Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
CHAPTER TWO
MAGGIE
I dropped my phone back onto the table and finished nibbling the saltine cracker in my hand, hoping to ease the turmoil in my stomach. Aunt Coralee was gone to the grocery store, and I was thankful she went early so that I had time alone to deal with my nausea. This was only the third day that I’d been sick. I had hoped before I started feeling bad that I’d get the chance to tell West.
The positive pregnancy test I’d gotten two weeks ago had been a shock. I’d been taking birth control for years, and I had never had one late period. So when my period was a full seven days late, I had taken a test, not truly expecting it to be positive.
Then I had taken three more, different kinds, only to get the exact same answer. We were going to have a baby. This wasn’t planned, but the more it had sunk in, the more excited I had become. We had graduated with our bachelor’s degrees, both found jobs, and were moving from Atlanta to Savannah next month to begin our new life there.
We often spoke about our future, and I wasn’t insecure about West’s feelings for me. However, every time the diamond ring on Riley’s hand flashed in the light, I felt a pang of envy. I hated that too. I shouldn’t feel anything but happiness for her and Brady. I loved them both. I wanted that for them.
I studied my bare ring finger and felt tears sting my eyes. I was being silly, and I knew it. West didn’t have to put a ring on my finger. Not now, at least. Maybe one day. When he was ready.
I dropped a hand to my stomach and thought of the life inside me. As much as I wanted this baby, I did not want it to be the reason he asked me to marry him. I wanted that to be something he did because he was ready for me to have his last name. We talked about our future all the time, and I knew he planned on ours being together. Deep down, I had always thought once we graduated college he’d propose.
When he didn’t, I was fine with it and didn’t think about it too much. Until now. Riley and Brady were planning a wedding, and I was sneaking around eating saltine crackers and sipping Sprite. My hormones were doing crazy things right now. That had to be why I was on the verge of tears and insecure all of a sudden.
I stood up from the table and cleared away the evidence of my meager meal, then stood there a moment as another wave of nausea went through me. It was worse today than it had been yesterday. I wasn’t sure I could hide this much longer. Not if it got worse every day. I hadn’t thrown up yet, but this morning had been the first time I thought I was going to. I’d turned on the water in the bathroom and stared at myself for several minutes, waiting for it to happen, hoping the running water would cover up the sound of my heaving.
It never came, and I eventually went back to my room and lay down. The doorbell rang, and I took a deep breath, hoping the crackers were going to stay down, before I walked to the living room to answer the door. I was home alone for now, with Aunt Coralee grocery shopping and West being gone. I had no idea where he was because he wasn’t answering his cell phone. I’d worry about that if I didn’t hear from him in another hour or so.
I opened the door, not checking to see who it was. Lawton was small and safe. Checking to see who was on the other side of the door was never something anyone thought to do here. It was something I missed about living here. I may not have grown up here, but Lawton was my home. This house was the first home I had felt safe in. My father had made it impossible to feel safe.
A started to say hello, but no words came when the guy whose back had been all I could see since he was looking out toward the street turned to face me. It took me a moment. The face was familiar, yet I wasn’t sure why. I studied him a moment, unsure if I should know him. Was he someone that Brady knew?
“Maggie.” He said my name, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. The way his eyes twinkled when he did so was something I did recognize. My mouth fell open in surprise as I stared back at the boy from my childhood. The kid next door that I couldn’t remember ever meeting because I had just always known him. He was in every memory I had as a kid and in most all of them until the day I left that house and never returned.