Gimme Some Sugar by Kelsey Browning & Kelsey Browning

Author:Kelsey Browning & Kelsey Browning [Naigle, Nancy & Browning, Kelsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossroads Publishing House

Chapter 13

Red stood in front of Jenny, speechless. Seconds ticked off, turning into minutes, as he avoided her stare and fiddled with the change in his pockets. It was the first time she’d ever seen him look anything less than a self-assured pro athlete.

He reached for her hand. “Jenny, you have to understand—”

She jerked away. “I don’t have to understand anything. For some reason, you and my mom thought it was best for me not to know my father. And you’ve been right here for months. It’s not like you didn’t have a chance to tell me.” She stepped away from him, needing more space to keep herself from lashing out at him physically. “My whole life has been one big lie.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little dramatic?” His voice softened.

“Dramatic? You don’t get to say that.” Even if she hadn’t been pregnant and overwhelmed, she had every right to be upset. “You cheated me out of a family.”

“Your mom was—”

She shushed him. Nothing he could say right now would turn down the static in her head or disperse the red haze in her brain. “I need you to do one thing for me.”

“Anything,” he said without a second of hesitation. Probably because of the guilt he felt.

“I need you to take Grayson home for me. There’s a pan of baked spaghetti in the fridge. You can pop that in the oven and both have dinner.”

“Are we okay? What are you planning to do?”

She didn’t know what the chain of events would be, and she really didn’t know if they’d ever be okay, but she knew exactly how the evening would end. With one helluva come-to-Jesus meeting between her and her mother.

Four hours later, she was waiting in a rocking chair, the motion making her queasy. The porch was littered with an empty bag of peanut M&Ms, a few Slim Jim wrappers—her mom was sure to fume over that—and an empty half-gallon of butter pecan ice cream. She’d wanted a glass of nerve-calming wine, but that wasn’t an option right now, so she’d had to settle for fat and sugar to dull the pain.

And now she was paying for it all. She covered her stomach with her hands as if she could calm it through force of will.

Like she’d had any control over that part of her body since she and Teague had—

An arc of light cut across the front of Summer Haven, slicing through the summer twilight, and her gut cramped. They were home. “Please, everyone,” she said to her midsection, “just stay in your seats until this plane has safely landed, okay? I really need to get through this conversation without yakking on my mom’s boots.”

The baby and the ice cream seemed to listen to her, both settling back into their proper places.

When her mom, Maggie, and Lil all climbed out of the truck, they were smiling but moving slowly as if they’d had a very full day. Lil glanced up and must’ve caught sight of Jenny rocking on the porch.

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