Fall to You (Here and Now 2)

“He doesn’t want you for your money,” Cally says. “If that’s what you’re thinking, you’ve got this all wrong.”

I smile at her and shrug. Max is her fiancé’s best friend. Of course she’s going to think the best of him.

“But what if Max is the baby’s father?” Liz asks.

Cally frowns. “You need to ask him again if you ever had sex. Maybe he had a reason for lying.”

“Or maybe Nate had a reason for lying,” Maggie says.

Liz turns to me with wide eyes. “What are you going to do if it’s Nate’s?”

I shrug. “Maybe I’ll pull a Meredith and tell everyone I bought sperm.” My joke falls flat and the girls just stare at me. “I’m not telling Nate. And you all have to promise me you won’t either.”

Maggie studies me, her face sad. “I don’t think that secrets are the right answer here.”

“If this baby is Nate’s,” I say, “secrets are the only answer. When we were seeing each other, it was so important to him that I understood he didn’t want commitment or a family. You have no idea how much it would screw up his world if this baby’s his and I told him.”

“Promise me you’ll tell him.” Maggie’s face is so damn serious that I can’t refuse, even if I know I can’t do that to Nate.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Damn.” Liz clunks her nearly empty beer on the table. “I just want to know who had sex with you and lied about it.”

“She could still be a virgin,” Nix interjects. “I mean, technically, you can get pregnant without penetration.”

Liz looks horrified. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Like all the consequences of sex with none of the fun,” Maggie says.

Nix nods. “If there was ejaculate that made its way to her vaginal opening, there’s a chance it could happen. Not a good chance, mind you, but a chance.”

Liz cocks her head. “Ejaculate and vaginal opening. That’s some sexy talk there, Phoenix. You pull those ten-dollar words out in bed too?”

I laugh. I can’t help myself. Nix’s cheeks flush pink, and it’s just a relief to think about something other than my broken heart and baby-daddy drama.

“What words should I use?” Nix asks.

“Come?” Cally offers.

“Pussy,” Maggie adds.

Liz bites back a laugh. “Spooge?”

At that, we all burst out in laugher, and Nix’s cheeks flare to a darker red. “Oh my God, you guys,” she whispers. “Someone’s going to hear.”

We’re all giggling like schoolgirls when Max walks up to the table.

HER SMILE is so beautiful, but the moment she sees me, it falls away.

“Hey,” she says softly.

“Hi.” I nod to the other girls, but the fucking magazine with Hanna’s picture is right there in the middle of the table, and my stomach twists painfully with the reminder of how the woman I love spent her weekend.

They all wave awkwardly, and Hanna steps out of the booth and follows me to another, more private booth at the back of the bar, right by the space we use as a dance floor when we’ve had too much to drink.

“Thanks for coming this morning,” she says softly. “I just can’t disrupt my mom’s world with the truth right now.”

“And the truth is,” I say carefully, “you aren’t going to marry me.”