I reach for her hand, squeezing it and offering her support. “Talk to me,” I urge, not wanting her to be alone. She’s been here for me and I’m going to do the same.
“I got a new job, working as an assistant for Joe Ranieri—he was looking at buying a bourbon distillery and we went to Kentucky to check out the competition,” she begins and I nod. “Well Mr. Ranieri’s in his fifties and—” she trails off.
“You slept with him?” I guess.
“Yeah, he’s already got a child, not to mention he’s married.”
I inwardly wince. Damn, her situation is a whole lot more complicated than mine is. “It’ll be okay.”
She shakes her head. “No, it won’t. He’s the head of the Mafia, Becky, this isn’t good.”
I gasp, God, she’s in a right pickle. “What do you plan to do?”
“I’m over the three-month mark. I don’t know what to do.”
“Do you love him?” Cassie asks.
Hazel nods. “Yeah, he told me that he and his wife are over and have been for years, but his daughter isn’t his wife’s, he’s cheated on her before. I feel like this is just him, he won’t leave his wife, he didn’t when Gabby was born, so what’s different about me and my baby?”
“Um,” Cassie says. “When you say in his fifties, you mean like fifty-one, right?”
Hazel shakes her head. “No, fifty-five.”
Jesus. That’s such a huge age gap. Hazel’s twenty-three.
“Whatever happens, you’ve got us,” I tell her knowing that no matter what, my sister will always have me and Cassie. “As you said, our babies are going to be cousins. You’re stuck with me.”
“You can move in here if you need,” Cass tells her. “I’m going to be going home tomorrow for the Christmas break as I’ve got an internship with my new step-father.”
She’s not looking forward to it either. Going home means seeing her mom and that’s not something I want for my friend. If I could, I’d shield her from her mother.
“Thanks,” Hazel whispers. “I just have to find the courage to tell mom and dad.”
“And I have to find the courage to tell Easton,” I say, my heart in my mouth. The thought of doing that makes my stomach flip and makes me want to throw up.
“It’ll be okay,” Cass says. “For both of you, it’ll be okay. You have people around you that love you. No matter what.”
She’s right. We do. Our family loves us and will support us.
I’ll gather the courage and speak to Easton in the next few weeks. I just hope he understands that it doesn’t change anything.
Chapter 6
EASTON
Three weeks later
“Want to tell me what the hell is going on with you?” my brother, Eric asks me.
I reach for my beer bottle, not really in the mood to discuss Rebecca and all the shit that went down between us. Or how much of a fucking creep I am that I have to see her every day.
“East, I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’re such a prick lately. Mom’s worried about you, not to mention you’re looking like you’ve lost a couple of pounds. You look like shit. What’s going on?”
I sigh, knowing his ass isn't going to leave until I tell him. So I do. I briefly tell him about how I met Rebecca, I don’t go into detail about our time together, but I explain what the aftermath was.
“Fuck,” he snarls. “I told mom it had to be something like this. Did dad ever tell you about when he met mom, that he knew she was the one for him? Or how when I met Sylvie, I instantly knew she was the woman that I was going to spend the rest of my life with?”
I spare him a glance. “No, no one said shit.”