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Chapter Fifty One

I woke up the next morning to the sounds and smells of breakfast being cooked. As I sat up, I paused for a moment, judging my queasy factor. I actually felt pretty good.

Thoughts of last night came flooding back into my brain. I looked to my right.

No Nick.

I glanced over at my window.

It was open.

I slid out of bed. Tying a robe securely around my waist, I padded down the hallway to the kitchen.

Like every morning, my mom was in the kitchen. Unlike every morning, this particular day she wasn’t alone. Nick and my mom worked in quiet camaraderie, the smell of scrambled eggs drifted through the air.

“Good morning?” I said in confusion. I rubbed my eyes; Nick was still there.

My mom turned, smiling softly.

“Good morning, sweetie,” she said. Nick sent a smile my way; I raised an eyebrow.

“Nick was up and at it early this morning; he was knocking at the door soon after I got up,” my mom explained.

“What uncanny timing,” I said, smiling. I had a feeling, especially considering he was wearing the clothes from the night before, that he had fallen asleep with me. Upon waking up, he must have jumped back out the window and walked around like he was just coming for a morning visit.

Very sneaky, Carter.

“Hungry?” Nick asked. He was cutting up cantaloupe into a bowl.

“A little bit,” I said. I pinched myself just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I winced.

Definitely not a dream.

I sank down into a chair as mom and Nick brought bowls and plates to the table. I inhaled deeply; so far my stomach felt pretty good. I scooped some scrambled eggs onto my breakfast plate.

Nick sank down beside me, folding a napkin across his lap. My mom took the seat on my other side.

We spent several quiet moments passing plates and readying silverware. As I was ready to take a bite, Nick smiled over at my mom.

“Actually, I came here this morning for a particular reason,” he said sweetly.

“Besides more cinnamon rolls?” my mom teased. Nick laughed.

“Yes, actually I might even say that this reason is better than cinnamon rolls.”

I lowered my fork in surprise; I didn’t like his tone.

Nick smiled at me; I didn’t have such a good feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t tell what he was up to exactly, but I had a sneaking suspicion.

“Yesterday was a very interesting day,” he continued, tossing a big bite of cinnamon roll into his mouth.

“Oh really?” my mom said, nibbling on some eggs.

I felt my toes grow numb. Nick looked at me and winked.

“Liv and I found out something very surprising.” He took a bite of bacon.

I went pale. I knew I had to tell my mom; but I wasn’t expecting to do it so soon. Especially with my baby daddy drama.

But Nick had other ideas.

“You did?” my mom said, looking at me. “What’s up, Liv?”

I opened my mouth to speak; instead I shoveled in a bite of cinnamon roll. With puffy cheeks, I shrugged innocently. Nick looked at me surprised.

“Don’t you want to tell her?” Nick asked. I gave him a look. It seemed like I had been giving him a lot of looks lately.

I swallowed hard, washing the roll down with some orange juice. My stomach did a weird happy gurgle, then it did a serious lurch.

“I, er, oh,” I said, fraying the edge of my napkin.

“You’re fidgeting. That means you’re keeping something from me,” my mom said, watching my movements.

“No, it’s not that it’s…” I trailed off. The cinnamon roll was coming back up on a tidal wave of orange juice. I jumped out of my seat, taking off down the hall.

As I heaved my guts out over the toilet bowl I heard my mom exclaim loudly.

“Oh my god, she’s pregnant, isn’t she?!”

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By the time I made it back to the kitchen, my mom had Nick in a big bear hug. He grinned sheepishly at me. I folded my arms across my chest and cleared my throat.

The moment my mom saw me she rushed over, grabbing me in a tight grasp. Her smile lit up her face. I hadn’t seen her so happy since…since before my dad died.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she said, standing back and looking at me as if trying to find an external clue to my “condition.”

“I , er we, just found out yesterday,” I said softly.

“It all makes sense,” she continued. “Picking at your breakfasts, being so tired…those are all the first symptoms. Oh my baby’s having a baby!”

She hugged me tightly again. I looked at Nick over my mom’s shoulder. He stood awkwardly beside the table, looking guilty. Averting my eyes, he swooped down, taking another bite of scrambled eggs.

“I bet he or she will be blonde,” my mom gushed, sitting back down. She didn’t touch her food; she seemed too flustered. “I’m blonde, Nick’s blonde. Oh this is perfect.”

Brian’s blonde too, I thought to myself. I sank down quietly.

“Can you eat anything?” Nick asked. I looked at the food.

“I’m almost afraid too,” I admitted. I glanced at the clock.

“Actually, I don’t think I’m going to have time to,” I continued, standing back up. “I have to get ready for work.”

“You can’t go to work today!” my mom said. I looked at her like she was crazy.

“I’m scheduled to the end of the week,” I reminded her. “Then I have a few days off before I fly to Washington.”

“But, you’re not feeling well,” my mom argued. I shook my head.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll eat some crackers on my way,” I told her. She frowned. I stood up and headed back to the bathroom. Halfway there, I paused and turned around. Nick was practically licking his plate.

“Nick, would you like to drive me to work?” I asked sweetly. He nodded; his mouth was full of food.

I walked the remainder of the way down the hall, fuming. I needed to talk to Mr. Carter. Alone.

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“What was that?” I said as I buckled myself into his car a half hour later. He looked over at me surprised.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“I wasn’t ready to tell my mom!” I said, perhaps a little harsher than I intended.

He looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“Just what? How am I supposed to explain what’s going on when I still don’t understand it?” I huffed, puffing my cheeks out.

“Like I said last night; no matter what I’m going to be here for you and the baby. So technically I didn’t lie to her. We are having a baby. We just may or may not have a sperm donor. I plan on being here through all of the highs and lows. I’m thinking this morning is a low.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“You didn’t even ask me!” I said, throwing up my arms. “I was sideswiped. We should have talked about this.”

Nick didn’t have a good response. I pouted all the way to work.

As he pulled up to the front of the building, he turned in his seat, his arm resting over the wheel.

“Livvy, I’m sorry. It’s just that I really like your mom and I got carried away. I’m horrible at keeping a secret,” Nick explained. I sighed softly.

“Nick, it’s fine. I’m just, I don’t know, I’m just cranky this morning. I’m hungry but I’m nauseous and then I also have this whole soap opera drama playing through my mind. If I was one hundred percent positive that it was yours, I probably would have told her last night.”

Nick’s hand touched my face. I turned to look at him; he seemed much calmer than he had been last night. I felt the exact opposite. Before I could think about it too much longer, he leaned over, kissing me softly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out,” he assured me. I couldn’t help but produce a little smile.

I unbuckled my seat belt and climbed out of the car. Before I closed the door, I turned around and looked in at him.

“Thank you,” I said. He grinned.

“I love you, Livvy,” Nick said. I blew him a kiss.

“Love you too, Nick.”

As I made my way into the building and down the stairs, my mind was still on my mom, Nick, and the whole crazy mess. It would take me a couple hours at least to get into library mode. As I punched in, I shoved a cracker in my mouth. I decided that my main goal was to get through the morning without one more person having to find out my little secret.

Simple, right?