“Yep, Brad is helping his dad out, so I’m free the whole day. Why? What’s up?”

I took a deep breath and then started to tell Amanda about my plan.

“Holy hell, Ari! Are you fucking nuts?”

“No, I’m not nuts. I really don’t think this baby is Jeff’s. I have to see her, Amanda. I have to find out why she picked now to tell him that she’s pregnant. I need to see her with my own eyes. Manda…please do this for me,” I begged.

“Gesh, Ari. Damn it. Okay. What do I need to do?”

“Meet me at Haylcyon in thirty minutes. I found out yesterday that Crysti is working this morning. Then, you and I are having lunch at Hula Hut today.”

“Oh shit. I have a bad feeling, Ari, a very bad feeling about this.”

“Just shut up, and get your ass over to the coffee shop. Parking is a bitch, so just pay to park.”

I hung up with Amanda and started to get dressed. I didn’t have time for a shower, so I just threw my hair up in a ponytail and tried to make myself look somewhat presentable. Thank God I kept clothes over at Jeff’s. I picked out a pair of black capri pants, a light blue tank top, and flip flops. Now, I was ready to get to the bottom of this Rebecca mess.

Just as I was walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, Jeff came through the front door.

“Hey, baby! What are you doing up this early? I thought that maybe we could continue with what we started last night,” Jeff said as he walked up and wrapped his arms around me.

Even sweaty and stinky, he smelled like heaven. The warmth from his arms relaxed me immediately. He would freak out if he knew what I was going to do today.

I let out a small laugh. I had to catch my breath. Damn, he’s so handsome. I reached up on my toes and gave him a kiss, filling it with as much passion as I could. I wished we could just go back in time and admit how we really felt about one another instead of acting so stupid. Rebecca wouldn’t even be a second thought right now.

“Wow. What did I do to deserve that?” Jeff asked kissing the tip of my nose.

My heart was breaking. Please, God. Please don’t let this baby be his.

“Nothing.I just wanted to kiss you. Do I need a reason to kiss you now?”

Jeff threw his head back and laughed. “Nope! Feel free to kiss me anytime or anywhere you’d like baby.”

I giggled and reached for my purse. “I have to go. I’m meeting Amanda for breakfast, and then I think we’re going shopping.”

Jeff’s smile disappeared as he ran his hands through his hair. I knew he was so torn about meeting Rebecca on his own, and I couldn’t be mad at him. He needed to meet with the bitch to get this over with. My hands started to shake.

“Ari, I really don’t want to meet with her today. You believe that, don’t you?”

Holy hell. I wanted to throw up just thinking about him seeing her again.

“Of course, I know you don’t want to meet with her, but….but you have to. You have to do this and just get it over with. I’m sure that it’s gonna be okay. Just meet with her, hear her out, and then we’ll take it from there. If she’s seven months now, then she’s due around the middle of August. We just have to wait until the baby is born, and then we can find out for sure.”

Jeff looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. I was sure that he was about to ask what would happen if the baby was his. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please don’t even say it, Jeff, or I’ll puke. I tried to smile, but I was sure that it was a bad attempt at looking happy.

“I love you, Ari. I love you and only you. I always have, and no matter what happens, I always will. We’re moving out to the property in a few weeks, so it’ll just be you and me, baby. You and me.”

He pulled me into him, and I did everything I could not to cry. I pulled away, smiling, I reached up to kiss him again.

“It’s going to be alright, Jeff. Don’t worry. I really have to run. I love you. Try to have a good day and…well, good luck with your lunch.”

Jeff kissed me with such sweetness that it was all I could do to get out the front door. I jumped into my Jeep and backed out of the driveway as fast as I could.

After I got a block away, I pulled over and cried my eyes out. I had a very bad feeling that things were not going to turn out how I so desperately wanted them to.

After I dried my tears, I head over Halcyon.

***

As I was walking up to the coffee shop, I saw Amanda was waiting outside for me.

We hugged, and Amanda held me tightly for just a few more seconds than usual.

Then, she whispered in my ear,

“Don’t worry. We’ll kick her fucking ass the moment the baby is out.”

I had to laugh. I missed Ellie. My heart started to ache from thinking about it all. All this shit was going on, and my best friend was thousands of miles away. She called last night, but I acted like everything was perfect. Perfect engagement, perfect life, perfect everything. Pesh.

The moment we walked through the door, my eyes caught Crysti’s. Her smile faded instantly, and I felt a bit of excitement, knowing that I was the last person she expected to see this morning. My morning was working for me, she was working the counter. Amanda and I walked up to her, and I acted surprised to see her. She seemed much more shocked to see me, and I noticed when she looked down at my engagement ring.

“Crysti right? You’re Rebecca’s friend, aren’t you?” Amanda asked.

Crysti pulled her eyes away from me. She smiled at Amanda nodding her head.

“Ah, yeah. You’re, um, Jeff and Gunner’s friends right?”

Oh Jesus. I wanted to laugh at that one.

“Well, I’m a friend of both yes, Ari’s engaged to Jeff,” Amanda said smiling as big as she could.

“Engaged? Didn’t you get married this weekend?” Crysti asked, clearly confused.

This just got very interesting.

“What made you think that I was getting married this weekend?” I asked.

“Oh, well… I mean one of the guys from the football team was here last week, and he mentioned a wedding. I heard your name and Jeff’s, so I guess I just assumed y’all were getting married.”

I was so going to have fun with this. “Nope, that was Gunner and Ellie who got married. Jeff asked me to marry him Saturday night after the wedding.” Ah! Chew on that, you little stupid blonde bitch.

“Wait. What? Gunner got married? Oh, wow… I mean, I guess I just never thought he was the kind to settle down.”

“Yep, well, when you meet the love of your life, you tend to change your ways,” Amanda said. “By the way, can I get a salted caramel mocha frapp?”

Yeah… well, I guess so. Wait a minute. Did you say that Jeff asked you to marry him on Saturday night? Even after he knew about the baby, he still…” Crysti trailed off, no finishing her though.

Oh. My. God. That lying bitch. Rebecca thought Jeff was getting married, so she decided to pull out the last-ditch attempt.

I always thought that Crysti wasn’t the brightest one of the group, and she certainly didn’t let me down. Unfortunately, she realized her mistake before she finished telling us about Rebecca and the baby.

Amanda looked back over to Crysti while I held my breath.

“So, was that why she called Jeff last week? She was making some last-ditch effort to get him back? I would think that she would’ve told him about the baby as soon as she found out,” Amanda said.

Crysti looked around and then back at me. “Listen, I don’t know why Rebecca waited so long to tell Jeff. The baby is his though. She knows that for a fact. She was, um…she was just scared. She was really scared when she found out, and she was waiting for the right way to tell him. She thought that he should know before he got married, but, looks like he isn’t married yet. Now, is he?”

Amanda stepped between Crysti and me. It was a damn good thing she did because I was ready to leap across that counter to knock the shit out of this girl.