“What the hell—”
I hear her moving around and then see the light come on before the blinds go up and she’s looking at me, confused. Hitting the latch, she pushes the window open and looks at me incredulously. “It’s five in the morning.”
I nod. “I need to talk to you.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s my only time to sleep,” she whines as I climb over the ledge, but then she eyes me. “Are you crying? I thought you said you and Avery are good?” she whispers and I nod.
“We are.” I swallow around the lump in my throat. That’s for sure. Everything else is a little spotty, but she and I, we are good. “She’s pregnant.”
Lucy pauses. Her eyes widen, her body jerks in surprise, and her mouth drops open as she holds my gaze. She slowly covers her mouth, her eyes falling shut as she shakes her head. “Oh, Jace, I thought you knew better. Wrap it up, dude.”
“We did. Every time,” I say slowly, my heart still not beating right. “When you’re this amazing, your boys break condoms.”
She balks and I try for a smile, but then I just shake my head. I’m lame. “Thank you for that image, Jace.”
“Anytime.” Silence falls between us as she walks to her bed, sitting down before patting the spot beside her.
“So because you are here at five a.m., I’m sure you are freaking out?”
“I am,” I whisper, and when my mouth starts to tremble, I look over at her. “She wants to get an abortion.”
Her eyes widen again as she sucks in a breath. “What?”
“Yeah.” I hold my face in my hands as my elbows dig into my knees. “Lucy, I don’t want that.” She scoots over, her hand moving up and down my back as the other lays flat against my hands. “But I don’t know how to tell her that. She’s so determined, and I think she thinks it’s the only option. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to tell her not to, that we can do this. She was crying, explaining why. She was so sure, but I don’t want to. I want to keep it.”
“Oh, Jace,” she whispers, holding me close. “Are you sure? There is another option. I
know plenty of people who would love to adopt a baby.”
“No. I want my baby,” I say sternly.
She nods. “Okay, so why didn’t you tell her that?”
“I couldn’t speak, and she’d already made the appointment for today before she even told me.”
“Jesus Christ, are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m telling you, it was insane. I was so overwhelmed.”
“So ask her to cancel it.”
“But it’s not my body,” I stress, and she gives me a dirty look.
“Who the fuck cares? It’s your baby too.”
I try to look up at her, but my tears make her blurry. “That doesn’t matter. It’s her body. Who am I to ask her not to?”
“The father, who wants his child. I really don’t think she wants this. She loves kids. Are you sure? Did she say, ‘I want an abortion’?”
I shrug, a sob bubbling at the base of my throat. “I guess so. I don’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“No.”