“Just hear me out,” I begged. “I know this seems weird.”
“You think?” Lily asked, and she chuckled sarcastically.
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.
“Look, this all started with an ad on Craigslist. Someone needed a surrogate mother, and I needed the money. You know how desperate I was.”
Lily frowned at me, but she didn’t interrupt.
“So, when I got there, it was your dad.”
“What do you mean, it was my dad?” Lily asked.
I sighed. This was going to be huge. “He was the one that wanted to hire a surrogate mother.”
Lily shook her head. “This is impossible,” she said. “Why would he want more children?”
“That’s something I can’t answer,” I said.
Lily kept shaking her head. She was having trouble believing this. I didn’t blame her.
“He wanted to talk to you about it the other night,” I said.
Lily nodded. “I didn’t want to see his face. I wouldn’t let him in.”
“Totally understandable.”
Lily sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I feel betrayed. And so angry. I don’t want to ever speak to either of you again. But… He’s my dad. I can’t just push him away. And you? You’re my best friend. How am I supposed to push both of you away and not feel a big hole in my life?”
She sank down onto the couch next to me. We sat in silence for a moment.
“I know, Lil,” I said. “I am so sorry. For everything. I should have spoken to you about it from start, but I felt like it was Evan’s secret to tell. And I understand why he didn’t speak to you.”
Lily shook her head again. It was like she was trying to rearrange her thoughts manually. She looked at me, and her green eyes were piercing. They reminded me so much of Evan’s eyes.
“Do you love him?”
Her question hit me like a truck. Did I love him? Love had never been part of the equation. It wasn’t what he was paying me for. But now that I thought about it, I did feel more for him than I was willing to let myself admit.
“I guess, I do. Yeah, I do love him. But it’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” Lily asked.
“Because he’s paying me a lot of money to have this baby,” I said. “Love was never part of the deal. I’m not going to make it difficult for him by telling him how I feel.”
I couldn’t know what Lily was thinking. Her face was unreadable, and she didn’t say much.
“All of this is so weird,” she said.
I nodded. It was weird. I was telling my best friend I was pregnant with her dad’s child. Children. I hadn’t told her that part yet. I was taken aback by her question of whether I loved Evan. I hadn’t thought about it until now. In the end, it didn’t matter.
“This is about to get weirder,” I said.
Lily eyed me.
“I’m not only pregnant, but I’m having triplets.”
I watched the information sink in. Lily blinked at me.