American Honey

“Is that…Is that Finn?” She asks in horror.

The smell of peanut butter made my stomach roll, but I don’t think twice about it before stuffing another handful of candy in my mouth.

“Honey, we’re home,” Wes yells.

The three men walk into the backyard with bags full of groceries and a beer in each hand.

“Tommie, don’t be mad. I thought we could celebrate, you know?” Will pleads.

“Celebrate what?” Wes asks.

Finn has a puzzled look on his face too. Us girls just look at Tommie for the answer, knowing better than to answer for her. The silence fills the backyard, and my stomach flips again causing me to gag a little. I try to hold it back the best I can waiting for Tommie’s answer.

She finally flashes a smile. “Yes, we can celebrate that we are pregnant.”

Will sets his bag of groceries down and runs to Tommie lifting her from ground.

“Congrats, guys, I had no clue,” Finn says, making his way to me.

“I just found…”

I can’t manage to get the words out before I’m gagging and running for the bathroom.

“Are you okay?” Finn hollers.

I can hear his footsteps behind me, but can’t stop to answer him with the threat of vomit spilling out. I barely make it to their guest bathroom before the surging fountain of puke sails out of me. It seems to go on for minutes. Finn kneels down beside me, rubbing my back and talking to me. My head buzzes, and I see stars for a minute or two after the vomiting spell is done.

Collapsing back onto Finn’s lap, I can finally talk, “Well, that was fun.”

“What the fuck happened?” He asks.

“I guess Moscato and M&Ms don’t mix.”

“Were you sick today helping Granddaddy and didn’t tell me?”

“No, but being out in the heat all day probably has a bit to do with it.”

“C’mon, let’s get you some water,” Finn says, standing me up to my feet.

“No more wine or peanut butter for me.”

“That’s just a gross combo, Tess, maybe a beer after a bottle of water.”

The mention of the word beer makes me audibly gag.

“Or no beer,” he says.

By the time we make it back outside Will has smoke roaring from the grill, Wes and Scarlett are deep in a conversation with Tommie.

“I need to go talk to Will,” I say, looking up to Finn.

He knows how important Will is to me. We’ve shared everything over our late night conversations in bed and runs to the pond.

“Go,” he whispers.

I watch as Finn joins the rest of the group. Maybe one day this will be us celebrating a huge announcement with our family.

“Congrats,” I say approaching Will with arms wide open.