“Penn and I are going to have a baby.”
I know I heard the words right, but my mind is struggling to process them.
“Penn and I are going to have a baby.”
No. No, that doesn’t make any sense. Roxanne and Penn. Roxanne and Penn?
He never told me he was in a relationship with the girl who is basically my cousin. She hasn’t been here and she even told Chloe she was getting married to that guy who was in jail.
No, this must be wrong.
But she’s there, next to him, touching him and she’s pregnant. Her bump doesn’t look that big, but she’s super skinny, so maybe she’s just one of those lucky women who have tiny beach ball bumps. Not like me, I was huge.
Penn is having a baby with Roxanne.
My fingers reach out and grab hold of the couch, because suddenly my legs feel weak. Today I moved in with the guy who is having a baby with my pseudo cousin. Nausea rushes up my throat and I lift my hand to cover my mouth. Penn and I haven’t been careful, he refused to wear a condom and because I was so caught up in him and this stupid love at first sight bullshit I just went along with it.
Oh my god, I’ve been having unprotected sex with him and I never even asked him if he was clean. Obviously the very pregnant woman whose rubbing all over my man is proof that Penn isn’t very good at following the rules of safe sex. How many other women has he slept with? Could he have given me some nasty STI as well as the baby that could possibly be growing in my uterus right now.
Penn, Roxanne and Chloe are all speaking but I can’t hear what’s being said, because my thoughts are too loud. If I’m pregnant then my baby will share a daddy with Roxanne’s baby. They’ll be born in the same year, probably be in the same class at school.
Oh my god, I’ll be the slut who slept with Penn while his girlfriend was pregnant.
Suddenly the urge to run, to take Poppy and get the hell out of this house is all I can think of, so I move to where Poppy is sitting on the floor, pick her up, grab her change bag that’s beside the couch and start to load her into her baby carrier.
I’m vaguely aware of the room going quiet, but I don’t look up, I can’t look at him or her, or her stomach right now. All I want to do is get out of here and away from them and this fucked up situation.
“Lulu.”
Penn’s behind me, his hands on my waist, his lips at my ear. “Let me do that, your hands are shaking.”
“I’m fine,” I say so quietly I can barely hear myself.
“No, you’re not, I need to explain.”
“I don’t need to hear anything. She’s pregnant with your kid. Which is pretty fucking funny because I think if you’d been in a relationship with my cousin, I’d have thought that might be something you mention.”
“I’m sorry, I planned to tell you, but it’s not exactly something that rolls off the tongue. Kitten, please look at me, I don’t know who’s that kid is, but I promise it’s not mine.”
“Are you fucking with me?” Roxanne shrieks. “This is your baby, Penn, we’re in a relationship, we love one another and now we’re having a family. Lulu, you need to back off, bitch, he’s mine.”
Penn’s whole body tenses behind me and slowly his hold on me loosens. “Roxy, we had a friends with benefits thing for a little over a month and it ended a long time ago. That baby isn’t mine.”
“I’m seven months pregnant, Penn. Remember that night you were at the warehouse for Beau’s bachelor party? You were steaming drunk and you dragged me into the bathroom stall.” Her brows arch and she points down at her stomach. “Surprise.”
Looking over my shoulder at Penn, I’m surprised to find him smirking. “Sorry honey, try again. Cody caught you trying to drag my drunk ass off and he told you to fuck off. That baby’s not mine.”
Roxanne shouts and Penn shouts back, while Chloe just stands stoically, shock etched across her face as she stares at her daughter’s stomach. While they’re all distracted, I grab my purse and Poppy’s change bag, then quietly carry my daughter to the door and leave.
