God, I knew it was going to be bad.
Noah pulls his hand free from beneath mine, and then he wraps his arm around my shoulders.
The action makes Dad take a moment to breathe through his anger. “Christ,” he mutters as he lifts both his hands to rub over his face.
“Calm down, Julian,” Mom finally jumps in. “You had me pregnant at nineteen.” Dad turns a glare to Mom, which earns him a look a warning from her. “Accidents happen. Biting their heads off won’t make it any better.”
Mom turns her attention back to me. “How do you feel?”
My chin begins to quiver. “Emotional… happy… scared.”
Noah tightens his arm around me, and placing his other hand over mine, he gives me a squeeze for encouragement.
Mom’s gaze turns to Noah. “And you, Noah? How do you feel?”
“Like I said, we didn’t plan for it to happen, but I’m happy. Carla’s an amazing woman, and I’m lucky to have her. I’ll take good care of her and our baby.”
“When are you getting married?” Dad suddenly asks, making me jump in my seat.
“Seriously?” Mom gives Dad an incredulous look. “They don’t have to get married right away.”
“I want Carla to have the wedding of her dreams, so we’ll get married when she has time to focus on the preparations,” Noah answers. “Right now, I’m helping her with her school work, and we’re focusing on keeping her healthy.”
“My average has gone up since Noah’s been helping me,” I add. “Noah makes sure I’m taking all my prenatal supplements, and… he’s really been amazing.”
Dad tilts his head. “So you will finish your MBA even though you’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“We obviously won’t live on campus after the baby’s born,” Noah adds.
His comment makes Dad’s eyebrow pop up. “Oh, yeah? Where do you plan on living?”
“We’ll get a house of our own,” Noah answers.
“Which, I guess, either your parents or we will have to provide?” Dad asks, his eyes narrowing again.
Noah shakes his head, and it has a slight frown forming on my brow because I don’t know how we’ll afford a house otherwise.
“I’ve been working every summer since I turned eighteen, and I invested whatever I made. I’m also accelerating my studies, and I’ll write my finals in a month so I can start working sooner. I’ll be able to take care of Carla without any help from my parents.”
Holy shit.
My mouth drops open, and I can only stare at Noah like a gaping fish out of water.
NOAH
The hostility begins to drain from Mr. Reyes’ face, which I’m taking as a good sign.
I can feel Carla’s eyes on me, but I keep my gaze locked with Mr. Reyes’.
He takes a deep breath, then mutters, “Well, at least you’re able to provide for Carla.”
“And the baby,” Mrs. Reyes adds. She walks over to us, and Carla quickly climbs to her feet. The women hug, then Mrs. Reyes says, “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“It’s going to take me a while before I’m happy with any of this,” Mr. Reyes grumbles, but he still gets up to hug Carla. “God, I can’t believe my baby is going to have a baby.”
“I’m happy, Daddy,” Carla murmurs, and then her shoulders jerk as she buries her face against her father’s chest.
It takes every ounce of strength for me to sit still and not to get up and pull her to me.
Mr. Reyes rubs a hand over her back. “It’s going to be okay.”
Carla pulls back, and when she looks up at her dad with a pleading face and tears on her cheeks, I have to clench my fists against my thighs to keep from moving.
“But you’re angry,” she whimpers.
Mr. Reyes’ expression instantly changes from stern to loving. “No, sweetheart. I’m just shocked. Like your mom said, as long as you’re happy, we’re happy,” he tries to pacify her.
If she ever looks at me like that, I’m in deep shit.
When everyone seems to have calmed down, Mrs. Reyes asks, “Do you know how far along you are?”
“Six weeks,” I answer. “Give or take. We still need to confirm the due date.”
“How’re the symptoms?” Mrs. Reyes asks.
“I can’t stand the smell of fried chicken,” Carla says.
“Ugh, I had the same,” Mrs. Reyes replies.
Mr. Reyes lets go of Carla, and then his gaze locks on me. “Let’s leave the women to talk.”
I rise to my feet and give Carla a reassuring smile before following Mr. Reyes to his office.
When he shuts the door behind us, he says, “Take a seat.”
I wait for him to sit down before I do the same.
Mr. Reyes stares at me for a while, but I meet his gaze, ready for anything. Finally, he asks, “How long have you and Carla been dating?”
“Two months.”
He begins to nod slowly while muttering, “Didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“I wanted to wait, but then it just happened,” I try my best to explain.