Read Online Father Knows Best by Lynda Sandoval - Free Book Online Page B

but I was too afraid to ask. I mean, I didn’t even know if Dylan and Jennifer had ever—ugh.
    Shudder.
    But, for my own peace of mind, I needed to calculate the last time they could’ve possibly—ugh.
    Shudder.
    Unless I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did, and they were still—UGH!—on the sly.
    Big shudder.
    I needed to get a grip, remember the Dylan I knew and L-worded. I closed my eyes for a moment.
    Gut check.
    I waited.
    No. Somewhere deep inside me, I knew with unwavering certainty that Dylan wasn’t cheating on me. So, if the baby was his, the whole conception aspect had to have happened a while ago. “She’s pregnant,” I repeated in a zombie monotone.
    “Yep,” Caressa said.
    My eyelids fluttered shut, and I’m not sure, but I think I swayed on my feet. “How do you say pregnant in Bosnian, Mer?” I don’t know why I asked that. But I did. Avoidance, I suppose.
    She swallowed. “ Trudna . Or zbijen . Or—”
    “Two choices are more than enough,” I said. “Really.”
    Surreal. I knew I possessed extremities, like, say, hands and feet, but I couldn’t feel any of them right then. I couldn’t even feel my face. I couldn’t feel anything except abject fear straight down to the soul level. It buzzed within me like a wasp’s nest that had been thwacked with a broom handle until all hell had broken loose inside my chest cavity. I mean, what was I supposed to say about this? When’s the freakin’ shower?
    “We just wanted to tell you,” Caressa said in a sad voice, as though reading my mind, “before you heard about it…some other way.”
    Like from Dylan.
    That was the unspoken part, but it came through loud and clear, believe me.
    Because if Jennifer Hamilton was preggers, logically, who could the father BE besides her ex-boyfriend, a.k.a. my current boyfriend, the one for whom I deeply felt the as-yet-undeclared L-word? At least, that’s what all the gossips in White Peaks would think and spread around—Dylan and Hellspawn: teen parents to be.
    The question was, what did I think?
     
    *
     
    Caressa
     
    I can’t believe I had to leave for New York City right after springing that awful news on my girl, Lila. What kind of best friend was I, leaving in her time of need? Not that I had a choice. My job at the theatre (oh, God, I just got all jittery with excitement) starts Tuesday, so I only have Sunday evening and Monday to settle in.
    Not a whole lot of margin for friend crises there.
    This thing with Jennifer Hamilton is a big deal, considering the identity of her ex-boyfriend. No one said it out loud, but you could tell Lila thought the same evil thing Meryl and I had the minute she heard the news: Baby Daddy, starring Dylan Sebring. But, really, even if I had stayed, what could I do besides show my support? And I could do that from here—it’s not as if I’m going to be living in some remote jungle without cell phone or e-mail access. Still, I was torn. Nothing’s quite the same as being with your friends in person, you know?
    But Lila wouldn’t want me to cancel my plans no matter what. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for me. I decided to send her positive mental energy and get on with the summer. They’d call or e-mail me with every update and I’d call and e-mail constantly. It wouldn’t even be like we were apart.
    My plane landed, and once I got off and headed toward baggage claim, everything seemed to move in fast forward. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. New York time and White Peaks time? Not even on the same clock.
    I was in love with the pulsating energy of this city.
    My dad had instructed me to look for a uniformed driver holding up a sign with my name on it just past security, so I did. Okay, let me just say there seemed to be more uniformed drivers than people on the flight—not that they were all for the same flight. But still. I scanned and scanned until I saw my name, then I glanced up and smiled at the driver.
    Holy—!
    Daddy hooked his