Chapter 12
Mia
‘You didn’t tell him?’ Nora says, her voice so loud that the people around us heard and are now staring at us.
It’s Sunday morning and we’re having brunch at our favorite place by campus.
‘Would you keep your voice down?’ I whisper.
She glances at the table next to ours and smiles at the older couple. ‘Sorry. My friend’s hard of hearing.’
They give me a sympathetic look, then go back to eating their breakfast.
‘Why didn’t you tell him?’ Nora asks.
‘Because his brother is getting married next weekend and I didn’t want to take attention away from the wedding. I’ll wait until it’s over and then I’ll tell him.’
‘Over the phone? Don’t you want to tell him in person?’
‘I will. When I go back there.’ I pop a piece of cantaloupe in my mouth so I’ll be too busy chewing to answer the million questions I know are coming.
She leans toward me across the table. ‘Please tell me you are not going to the wedding with him.’
I point to my mouth as I eat the cantaloupe.
She leans back, folding her arms over her chest and stares at me.
‘You’re leaving, Mia. You’re going back to Boston.
Why would you get involved with this guy knowing it’ll never work out?
You were supposed to go there, tell him about the baby, and discuss what to do going forward.
That’s it. And now you’re going to be his date for his brother’s wedding? ’
After dabbing my mouth with my napkin, I lean toward her and lower my voice.
‘It’s not a date. I’m going to the wedding as a favor to Jason.
Some crazy girl at his apartment was pressuring him to take her to the wedding so he told her he was going with me.
Then when we were having breakfast with Jason’s family, his brother said the crazy girl’s mom would be catering the wedding, so obviously, she’d know Jason lied if he showed up alone. ’
‘Okay, wait.’ She puts her hand up and takes a deep breath. ‘You had breakfast with his family?’
‘Yes, and it was so good. His mom is the best cook. Her food is even better than here, and you know how much I love this place. Jason’s parents live in this adorable farmhouse way up on a hill next to the orchard.
His brother Nick runs the orchard and gave me a tour of it and the barn where they host events. ’
‘Wait.’ She puts her hand up again. ‘We’ll go back to the whole barn-breakfast thing. First, let’s talk about this girl at his apartment. Were you there? At his apartment?’
‘I stayed there,’ I say like it’s not a big deal, but I know Nora will make it one.
Her brows rise. ‘You stayed at his apartment? You said you were getting a hotel.’
‘There’s only two hotels in town and one of them was doing renovations, which could’ve been loud. So Jason offered to let me stay at his apartment.’
‘You had sex with him, didn’t you?’ she says, raising her voice again. The older couple next to us gives us an annoyed look.
‘Sorry,’ Nora says to them, pointing at me. ‘She’s practically deaf. I have to shout for her to hear me. She has a hearing aid, but she refuses to wear it.’
‘They make ones you can barely see,’ the old man says to me. ‘Show her, dear.’
The old lady moves her gray hair aside to show me her hearing aid. ‘I got it at the place at the mall.’ She says it’s really loud and enunciates each word.
‘I’ll take her there later today,’ Nora says. ‘Thank you.’
They nod, then get up from the table to leave.
‘Are you done?’ I point to Nora’s plate. ‘We need to get out of here before you embarrass me even more.’
‘We can go, but we’re not done talking about this.’
When we’re back at my apartment, Nora starts in again. ‘You said you wanted to keep your distance from this guy. And I agree. That’s the best thing for both of you. If you start having feelings for each other, it’ll be that much harder when you leave.’
I sink down on the couch. ‘I already have feelings for him. I had feelings for him the night of the wedding.’
‘You said it was just sex.’
‘Yeah, well, I might’ve lied about that.’
She sighs. ‘Mia, why are you doing this? Staying at his apartment? Hanging out with his family?’ She sits beside me, facing me. ‘You know this isn’t going to end well.’
‘I’m not just doing this for me. I’m doing it for the baby. I have to get to know my baby’s father. He or she is going to be spending time with him and I have to know I can trust him and that he’ll be a good dad.’
She pauses a moment. ‘Okay, you make a good point. But you can get to know him without having sex with him.’
‘I didn’t—’
‘You did. Don’t even try to lie about it. You don’t have the hots for some guy and spend the night at his place and have nothing happen.’
‘It didn’t happen at night. I got sick during the night. Jason woke up and found me in the bathroom. It was disgusting. Trust me, we were not having sex that night.’
‘You got sick? How’d you explain that?’
‘I told him it was food poisoning.’ I smile. ‘He was so sweet. He helped me back to his room, then stayed there with me and we talked until I fell asleep.’
‘And he didn’t try anything?’
‘No! Gross! Did you not hear the part about me puking?’
‘I’m just asking. Some guys wouldn’t care.’
‘Jason’s not like that. He felt really bad that I got sick. He kept offering to get me stuff, like water or crackers. He’s going to make a great dad,’ I say, in a dreamy voice as I imagine him with our baby.
‘So when did you have sex?’
‘Right before I left.’ I tell her how we went to the falls and kissed, which sparked what happened later at his apartment. ‘The sex was even better than last time.’
‘Guess I know what you’ll be doing this weekend,’ she says, sounding annoyed with me.
‘We’re not going to do that, not after I tell him my news. I’m worried he’s going to be mad that I’m still planning to move away.’
‘He can move to Boston.’
‘He won’t. Seeing how close he is with his family, I can’t see him ever leaving there. And I get it, because I’m the same way. We both want to be with our families.’
‘When are you going to tell your parents?’
‘Right before they fly home. I want them to be happy at my graduation, not disappointed and sad.’
‘They’re not going to be sad. They’re getting a grandchild.’
‘Who came from a one-night stand,’ I say with a sigh.
‘They don’t need to know how it happened. And it wasn’t a one-night stand. You’re still seeing him.’
‘But for how long? This weekend will probably be it.’
‘Wait.’ She gets up. ‘Didn’t you say your parents are going to Haydon Falls?’
‘Yeah, they’re coming here the week before I graduate to drive around and see the area. Why?’
‘What if they meet Jason?’
‘It’s a small town, but not that small. I doubt they’ll run into him. And if they did, they wouldn’t know who he was. I’m not ready to tell them who the father is. I want to wait until Jason and I have had time to figure out how this is going to work.’
‘You know they won’t accept that, especially your mom. No offense but she’s kind of nosy, and persistent. Remember when she kept asking how I got that bruise on my neck?’
‘And you told her you got hit by a tennis ball when it was really a hickey? That was quick thinking. I’m impressed you came up with that so fast.’
‘Can you believe that guy gave me a hickey? Like we’re still in high school?’ Nora goes to the fridge and takes out a bottle of water. ‘I was so pissed. I’m a professor. I can’t be showing up to class with a hickey. This is why I got off the dating apps.’
I get up and meet her in the kitchen. ‘So what’s your point? About Jason?’
‘Oh! Yeah.’ She takes a sip of her water. ‘Why don’t you introduce your parents to Jason?’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘Because your nosy mom is not going to wait months to find out who her grandchild’s father is. If they’re going to be in Haydon Falls, you might as well introduce them.’
‘And what am I supposed to say? This is the guy I had sex with last January, resulting in your grandchild?’
‘Tell them he’s your boyfriend,’ she casually says as she goes back to the couch.
‘Wait—what?’ I join her on the couch. ‘You want me to lie to my parents and tell them Jason’s my boyfriend?’
‘It’s not really a lie. You’re staying with him, having sex with him, going to his brother’s wedding. Sounds like a boyfriend to me.’
‘But he’s not. And there’s no way he’d agree to that unless it was actually true.’
She turns to me, her eyes getting big. ‘You know what would be even better?’
‘What?’ I ask, not sure I want to hear this.
‘If you told them he’s your fiancé.’
I burst out laughing. ‘Yeah, right. That’s funny. I needed a laugh.’
‘I’m serious. You tell your parents he’s your fiancé, then later, in a few months or whatever, you tell them you guys broke up.
That way it looks like you tried to make it work with Jason, but then found out you two weren’t a good match.
They can’t be mad about that. And if you’re engaged to him, they’ll assume you’ve been dating Jason for months instead of it being a one-night fling. ’
‘No.’ I shake my head. ‘Absolutely not. I’m not making up some crazy story about being engaged. Even if I wanted to, there’s no way Jason would go for that. If he did, he’d be lying to his family too.’
‘Why? They don’t have to know.’
‘My parents will insist on meeting Jason’s family if they think I’m marrying him.
And it’s not like I can lie and say they don’t live there.
The Kanfield name is all over town. Everywhere you go there’s signs for Kanfield Orchard and if they go downtown they’ll see Kanfield Brewery.
My parents could easily find out where Jason’s parents live. ’
‘Okay, so he lies to his family about your engagement. So what? It’s probably a good thing since he knocked you up.’
‘He’s not going to agree to it. And his family knows we’ve barely spent any time together. It wouldn’t make sense to them that he’s engaged.’
‘You said he’s a good guy, right?’
‘Yeah. Why?’
‘Guys like that want to marry the girl. They feel it’s their duty after knocking her up.’