“I wouldn’t have scared you if you heard me properly,” Sarah shot back. “I wasn’t exactly quiet about coming in.”
Jason grunted, putting his glass on the dresser. The alcohol was all over his hands.
“I must be more drunk than I thought,” he mumbled, moving past Sarah and into the kitchen.
She followed him and stood in the doorway. “Drunk? What started all of this? I haven’t seen anything different in the news that would upset you.”
“Did you get my message about Kenneth Barron and his little gang?”
“I did. I was shocked that you were lenient with them.”
Jason scoffed. He washed his hands, snatching at the kitchen towel. “I’d hardly call what I did with them lenient. At least he gets a final chance to keep his place on the team, but only one.”
“Shouldn’t you get rid of him completely? He destroyed your car.”
“His brother and those stupid friends did that. He just orchestrated it.”
“That’s pretty much the same thing,” Sarah pointed out.
Jason shrugged. “He’s a good player, and he’s been given an opportunity to keep his place. I’m hoping this will shape him up. He does something stupid again, he’s out.” Jason tucked the tea towel back onto the handle of the oven. “Is that why you’re here? To talk about how ‘lenient’ I was with Barron?”
“No, I got some other news. Something that left me wondering if I had gone mad.” Sarah folded his arms. “I hear that you got that pretty physical therapist pregnant.”
Jason spun around. “What?”
“I ran into Carl when he was helping Elena get into a car. She dropped something, and I picked it up. An ultrasound picture.” Sarah glared at her son. “Care to explain yourself, Jason?”
“But…” Jason spluttered. “What makes you think I’m the father?”
“I was with Carl when you were kissing her under the bleachers the other week. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who the dad is.”
Jason groaned. “And here I was thinking we were keeping it a secret.”
“You do realize the more you make something a secret, the more people are going to notice? I don’t know about everyone else, but you weren’t as secretive as you thought you were.”
Jason wondered how many other people had noticed him and Elena sneaking off. They must have been keeping the world’s worst-kept secret keepers. He gave Sarah a rueful look.
“What are you going to tell me if I am the father?” he asked. “Are you going to tell me to step up and be a man?”
“You should. Elena wouldn’t talk to me about it, and all Carl said was that she needed time to process. She looked to be in as much shock as you are right now.” Sarah stepped towards him. “So, tell me: what are you going to do about this?”
“What can I do?”
“Be there for her! From what I could gather, and I haven’t seen an ultrasound in a long time, she’s not just having one kid. You think she can handle twins on her own?”
“Sextuplets,” Jason murmured.
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s sextuplets, Mom.”
Sarah’s face went so pale that she started swaying. “I…I think I need a drink myself.”
“I’ll pour you one.”
Jason went back to the living room and poured out two glasses. Sarah joined him, still looking like Jason had whacked her over the head.
“Six…six babies,” she whispered. “I don’t believe it.”