Chapter 70

"What? ... How? ... Who?" On her face, I could see a range of emotions. Anger. Disbelief. Betrayal. Hurt.

"Travis," I whispered. "He's the only one it could be."

Her lip curled up and I saw her bite back a stinging reply. Her fingers clenched around the paper. Her knuckles turned white.

"When?" I expected her to explode and call me every name in the book. It was no less than I deserved.

"Right before my birthday," I had done the math and there was only one occasion when I could have gotten knocked up. "We used a condom, but I guess it broke or something."

She got up and started pacing around my living room. I could see the indecision in her eyes as the gears turned in her head.

"Have you told him?" McKayla asked. Her voice was curt, but I expected that.

I shook my head.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," I said quietly. All of this was information overload for me, too. "I missed my period last month. But that's not unusual. When I missed this month, I went out and got one of those home pregnancy tests. It came up positive so I went to the doctor's today. It's too late for the morning after pill. I can either have the baby or get an abortion."

"You can't have an abortion," McKayla said suddenly. Not that it was her decision to make, but I knew she that's not something she would not even put into the mix.

"What are you going to do?" I dared to ask, the tears coming to my eyes. I expected her to be pissed off and storm out. That's why I gathered up her things. Our relationship had been going so well, but I couldn't ask her to stay with me. Not like this.

She didn't reply immediately. She chewed on her lip nervously. All I could do was hope for the best.

"So this didn't happen after our first date?"

"No, sweetheart." That was my one hope to keep our relationship alive. "I swear to you ... I haven't even spoken to him since you and I went out that first time."

It seemed like an eternity before she moved. McKayla surprised me by turning and heading back into my bedroom. I started to get up off the couch.

"Your stuff is all—" I called, but she was ignoring me.

I heard her throwing some things around. Not angrily, but like she was looking for something. A few minutes later, she came back out. Some of my clothes were stuffed into a duffel bag over her shoulder along with a kit of makeup and some other things.

She dropped the bag on the floor next to the boxes I had packed up.

Then she reached for me. I burst into tears as her embrace enveloped me. All the day's emotions came pouring out. Confusion. Helplessness. Bewilderment.

I thought my life had been going pretty well lately. I had a good job, a steady relationship and new friends in a strange town. But now ... now things were different. I was going to be a mommy. And I wasn't sure how my girlfriend was going to take the news. It seems I need not have worried.

McKayla's arms steadied me as I sobbed. "I'm sorry, baby ... I'm so sorry ... I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know," she whispered over and over in my ear. "It's okay ... Everything is going to be alright."

Eventually, the crying fit was over. I still struggled for breath, but now that it was done, I began to think a little more clearly. "I can't ask you to..."

"To what, Paige?" she said. "Stay? You can't raise a child on your own right now, honey. You're living month to month as it is ... and then to take six weeks off? You don't have enough vacation time to cover that. And then you'll have daycare and another mouth to feed."

I knew all this already. I didn't need to be lectured by her. I was not in a good position, financially or otherwise, to be a single mother. I could make it work. Somehow.

Couldn't I?