“No, I am,” Cade pipes up.
Xander shakes his head. “We haven’t even talked about it.”
“Sit down, you fucker, I’m going to be the godfather,” Jace pipes in.
We all look at him, because Jace is never the person to speak out, and nobody expected it on something like this.
“What?” He blinks innocently. “I like kids,” he defends. “I’d be the best fucking godfather ever.”
Xander shakes his head. “Between Jace and you, this kid is going to be cussing before it walks.”
Jace leans back in the chair he occupies so the front two legs come off the ground. “That sounds like the coolest kid ever. Do we get bonus points for making it more awesome?”
“No, no,” Xander chants. “That would not be more awesome.”
Jace chuckles and leans over to whisper something in Nova’s ear.
“I’m really happy for you guys.” Rae stands and hugs me.
“Thanks,” I say, though the words are on the tip of my tongue to tell her I’m not happy.
Cade hugs us too, and then Xander’s sister.
Once all the hugs and congratulations are out of the way, we finally sit down.
I let out a groan, already feeling exhausted and we just got here.
Xander finally lets Prue off her leash to run wild in the backyard, and she takes full advantage of the freedom. She runs around the yard, chasing butterflies.
Xander rubs my knee and rests his hand on my thigh. He watches me carefully, like he’s worried I’m going to have an anxiety attack or something.
So far, so good.
It’s weird, knowing that everybody knows now, but it also makes me feel better to have someone other than Xander to talk about it with.
Our parents drag the other table over to us so that it’s almost like we’re all sitting together.
Sarah makes sure her spot is beside me. Once she’s settled, she says, “I’m so excited for you guys. This is the best news ever. I was worried you were going to make me wait a few years for grandkids.”
I laugh lightly, but there’s no humor in the tone. “Yeah, me too,” I mutter.
Xander squeezes my leg lightly in warning. We never really talked about it, but it was sort of a silent agreement that we wouldn’t tell our parents that the baby was an accident. We didn’t want that fact to somehow diminish their happiness over the news—because we knew they’d be thrilled.
Unlike me.
I’m coming around to the idea more every day, but it still scares me.
I can barely take care of myself, let alone another human being.
“Have you thought of any names yet?” my mom asks, raising a glass of lemonade to her lips.
I shake my head. “No, not yet. We’ve only known for a few weeks, so we haven’t discussed names. This is all still very new.” I gesture with my hands.
“Wait.” Nova snaps her fingers together. “Is that why you were acting funny the day Jace and I were over?”
I nod, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. Xander moves his arm to drape over the back of my chair.
“Yeah,” I answer. “I suspected, so when I ran out, it was to get a pregnancy test.”