22. Parker
Chapter twenty-two
Parker
W hen my phone rings and I see that it’s Chloe calling, my heart leaps in my chest. I quickly pick it up, take a moment to release a long breath and calm myself down, and then answer it.
“Hey,” I say in an easy tone. “How’s it going, beautiful?”
“Um,” she begins hesitantly, “Parker, there’s something I have to tell you.”
Her tone immediately puts me on alert. She sounds like she might have been crying and like she’s barely holding herself together now.
“What is it?” I ask. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she murmurs. “I mean, kind of. I’m not hurt or anything, if that’s what you mean.”
“Okay,” I reply, releasing a breath of relief. At least she’s not physically hurt, so it must be more of an emotional issue. Has Lauren found out about us, and they got into a fight? “Then what’s wrong?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come out and say it.” She takes a moment, and I can hear her sucking in a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
The whole world seems to come to a grinding halt. Pregnant? That can’t be right. I must have misheard her. “What did you say?”
“I’m pregnant,” she answers in a more forceful voice. “I just found out, Parker, and I’m sorry to tell you like this, but I didn’t want to wait, especially because Lauren knows…”
“Lauren knows?”
“She was with me when I took the tests.”
I slump back in my desk chair and stare ahead of me. I would never have guessed that this news was what she needed to tell me. The possibility of her being pregnant would never have crossed my mind.
“I don’t know how this happened,” she continues, but I’m only half-listening. “I’m on the pill, and I’ve never missed it. There’s only a slim chance that this could’ve happened. I’ve always been so careful…”
She’s talking in circles as far as I’m concerned. I can’t focus on anything she’s saying. I think I’m spiraling.
Pregnant. She’s pregnant. She’s going to have a baby.
My baby.
I’m going to be a father.
What the hell am I supposed to do with this information?
“Parker?” she calls out. “Parker, are you still there?”
“I-I’m here,” I murmur. “I’m just…absorbing…”
Suddenly, my desk phone rings. It feels like a lifeline, and I desperately grasp at it.
“Chloe, I’m sorry, I have to go,” I quickly say.
“Parker, hold on…”
“I’ll call you later.”
I hang up before she can object further. I drop my cell on my desk and reach for the office phone.
“Hello?” I say, my tone breathless.
“Parker, son, we have an emergency.”
I furrow my brow, surprised yet again, though this one is a different kind of surprise. “Dad? What’s going on?”
I haven’t spoken to my mom or dad since storming out of their house the other day. There’s a sense of relief at hearing his voice, and I can acknowledge that I’ve missed talking to him, but I’m afraid of the reason he’s calling me. After Chloe’s shocking news, though, I’m not sure what my dad could say that would equal a surprise pregnancy.
My dad releases a long breath and says, “It’s Bethany. She—she did it again, Parker. She’s taken all she could grab and has run off.”
I clench my jaw as fury burns through me.
“I told you!” I exclaim while clenching the phone so hard that I’m surprised it doesn’t crack. “I told you she couldn’t be trusted, but no one would listen!”
“I know,” Dad whispers, and I can hear the devastation in his voice. “I know, son, and I’m sorry. We should have listened to you, but please, can you come over? We need you.”
They need me. They kick me out of their house after I tried to warn them that Bethany couldn’t be trusted, and now, they want me to come running back to help them. I’m only needed when it’s to clean up their darling daughter’s mess, the one I warned them was coming from the start.
There’s a bitter, petty part of me that wants to tell my dad that it’s his mess to clean up, but I push that part aside. My family needs me, and ultimately, they’re what matter most.
My family…and Chloe.