She nodded. “I will. I promise. Do you want me to go talk to Brynn? It’ll be humiliating, but I guess I deserve that.”
“No, stay away from my girl,” I said. “You’ve done enough. I’ll fix this when she’ll finally talk to me again. Hopefully.”
I walked down the steps, back to my truck, leaving her standing outside her apartment.
“Hey, Chase?”
“Yeah?” I glanced over my shoulder.
“You really are a good guy,” she said. “And I’m sorry.”
I just nodded. I didn’t have anything else to say to her.
I drove straight back to Salishan. This was such a stupid misunderstanding. I couldn’t stand the thought of Brynn believing another girl was having my baby. I didn’t know how long it would take before Brynn would see me, but I was going to be there the second it happened. Even if it meant camping out on the porch at her mom’s. They couldn’t keep me from her forever.
In fact, they couldn’t keep me from her much longer. If I had to break down the door to get to her, I would.
Thirty-One
Brynn
The shot of whiskey Zoe had given me had calmed me down a little. She sat next to me on the couch, rubbing my arm, waiting for me to explain what was happening. I took a few more deep breaths. Things were coming into focus. My mom hovering nearby with a mug of tea, her forehead creased with worry. Zoe’s gentle murmurs, telling me it would be okay.
“You ready to talk?” Zoe asked.
I nodded. “I’m sorry, I lost it there for a second.”
“It’s okay,” Zoe said. “What happened?”
“Chase’s ex-girlfriend came to the tasting room,” I said. “She’s pregnant.”
Zoe’s eyebrows lifted. “And by pregnant, you mean Chase is…”
“The father? I guess I don’t know for sure. I tried to call Chase, but the call dropped. But yeah, it looks like he might be.”
“Oh honey,” my mom said.
Roland came in from outside, his brow furrowed with concern. Leo followed and shut the door behind him.
“Brynn, I don’t know what’s going on, but Chase was here. He looks like hell.”
“What do you mean he was here?” Zoe asked.
“He left,” Roland said.
“You let him leave?”
Roland stared at her. “You told me to keep him out.”
“Yeah, just until Brynn could calm down. We need his ass here to fucking explain himself.” Zoe glanced at my mom. “I’m sorry, Shannon, but I’m too pregnant to filter my language.”
Before my mom could reply, Cooper burst inside.
“Whoa, hey family.” He stopped, looking around at everyone. “What’s going on? Mom, are you having a party and you didn’t invite me?” His eyes landed on me and his smile faded. “What the shit? Brynncess, what happened?”
“Chase’s ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his baby,” Zoe said.
“What?” Cooper asked, his voice going shrill.
Roland and Leo looked just as shocked.
“No,” Cooper said. “That’s a terrible joke. Seriously, you guys, that’s the worst. Don’t mess with people like that, it’s mean. Wait, why are you all looking at me like that? You’re not kidding?”
“You don’t know anything about this?” Zoe asked.
“No. What ex-girlfriend?”
“Shelly,” I said.
Cooper’s eyes widened. “That’s not… No. Not possible. Really?”
I nodded. “She came to the tasting room to tell me. She’s very pregnant.”
“Where’s Chase?” Cooper asked.
Roland gestured vaguely toward the front door. “He said he’d be back later.”
“You really didn’t know?” Zoe asked.
Cooper winced. “To be honest, I’ve been a little out of touch when it comes to Chasey.”
“You mean you spent months not speaking to him because he started dating me,” I said.
“Yeah, that.”
“Okay, let’s all calm down,” Mom said. “We don’t know the full story yet. Chase hasn’t had a chance to explain, so let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“I’ve jumped to the conclusion that Chase has a hell of a lot of explaining to do,” Leo grumbled.
“Exactly,” Roland said. “Although… he did look pretty distraught.”
“Well, maybe we’d be able to figure things out if you hadn’t let him leave,” Zoe said, her tone thick with annoyance.
Roland narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? I better get you some dinner. Are we still on miso soup?”
“All day, every day,” Zoe said. “I can’t eat anything else.”
“Consider it done,” Roland said. “I’ll bring back food for everyone.”
Leo gestured toward the door. “I’ll make sure the Big House is locked up.”
“Thanks, boys,” Mom said. She glanced at Cooper, like she expected him to find a job to do.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Cooper came over to the couch and squeezed himself between me and Zoe.
“God, Cooper,” Zoe said. She pushed herself to the edge of the couch and slowly stood. It didn’t look easy, with her belly getting so big. “I have to pee anyway.”
My mom disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me alone with Cooper.
“What’s this all about?” Cooper asked, his voice quiet. “Do you really think Chase got her pregnant?”
“She says it’s his baby. I called him after I talked to her, but our call got cut off. And then I kind of freaked out. I’m calm now, but I’m still trying to make sense of everything. But I think it’s possible. He and I have only been together for seven months. It could have been a month before me and the timing works.”
He paused, tapping his hands on his legs. “Yeah, I don’t know when he was with her last. I don’t exactly keep that shit on my calendar.”
“How could he not tell me something like this? Is this why he didn’t want to wait to get married? He wanted to do it before I found out he had a kid? Was he even going to tell me? That’s what Dad did, Coop. He had kids and he hid them.”
“Chase isn’t Dad.”
“No, but I’m beginning to realize that people are capable of anything.”
“Some people are genuinely shitty,” Cooper said. “But Chase isn’t one of them. I don’t know what’s going on with all this. I’ll tell you one thing, though, Shelly is fucking nuts. I’d be skeptical about anything she tells you. That girl would do anything to get her claws back into Chase.”
“Like get pregnant with his kid?”
“Or say she’s pregnant with his kid.”
“I saw her, Coop. She’s very pregnant.”
“Yeah, but maybe it’s not his. You need to talk to him to find out. All this he-said, she-said bullshit? Listening to other people, but not talking to each other? This is how relationships get fucked up. If this is what’s going on with Chase, you need to talk to him. Not me, or Zoe, or Mom, or any of us. This is for you and Chase to figure out.”
I leaned away and narrowed my eyes at him. “Wow.”
“Wow what?”
“That was very wise advice,” I said. “I didn’t expect that from you.”
“I’m wise as fuck, and I give great advice.” He patted my leg. “Do you need me to go find him?”
“Sure.”
Someone pounded on the front door. “Brynn?”
“God, I’m good,” Cooper said, getting up to answer the door. “One Chase Reilly, as ordered.”
I got up and wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders. Cooper opened the door and sure enough, it was Chase. His hair was disheveled, like he’d been messing it up with his hands. He ignored Cooper, looking straight at me.
“Brynn.”
I put my hand up to stop him from speaking yet. I didn’t want an audience for this, so I took him out to the porch and shut the door.
“Brynn, please listen.”
“I will,” I said
. “But I need to say something first.”
“Okay.”
I’d been thinking about it while my family had been getting caught up, and I knew what I needed to say to him. “I’m not mad if you’re having a baby with her.”
“Brynn—”
“No, let me get this out, I need to say it. You were with her before me, right? Not after?”
“Yes, but—”
“If the baby is yours, I want you to know, I think I can make it work. It’s not ideal, but we can figure something out with her, right? Alternate weeks or something?”
“Wait, what did you say?”
“I’m saying I know this changes a lot, but Chase, you can’t push this under the rug. I’m not mad if you’re having a baby. But you can’t keep something like this from me. Did you think I couldn’t handle it?”
“No—”
“Because I can. If my mom can welcome Grace with open arms, I can certainly welcome a child you conceived before we were together.”
“Holy shit,” he said, staring at me.
“What?”
“Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love you more, you do this.”
“I’m not okay with everything,” I said. “You need to explain to me why you were hiding this, because that part I can’t understand.”
“No, Brynn, I didn’t hide anything.”
“Yes, you did, you—”
He touched my lips with his fingertips. “No, I didn’t. The baby isn’t mine.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly. “Wait, what did you say?”
“I didn’t get Shelly pregnant. It’s not possible. First of all, I always used a condom.”
“Yeah, but condoms can fail,” I said. “They can break.”
“Maybe, if you buy shitty ones or they don’t fit. I’ve never had one break on me. But even still, the timing doesn’t work. It’s been too long since I was with her. If I’d gotten her pregnant, she would have already had the baby. And she knows who the father is.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“Yeah, I went over to see what the hell she’d done.”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
“I found out recently, but I had no idea she’d try to say it was mine. We both knew it wasn’t possible. If I’d known she’d do this, I would have told you. But I didn’t think it mattered if a girl I dated once was having a baby with another guy.”
“Why would she do this?” I asked. “If she knows it’s not yours, why would she lie to me?”
“She was trying to get rid of you. If you believed the baby was mine, she figured you’d bail. And in her messed-up head, that meant she might have a shot at getting back together with me.”
“Oh my god.” I stepped into his embrace, feeling relief wash over me as he wrapped me in his strong arms. “I’m so sorry. I just got so upset.”
“No, you don’t need to apologize. This is on me. I wish I’d never… there are a lot of things I wish I’d never done. I can’t go back and change them now. But I can promise you, that’s all in the past.”
“I know.”
“And I wouldn’t have hidden that from you. Especially not after everything that happened with your dad. If there had even been a chance that baby was mine, I’d have told you as soon as I knew.”
I let out a long breath. “God, that was terrifying. I shouldn’t have believed her.”
“That’s actually true. She’s completely untrustworthy,” he said. “But you didn’t know that. Like I said, this is on me. If I hadn’t been such a fuck-up before you…”
“You weren’t a fuck-up.”
“No, I really was.”
I laughed and ran my hands down his chest. “Was that why you left the shop last night? Did Shelly somehow get through?”
“No, that wasn’t about her.” He sank down onto a bench and ran his hands through his already messy hair. “I was talking to my dad. My parents aren’t coming to the wedding.”
“Oh my god. Why?”
“I told them not to.”
I sat next to him and twined our hands together. Part of me was glad to hear that. I knew enough about his parents to dislike them intensely. “I’m sorry.”
He squeezed my hands. “It’s fine. They don’t know who I am. So it doesn’t matter what they think. Like I told them, our wedding is going to be the most important day of my life. I want to spend it with the people who care.”
The front door opened, and my mom peeked out. “How’s everything out here?”
“It’s okay, Mom. False alarm. The baby isn’t his.”
She breathed out a sigh. “You’re sure?”
Chase stood. “Yeah, I’m positive. I dated her last year, but there’s no way it’s possible, and she knows who the father is. She’s… she has issues. I’m really sorry about all this.”
“Oh honey, it’s not your fault.” She stepped in and wrapped him in a hug. “I’m relieved for both of you.”
“We would have figured it out,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Cooper said, sticking his head through the partially open door. “Chase, please tell me this isn’t happening, man.”
“It’s not happening.”
“Oh my god, I was freaking out,” Cooper said. “Like I would much rather you had knocked up my sister than crazy-Shelly, dude. Talk about disaster. That would have been an eighteen-year nightmare.”
“Believe me, I know,” Chase said. “I’m an idiot sometimes, but not that big of an idiot.”
“You’re no such thing,” Mom said, squeezing his arm. “You’re ours. I know it doesn’t work this way, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re a Miles, Chase. You always have been.”
“Shit, yeah,” Cooper said.
Mom raised her eyebrows at his language, but I barely noticed. Chase lit up, like he was glowing from the inside. My mom was right. I’d be taking his name, but he was ours. He always would be.
Thirty-Two
Brynn
Cooper held his hands over my eyes so I couldn’t see. As he walked me forward, I felt gravel crunching beneath my feet. I was pretty sure we were at my mom’s house when he told me to step up. The creak sounded like the stairs leading to her front porch.
“What are we doing?”
“Have patience, bride-to-be,” Cooper said. “We’re almost there.”
I heard another squeak—probably her front door—and Cooper nudged me forward. I took a few more steps and he dropped his hands.
“Surprise!”
The first thing I saw were pearly white balloons. They were everywhere. Taped to the walls with strips of masking tape. Bouncing around on the floor. A banner that read Bride To Be hung across the entrance to the dining room and more decorations dangled from the ceiling.
My mom and Grace stood near the couch where Zoe lay with her feet up. Grace and Zoe wore pink plastic crowns that said Bridesmaid. Then I noticed Roland and Leo were here too. Leo sat in an armchair—was he glaring at Cooper?—and Roland sat with Zoe’s feet in his lap.
“What’s all this?”
“It’s your bachelorette party,” Cooper said, gesturing around with his arms. “I know you said you didn’t want a big thing, but that’s stupid. Zoe’s too pregnant to plan one, and your college friends suck, so I decided to do it. Gracie helped.”
“My friends suck?”
“Obviously. What’s-her-face did you-know-what with that jackass you were dating. So she’s clearly ostracized for the rest of history, but in the long run it was better because you needed to be with Chase anyway. And I guess I don’t really know your other friends. Chase said they’re mostly okay, but there’s no one who’s super awesome like we are.”
I supposed that did sum up my friends at school. I was a lot closer to everyone in this room than I was with anyone I’d met in college.
As I stepped further inside, one of the dangling decorations brushed my hair. I grabbed it as it swung and realized it was a sparkly gold penis. “Are these p
enises?”
“Yep.” Cooper grinned. “Some of them are dicks, but there are wedding ring ones and martini glass ones and high heel ones. They came in a pack. I ordered them online.”
He looked so proud of himself, I couldn’t help but laugh. “This is… really cute.”
Leo stood. “Great, well, the decorations are done. Brynn is here. I’m going home.”
Cooper stepped in front of the door. “Oh no. You’re not going anywhere, buddy. The party just started.”
“Why would I stay for my sister’s bachelorette party?” Leo asked. “That’s weird.”
“If by weird, you mean awesome,” Cooper said. “We have so much awesome shit planned. We’re all staying, bros. Trust me. It’s going to be legit.”
“Just go with it,” Roland said, and I noticed he was wearing what appeared to be a penis whistle around his neck.
“Dude, I made sure the whole party could be here, because, you know,” Cooper said, widening his eyes at Leo. “And why’d you take off your dick necklace?”
Leo crossed his arms. “I’m not wearing a dick necklace.”
“Pansy,” Roland said. “I’m wearing a dick necklace.”
“You are a dick necklace,” Leo fired back.
“Boys,” Mom said. “Do I really have to be the referee at Brynn’s bachelorette party?”
Oh god. My mom was wearing a dick necklace.
Roland brought the little plastic penis to his lips and blew, producing a high-pitched whistle.
“Is it weird that I’m super turned on by that?” Zoe asked.
Roland winked at her and blew the whistle again.
Grace came over to put a white feather boa around my shoulders and a Bride tiara on my head. She leaned in to whisper. “I tried to help, but it got out of control pretty quickly. So just… have fun?”
This was going to be the weirdest bachelorette party ever.
Half an hour later, we were drinking mimosas—ginger ale for Zoe—and playing pin the penis on the man. There was music in the background—what Cooper called his special bachelorette party playlist, as if that were a normal thing for a guy to have—but I couldn’t hear it because we were all laughing so hard.
Forbidden Miles Page 21
