“Are you ok?” my best friend called through the door.
I rose slowly, needing the reassurance of the tile under my feet. I unlocked the door and let Emily in.
“What is it? What does it say?”
I pointed to the countertop.
She covered her mouth. “Oh my God. You’re pregnant. You’re actually pregnant.”
I nodded in disbelief. It hadn’t registered yet. I held up the two lines and looked at them again. This couldn’t be happening.
I felt her arm circle me. “Are you ok?”
“I think so.” I turned toward her. “What’s Blake going to say?”
She squeezed me tightly. “He’s going to say that whatever you need is what he’s going to do. He loves you. He totally loves you.”
I bit my lip. “But a baby?” I could feel my stomach roll, but I didn’t know if it was from the nerves or from the morning sickness that had started plaguing me.
“He can handle anything.”
I nodded in agreement. It was true. We might be young, but I knew there wasn’t another guy in the world like him.
There were a lot of old families on Gull island. Families who had passed down family businesses from generation to generation. Sometimes it was fishing. Sometimes it was a local store, but for the Wyatts it was boat building. Blake had something in his family I didn’t have—roots.
Even though Aunt Lindy had told me the history of the house and about all of the years her father and uncles had served in the Coast Guard, I still didn’t know where I fit into that.
I picked up the stick and stuffed it in the paper bag from the store. Emily had driven with me off the island to buy the test. The last thing I needed was some nosey neighbor finding out I thought I was pregnant. Aunt Lindy and Blake’s dad would have heard about it before I even had the test results if we hadn’t moved the shopping trip off the island.
Emily had been brave enough to hand the cashier a wad of bills when I thought I’d pass out from the embarrassment.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “Are you ok? You’re looking a little pale.”
“I’m going to tell him.”
“Now?” Her eyes widened and her brunette curls bounced.
“Yes. Now. If I don’t, I might talk myself out of it. And this isn’t one of those times I can talk myself out of it, right?”
She nodded with a soft smile. “Of course you have to tell him. Go. Talk to him.”
Emily had moved at the beginning of our senior year from Charlo
tte. From the start, we’d had that instant girl thing where we could finish each other’s sentences. Sometimes I swore we could even read each other’s thoughts. I don’t know how I’d manage to exist before she showed up.
“Ok. Good luck. Call me after. Ok?”
I hugged my best friend. “I will.” I needed that hug. It seemed hard to believe I had only known her a year.
I rushed down the spiral staircase. Aunt Lindy was in the kitchen working on dinner.
“When are you coming back, honey?” she asked.
“For dinner.” I smiled. I wasn’t sure how I was going to break the news to her either. First the daddy. Then I could worry about everyone else.
“I’m working on roasting a chicken.”
I grabbed at my stomach. For the past week, any mention of poultry had made my stomach queasy. I smiled meekly.