“I’m going to get some sleep. I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow.”
“Get some rest. We’ll text later.”
“I love you, Lena.”
She smiled, and her eyes started to tear up. “I love you, too.”
Closing her eyes and breathing out harshly, she hated the situation all around. Rory wasn’t here, and if she was pregnant, her dreams of getting her degree would be shot, or at least would take her far longer to acquire than she’d planned. She also knew Rory couldn’t just up and leave the job, not unless he wanted to be screwed for future jobs from that company.
Her parents were working the night shift, and she knew that if she just went to sleep, maybe the morning would look better. But Lena couldn’t sleep with that pregnancy test staring at her from only a few inches away. Grabbing the bag, she headed to the bathroom. After she did what she needed to, she set the stick on the counter, washed her hands, closed the toilet lid, and sat back down.
It was supposed to take only a couple of minutes, but God, that felt like an hour. When she was certain the test had enough time, Lena picked it up, took a deep, steadying breath, and stared down at the screen.
Her world crashed down around her at the sight of those two pink lines, and at the fact she was pregnant.
Pregnant.
She was going to have a baby.
Rory’s baby.
She was alone for the next ten months, and she didn’t really have any close friends to talk to about this. She shoved the test in the plastic bag with the box, went back into her room, and shut the door. After sitting on the bed, she grabbed her backpack and shoved the plastic bag in it, zipped it up, and shoved it under her bed. God, Lena was screwed, and she didn’t even know where to start to get through this.
Looking at her phone, having the need to call Rory and talk to him, because he’d always been the one she turned to, Lena decided that until she knew what she wanted to do, she wouldn’t stress him out. If she decided not to have the baby, Rory would never have to know. He already had so much shit to go through as it was. He didn’t need this extra hassle.
Lying back on the bed, she curled her arms around her knees, closed her eyes, and let the tears come.
11
Three days later
Rory hauled the wheelbarrow of sand to the pad that would be part of the foundation and dumped it over. He did this over and over again, the hot, summer sun beating down on him. Wiping his forehead with the back of his arm, he looked around at the men working on the prison. They were a long ways from being done, and the work was grueling, but in the end, he just kept telling himself it was worth it.
“Rory, go get those bags of concrete and bring them over to Stu,” one of the guys in charge yelled out.
Rory grabbed a bag of concrete, hauled it over his shoulder, and went back for another one after he tossed it where it was needed. Being so far away from Lena was hell, and when he got back to the motel the crew was staying out, that flea and roach trap of a shithole, he was so fucking tired he had a hard time just finding the energy to pick up the phone and call her. But he needed to hear her voice to help wash away the stress and grime of the day.
More times than not, he couldn’t even fall asleep right away, no matter how tired he was, so he’d lie there and think about not being there for Lena when she started school, not being able to hold her, touch her … fuck her. No, he made love to her, he made her feel good, made her scream out for more.
God, he missed her.
“Rory, man, you up to let loose tonight?”
He looked at Greg, one of the guys from Arizona who was working on the job. He didn’t know any of these guys aside from the two he worked at the garage with back home, but he’d come to be friends with a lot of the guys, although they’d never hung out more time than it took to drink a beer.
“Let loose? You mean guzzle a beer and crash for the night?”
Greg set a two by four beside a pile of others, grabbed the rag hanging from his shoulders, and wiped off the sweat and dirt from his face. “Nah, well, yeah on the guzzling beers. No work tomorrow means being able to actually enjoy the drinks.”
“I’m already fucking tired, man. I don’t think I’ll last,” Rory said and grabbed another bag of concrete, moving it toward the others.