Wrong Bed Baby (Crescent Cove 10)

Figured. Everything was just rainbows and glitter farts for him.

“So, Holly, our Caleb here is dating a honest-to-goodness witch.”

Inwardly, I groaned. This was my own fault for lingering for non-productive chitchat. I usually knew better. Head down, out the door.

I was definitely out of sorts tonight.

“How do you know she’s a witch?” I demanded.

“Everybody knows.” Mike shrugged. “Someone said she has a pentagram tattoo.”

“She does not.”

Not that I would mind if she did. Pentagrams didn’t mean what a lot of people assumed. They usually represented the elements—fire, air, water, earth, and spirit.

“A witch?” Holly’s honey-brown eyes sparkled. “How fascinating. Is she meeting you here, Caleb? I’d love to meet her.”

“Yeah, I wish. She’s on a sabbatical. Possibly in Canada. I’m not really sure.”

Holly and Mike exchanged a glance. I didn’t blame them. I was nearly spiraling.

Time to leave.

“It’s all good though. She’s doing what’s best for her. I’m sure she’ll come back someday. She has to, since I knocked her up. Okay, well, nice convo. Have a good night.” I pointed at Mike. “You can go back to sniffing her hair now.”

I had an instant to glimpse Holly’s cheeks going bright red under her freckles before I got the heck out of there.

Once I was in my vehicle in the parking lot, I called my sister on the in-dash screen. I needed to talk to someone. I wasn’t supposed to be telling anyone about this baby, and here I’d just told my colleagues. Not the smartest move. They were mostly all cool people, and minds were opening up a bit even in our school, but unmarried and procreating second grade teachers weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms at St. Agnes Academy.

I hadn’t even thought of that until this very moment, because I didn’t care. If someone had a problem with how Lu and I were living our lives, then they just would. I wasn’t caving to pressure. We were on our own schedule, and no one was going to rush us.

When she came down that aisle toward me—or across that sandy dune—it was going to be because we wanted nothing else but that. Fuck society’s supposed rules.

Ivy picked up, sounding harried. Rhiannon was wailing in the background. “Caleb?”

“Bad time?”

“Kinda. Rhi has decided she hates bathtime. Last week, it was her favorite thing.” She sighed. “What’s up?”

“Luna’s having a baby.” So much for easing in. And so much for keeping this news to myself.

If I couldn’t have her physically with me, I had to talk about her. Talking about her meant talking about the bean burrito.

Smaller than a bean burrito right now. More like the size of a raspberry. Maybe. We didn’t even know when she’d gotten pregnant. Could’ve been the first night. Or the next.

God, I needed answers, and they just weren’t forthcoming right now.

I leaned back against the headrest and released a long, slow breath.

Patience, grasshopper. You’ve got probably around seven months to go in this rodeo.

If Luna was even back by then.

She had to be, right? She wouldn’t just leave for good.

The woman I loved wouldn’t just take off permanently. No matter how relatively new we were to being together, I knew her better than that.

Sounds of chaos came through the speaker. I’d forgotten Ivy was there. I had to stop calling people. I couldn’t even focus on talking to them.