Chapter 11 – Molly
I had baked exactly twenty chocolate chip cookies, two pans of brownies, and a dozen cupcakes to prepare for tonight’s shindig. If there was ever a moment I needed my baking skills to save my ass, it was tonight.
I didn’t hear from Liam again for the rest of the week, so I let myself hope he wasn’t coming. Maybe he was too scared to show up, like he’d been too scared to man up and take responsibility for the child he’d helped create.
Coward.
As I drove down the long gravel path leading to Jace and Cassie’s cabin, my stomach turned. No—it didn’t just turn. It was doing full-on cartwheels and backflips.
I’d given myself about a hundred pep talks before getting into the car. Every single one had ended the same way: I’m not leaving Jace’s tonight until I tell everyone the truth.
Well… at least half of it.
As I pulled closer to Jace’s front lawn, I spotted him leaning against his hot tub with his arms crossed. My dad and Colt stood a few feet away from him, deep in conversation about who-knows-what.
June—Colt and Ellie’s daughter—was running around with their dog, Sadie, tumbling down into the grass as Sadie licked her face which made June giggle uncontrollably.
There was no Liam in sight. As far as I could tell, he wasn’t there.
Everything was going according to plan so far.
I grabbed the container of desserts from the passenger seat, my tennis shoes crunching against the gravel as I walked up the driveway.
“There’s my favorite daughter,” my dad joked when he saw me.
“Funny enough, Dad, you only have one daughter,” I joked back.
He winked. “We were just talking about the time Jace here spray-painted penises onto the side of the old high school,” he said casually.
“I lost a bet with Liam,” Jace added, attempting to defend himself.
Liam.
Hearing his name sent a sharp sting straight through my chest, but I forced myself to keep my expression neutral.
“Is he, uh… coming tonight?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jace said. “He mentioned he might have to work another double. Dude’s been working a ton lately.”
Relief washed over me. “I’m going to go put these in the kitchen,” I said, nodding toward the desserts still balanced in my hands.
Jace smiled, clearly enjoying the rare moment of having everyone together. “Cassie should be in there getting all the fixings ready,” he said, motioning to the kitchen window.
The guilt settled heavy in my chest. I hated lying to anyone, but lying to my brothers felt worse. No matter how messed up things had been when we were growing up, we always had each other’s backs.
Dad’s story reminded me of the night before Jace’s spray-paint adventure, when I found the bag of spray-paint cans hidden under his bed.
When I questioned him about it, he told me to stay the hell out of his room.
The next day, the school walls were covered in red penises, and I knew exactly who was responsible.
I didn’t have to rat them out though. They somehow managed to tell on themselves and get grounded for eternity.
Watching them use rags and soapy buckets of water to scrub the paint off the walls was the cherry on top.
I walked away from the trio, doing my best to hide the emotions swirling through me.
Inside the kitchen, Ellie and Cassie stood at the island, chatting as they got the food ready for tonight’s dinner. The moment they noticed me, their expressions sobered.
“Don’t look so happy to see me,” I said, forcing lightness into my voice and laughing. Barefoot, pregnant, and dumped—apparently that was my new normal.
“How have you been feeling?” Ellie asked as she sliced tomatoes and onions for the burgers Jace was grilling.
“Morning sickness sucks, but I’m managing. My doctor swears it’ll ease up soon. I hope she’s right, because I wake up every morning feeling like death.”
“And the panic attacks?” Cassie asked gently.
“Surprisingly, I haven’t had one since the night Liam and I—well, made a baby apparently,” I said, chuckling. “You’d think I’d be having one every day, but honestly, I think I’m just numb at this point. It’s like my body doesn’t even know how to feel anymore.”
“Have you heard from Liam?”
I laughed at Cassie’s question. “No. Did you expect me to? The guy’s been swerving me this long—what makes you think he’d suddenly get chatty now?”
“No reason…” Cassie said, her tone innocent, though her eyes gave her away.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.” She focused a little too intently on dishes in front of her.
“Cassie. Spit it out.”
“I may or may not have threatened his life.”
Ellie’s head snapped toward her, then to me, eyes wide. We both knew that when Cassie said may or may not have, she absolutely had.
“What did you say?” I asked, whisper-yelling, careful not to draw attention in case someone walked in.
“I told him he had until today to tell Jace the truth, or I’d do it myself. And that when Jace needed help burying his body, I’d be the one holding the shovel. Nothing crazy.” She shrugged.
“Sweet Jesus,” Ellie muttered from the other side of the island.
“I’m guessing by the chipper mood he’s in, my threat didn’t land hard enough,” Cassie said, nodding toward Jace through the kitchen window. He was still happily flipping burgers on the grill, oblivious to the storm brewing over my head.
I stepped closer to her. “Are you really going to tell him?”
“No,” she said. “But damn, I thought I could scare Liam into doing the right thing instead of leaving it all on you.” Her jaw tightened. “Now I really do have to kill him.”
“Please don’t murder anybody. I don’t have enough money to bail you out of jail. I’m about to start buying baby stuff, and I’ve been looking—that shit’s expensive.”
“You can have some of the stuff we used when we had June,” Ellie said. “I think we still have an old rocking chair and her newborn swing. June loved that swing. Maybe this one will too. Now that you’re having a boy, have you thought about what you’re going to name him?”
Ellie wore the brightest smile. She loved this stuff—shopping for baby clothes, picking out names, updating baby books.
Me? I was clueless. Where did you even buy a baby book?
And now I had to come up with his name—the name he’d have for the rest of his life.
It felt like an impossible job for someone who couldn’t sneeze without almost peeing herself.
One thing at a time, universe. I’m begging.
“How about Oliver? That’s a cute name,” Ellie suggested.
“Who are we naming?” Jace asked, walking through the door and catching all of us off guard.
“Uh—no one,” I said quickly.
“We were just saying if you and I ever got a dog, what we’d name it,” Cassie added, doing her best to sound casual.
“I think getting a dog would be cool,” Jace said, grabbing a cold drink from the fridge before heading back outside.
“Great,” Cassie muttered once the door shut behind him. “Now I’ve gotta get a dog.”
Ellie and I both tried to hide our laughter, knowing Cassie was very much a cat person and not a dog person.
——————————–
The rest of the evening went according to plan. Everyone sat around Jace’s dinner table, laughing and catching up on what had been happening in each other’s lives. I joined in too, careful to leave out one very important update of my own.
As the night began to wind down, I pulled the desserts from the fridge. The nervous knot in my stomach tightened with every passing minute.
I could still back out. I could choose a different way to tell everyone. Maybe an I’m pregnant text in the family group chat. Easier. Less terrifying. But if there was ever a moment in my life to put on my big-girl panties and suck it up, this was it.
Everyone took a seat again after helping themselves to my dessert charcuterie board. My heart thudded in my chest as the sand in my imaginary deadline timer had only a few grains left to drop.
Slowly, I stood at the end of the table, and everyone looked over at me. After standing for a few seconds, I cleared my throat.
“Now that I have everyone trapped at the table with their favorite dessert, there’s something I need to tell you guys,” I said, rubbing my hands together. From the looks on Ellie and Cassie’s faces, they knew exactly where this conversation was headed.
“So… recently I found out something. Something pretty life-changing.”
Forks paused in midair. One by one, everyone slowly set them down on their plates, suddenly far more interested in me than the sugar in front of them. No, keep eating, so you won’t be able to yell at me here shortly.
“Um, there’s really no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to spit it out.”
I hesitated, scanning their faces. Most looked amused, like they were waiting for a prank or a bad joke.
Nope. No jokes tonight. Just the most unexpected secret the McKinley’s have ever had.
“I’m pregnant.”
Jace laughed. “Shut up, Molly. You are not,” he said, shaking his head and dismissing my carefully planned dramatic moment.
I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the ultrasound pictures, letting them dangle in the air. “I’m not joking.”
Everyone’s expressions froze as they studied the black-and-white images. Oh yeah—they believed me now.
“Before you ask, the baby’s father has chosen not to be part of its life, and I’m okay with that,” I rushed on. “So please don’t get upset about that part.”
“Who’s the dad?” Colt asked, glancing around the table, confused.
“I really don’t—”
“Me,” a voice added from behind.
I spun around, my heart slamming into my ribs. Liam was standing just inside Jace’s front door.
I spun back around in time to watch Jace’s face shift from shock to rage.
This was not how this moment was supposed to go.
Jace shot up from the table, his chair grinding harshly against the floor as he shoved it back.
“Jace, calm down,” Mom said, lifting up partially from her own chair.
“You slept with my sister?” Jace asked, fury dripping from every word.
“Yes,” Liam answered.
Jace rounded the table slowly in Liam’s direction.
“Then you got her pregnant and what? Told her to raise the kid on her own?”
“Yes, but—”
Before Liam could finish, Jace charged at him, like a bull zeroed in on his target. He fisted Liam’s shirt and slammed him backward, his head making a loud thud as it hit the wall.
I watched in horror as Jace drew his arm back, knuckles aimed for Liam’s face.
Before Jace could land a punch, Colt grabbed his arm, trying to restrain him. My dad rushed to Jace’s other side, locking down his shoulder. It took the strength of both men to drag him back.
I stood there, frozen in place, eyes burning as they filled with tears.
“JACE!” Dad thundered, finally breaking the struggle. “Your sister is upset. Stop.”
“It’s his fucking fault.” Jace jerked his chin toward Liam with pure disgust. “How long have you known about this?”
Liam straightened his shirt. “A couple of weeks,” he said quietly.
“So you went to lunch with me the other day and didn’t say a damn thing? You just sat there, lying to my fucking face?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You sure as hell didn’t tell me the truth, either, did you?” Jace countered. “Did your dad punch you in the face for being such a fuck-up when you told him what you did? Is that the real reason you’re walking around with a busted-up face?”
I didn’t know what Jace was talking about, but either way, everyone could see on Liam’s face how much the words had hurt him. If he hadn’t hurt me just as badly, I might have actually felt sorry for him.
“Why are you even here?” I asked.
“I came here to say I’m sorry, Molly. I screwed up, bad. I didn’t want you to come to this dinner and stand here alone. I knew you’d use this opportunity to tell them, but you’re not the one everyone should be upset with, it’s me. I let you down, and I let our son down.”
Our son.
His words hit me like a punch to the gut.
I was pregnant under the worst possible circumstances, and now, on top of that, I’d managed to ruin the relationship between my brother and his best friend.
Liam grew up alongside my brother. They played baseball together in middle school, spent every minute of their summers together.
Once, they even got into a full-on fist fight in high school, and they made up five minutes later.
Both of them walked around with black eyes for two weeks.
Their friendship was unbreakable—until today.
Until me.