasmed-out expression on my face. When we reach my car, Cohen kisses me and asks me to come over later.
“That sounds nice.”
I have some business to attend to real quick.
“See you later, baby mama.”
“I’m so kicking your ass.”
He winks and gives me one final kiss on my forehead.
When I arrive at my house, all the sweetness I had with Cohen evaporates, and my nails are drawn. I stomp up the porch steps, my hands itching to snatch Heather’s shit and throw them out the window.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I screech before coming to a stop.
My parents, along with Heather, are sitting on the couch in my living room.
Heather’s face is red with fake tears, my dad seems confused, and my mom looks hurt.
I zip my finger toward Heather. “I want her out of my house now. I’ve been nice long enough. Put her in your house, get her an apartment—I don’t care what you do, but if you don’t make her leave, I’ll do it myself.”
“She wants me out, so she can hang out here, pregnant with Cohen’s baby,” Heather screeches.
“I want you out because you went all Oscar the Grouch and plucked pregnancy tests out of my trash can, bagged them up like you worked at a grocery store, and thought, Gee, I think it’ll be a good idea to take these to Cohen at his job. You even insinuated that another man might be the father, like I sleep around!”
“Heather,” my mother gasps, shooting her a concerned look, “did you do that?”
Heather stumbles for words. “She’s having sex with Cohen, Mom! I think that gives me every right to be furious.”
“Enough,” my father yells.
Thank God.
“Heather, pack your shit,” he demands.
Her eyes widen. “Wh-what?”
“Listen to your father,” my mother says with an anger in her voice I’ve never heard before.
“Now,” my father pushes, and she scrambles to her feet.
My mother jumps up to help her with her crutches, but Heather swats her away.
She points at me. “I can’t believe you’re taking her side. The woman who’s having sex with the father of her sister’s child. Your daughter is having his baby, and I’m the bad person?”
No one says a word, and when she realizes she’s not getting the reaction she wants, she storms down the hallway to my guest bedroom, not even bothering with the crutches.
Heather is bitching as she throws her belongings into her suitcase.
I play with my hands in front of me to calm myself and dodge eye contact with my parents.
“Jamie,” my mom says, causing me to look at her. “Is that true?” Her eyes drop to my stomach. “Are you pregnant?”
I nod. “Yes.”
Not only did I take a million of the at-home pregnancy tests, but I also took a blood test at work to confirm.
Positive.
“That’s your sister’s …” She stops as if she can’t finish the sentence.
I nod. “He is.”
My father scrubs a hand over his face. “Jamie, this puts all of us in a stressful situation.”
I fall on the chair across from them. “You guys know my heart.” I place my hand to my chest. “You know I don’t make stupid decisions. I love him.”
My father rises from the couch. “It’s not fair for us to have this conversation while your sister is in the other room, throwing a tantrum. We’ll take her home and discuss this later.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
He kisses the top of my head, and tears are in my mother’s eyes as she hugs me.
I go to my bedroom to avoid any Heather drama and wait until she leaves before coming out.
My parents return an hour later, Heather-free, and we sit down in the living room.
“How did this happen?” my mother asks.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time with Cohen and Noah, and I don’t know … as we did, I developed feelings for Cohen. Strong feelings.” A tear runs down my cheek. “This is complicated and puts you in a weird situation, and I get that. All I’m asking is for you to trust me, to believe in me, and to know that I’ve gone back and forth with Cohen. I’ve broken his heart, broken my own heart, by saying no to a relationship with him, but it’s not fair to us.”
“You’re in love with him?” my father asks.
“I am.”
He slaps his hands on his legs. “That’s all that matters to me.”
My mouth falls open. “What?”
“You were right about making responsible decisions. If this relationship wasn’t that serious, if it wasn’t love, then you wouldn’t risk it.”
I glance at my mother, tears also on her face.
“You’re having a baby, honey,” she says with excitement. “It’s a shock, yes, and it’ll create some issues, but nothing will ever cause us to turn our backs on you. We love you.”
I’m full-on crying.
My fears dissolve.
They don’t hate me.
They aren’t disappointed in me.
They still love me.
“A big brother?” Noah shouts. “I’m going to be a big brother?”
Cohen nods, sitting next to me on the couch, and grabs my hand in his. “You’re going to be a big brother, buddy.”
Nothing will ever erase the memory of the beaming smile on his face.
He grabs my arm and jumps up and down. “I have a mom, and now, I’m going to be a big brother! This is so cool!”
Cohen and I shared countless talks on how to explain our relationship to Noah. Coming to a decision wasn’t easy, and we hoped we were making the right one. We didn’t ask for anyone’s opinion, and in the end, we decided we wouldn’t tell Noah I was his real mother’s sister. Maybe, in the future, that will change, but he’s too young to understand it now.
The risk of running into Heather is low. She started another online relationship, this one with Pat’s cousin, and moved back to Vegas. My parents said when she left, she didn’t utter a word of apology, a word about mending things with Noah and Cohen, and definitely nothing about me—not surprising. What she did ask for was money.
Cohen mentioned that she told him Joey shot her because she thought she was pregnant, but she took a test in the hospital, and it was negative.
A month ago, Cohen and I sat Noah down and told him that we were dating.
He didn’t say, Yucky yuck, like he had when Seth told him he used to be my boyfriend.
It was the opposite reaction. He was as excited as he is now, bouncing on his tiptoes and then hugging me. The next day, he asked if I could become his new mom. I said I’d be there for him as much as any mom would.
We waited until now to break the big brother news. Other than Archer—given he had seen the pregnancy tests, which is mortifying—and my parents, we haven’t broken the news to anyone else. As a doctor, I know things can happen early on in pregnancy, and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I also don’t want to deal with questions if anything does happen.
“Do I get to pick the name?” he asks. “I bet I can come up with the best name ever.”
Cohen laughs. “We’ll have to see about that.”
My hand breaks away from Cohen’s hold when Noah plops down in the small space separating us and relaxes his head against my shoulder.
“This is the best day ever,” he chirps.
I smooth my hand over his hair before kissing the top of his head.
Cohen asks Noah not to tell anyone yet and adds a bribe of three cupcakes if he doesn’t.
Well, four cupcakes after negotiation.