Collide (The Barker Triplets 2)

“Billie, I’m not sure I know what you—”

“I’m fucking late, Bobbi.” Billie sprang to her feet and started pacing in front of the fire place. “Late!” She threw her hands into the air. “Me. Late. I’m never late.” She pounded her right hand into the open palm of her other. “I’m always right on time.” She stopped pacing. “Right on fucking time, every single month.”

Oh. Shit.

“So you’re pregnant,” Bobbi said carefully.

She wiped the corners of her eyes and nodded. “I think so.”

Bobbi got to her feet and kept her face neutral. Lord knows she’d been down this road before so she knew what her sister was feeling.

“Honey, you either know or you don’t. Just because you’re late doesn’t mean you’re pregnant.” She paused. “Aren’t you on the pill?”

“Yes, but…”

“Oh Billie.”

“I might have doubled up a few days because I forgot and then I was on medication for that stupid sinus infection.” Her eyes slammed shut. “I Googled it, Bobbi. Meds can fuck with that shit.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean...” She frowned. “Have you taken a test?”

Billie shook her head and pointed toward the table, toward a small plastic bag. “I couldn’t do it alone.”

“Okay, why don’t we take the test and then we can either freak out for a reason, or I’ll grab another bottle of wine and we can celebrate. Does that sound good?”

Bobbi grabbed the bag off of the table and led the way to the only bathroom in the loft, just off of Shane’s bedroom. Billie’s sniffles followed her and dammit, if those weren’t tears pricking the corners of her eyes too. She knew how scared her sister was. The unknown was never a fun place to be, but she also knew that Logan loved Billie and that whatever the outcome, the two of them would be fine.

She ripped open the package and handed it over to her sister. Billie held it for a few moments and then looked straight into Bobbi’s eyes.

“Have you ever done this before?”

For a heartbeat, Bobbi didn’t answer, her own secrets crowding her brain and clogging her throat. When she could manage, she smiled gently. “Billie, I don’t know a woman who hasn’t.”

“Okay,” Billie said. “Let’s do this.”

Bobbi gave her a quick hug and left the bathroom, leaning on the edge of the bed, her eyes on the door as she waited. After what seemed like a long time, Billie shuffled out and mumbled, “I’ll check it in a couple minutes.”

Her sister sat as close to Bobbi as she could, and Bobbi threw her arms around her shoulders as the two girls stared at the bathroom door and waited.

After about ten minutes, Bobbi nudged her sister. “Do you want me to check for you?”

“Oh my god, could you?”

Bobbi gave her sister one final hug and went to retrieve the pregnancy stick. Her heart was beating as rapidly as her sister’s, and when she peeked inside the bathroom, when her eyes zeroed in on the white stick—the one that clearly indicated a positive pregnancy—her throat constricted so painfully, it took a huge effort to clear it.

Déjà vu didn’t come close to describing the emotions rolling through her. The memories. The fear. God, the overwhelming fear.

But she dug deep and set them aside. This wasn’t about Bobbi and her screwed up past, it was about her sister. She grabbed the stick off the counter and turned around, gasping when she found Billie just behind her.

Without saying a word she handed over the stick and watched the flickering emotions cross Billie’s face as she stared at it for several long moments.

“Wow,” Billie said, pushing past her sister and leaning over the sink. She stared at herself in the mirror and then tossed the box along with the stick and wrappers into the waste basket underneath the sink.

“Wow,” she said again and Bobbi stepped out of the way as Billie strode by her and sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers digging into the dark blue coverlet, her feet tapping on the floor in a nervous staccato.

“I just never considered this.” Billie’s pale face stared up at her. “I mean, I want kids. I want Logan’s kids but now? I just started a business that requires me to teach hockey skills. How the hell can I do that if I’m pregnant?”

“You’ll figure it out. You’ll figure it out with, Logan.” Bobbi swallowed and forced herself to say the things that needed to be said. “But Billie, you don’t have to have it. You know that right?”