Awk-Weird (Ice Knights, #2)(10)

“I don’t know,” Tess said. “I think including the skull and crossbones as an imprint on the pie crust is pretty genius.”

“We need to get him to try some cheerier reading material just for a change of pace,” Gina said as she poured four small plastic cups of red wine. “Last week was a cow being led into a slaughterhouse.”

“Larry would find a way to make Harold and the Purple Crayon horrifying,” Fallon said, accepting her cup from Gina. “The man has a gift—let him express it.”

Gina made noises of agreement as she handed a second cup to Lucy and then turned to Tess, the cup filled nearly to the brim with cheap Merlot. For a second, all Tess could imagine was a little skull and crossbones etched into the plastic cup.

“I’m good,” she said, waving off the drink.

Gina chuckled. “You know this high-quality product isn’t available on just any grocery store shelf.”

“Yeah,” Lucy said, joining in on the joke. “You wouldn’t want to turn this stuff down unless you’re pregnant.”

Tess blanched, her palm automatically going to her belly.

All three of her girls stared for a second, their jaws going slack with realization.

Tess nodded. “And I’m keeping it.”

“You’re pregnant!” Fallon practically shouted. “This is awesome.”

If only it had been Gina saying it, there would have been hope that the two words would have been whispered. Everyone in Paint and Sip whipped around to stare at Tess. She smoothed her hand over her curls, all of which were frizzing from the light snow outside, and tried her best to melt into the background.

It’s where she liked to be.

People forgot about her and, as she’d learned at a young age, it was always safer when she wasn’t noticed. Being reminded of her presence had only made her relatives remember that she’d been foisted upon them in the first place. They’d start complaining loudly about the extra mouth and wondering with harsh regularity when her mother was going to come reclaim her.

That wasn’t going to happen in the art studio, though. All the regulars, including her girls, were raising their cups in toast—even Larry, who almost looked like he might be smiling.

“Thanks,” Tess said when they wouldn’t stop staring at her as if waiting for confirmation of Fallon’s exclamation. “I’ll be one of the nearly forty percent of American women who are unmarried when they have babies.”

All of the happy murmurings silenced, and Larry’s hint of a grin disappeared as if she’d imagined it.

Way to go, Tess. Nothing like letting your awk-weird show in public.

“To Tess and the forty percenters,” Gina said, holding up her cup.

Fallon, Gina, and Lucy wrapped their arms around her in a group hug that helped settle her. This feeling, the one that made her warm and content and at ease, was what she wanted the baby to grow up bathed in.

After the hug ended, Lucy held her by the shoulders and gave her the look that sent her misbehaving crisis communications clients into a flurry of I-will-never-fuck-up-again activity. “Who is the mystery man?”

“Yeah, who have you been hiding from us?” Gina asked, sitting down in front of her blank canvas, wine in hand and attention focused solely on Tess.

“Did you know a rhino’s horn is made of hair?”

None of her girls even batted an eye. Damn it. There was something to be said for being able to throw people off their game by throwing random facts their way. It was amazing how often that worked. For someone like her who hated to people, it kept interactions blessedly contained and short.

“Nice try, Tess,” Lucy said. “But we’re here so often that Larry barely even shushes us anymore. Spill.”

“Cole’s the dad. We used three condoms, but something must have been wrong with them.”

“He triple wrapped?” Fallon asked.

“At the same time?” Lucy looked up at the ceiling as if she was imagining the logistics of rolling one condom on top of another and then doing it again just to be sure. “I know he has this whole cleanliness thing, but that’s just fucking weird.”

“No,” Tess managed to squeak out. Oh God, why was this embarrassing? These were her closest friends. They knew she had sex. “We did it three times the night before Lucy got married.”

“In one night?” Gina did a quick series of quick happy claps. “No wonder you were late for hair and makeup.”

“I’m impressed you were able to roll out of bed at all,” Lucy said with a chuckle. “Good for you.”

“Wait,” Fallon said, using one of her paintbrushes as a pointer and directing it at Tess. “That was only a month ago. How can you know you’re pregnant? You could just be late.”

“That’s what I was hoping, but I took tests. They can tell even before you get your period now.”

“Plural?” Lucy asked.

Tess nodded. “Four of them. They were all positive.”

“Then I guess after Paint and Sip, I’ll go get my uncle’s shotgun he left me along with the house and we go have a little chat with Cole about his intentions.” Gina squared her shoulders and arranged her brushes, prepping to paint the radioactive apocalypse. “The serial number was filed off it, but I’m sure that was just a Luca family quirk and not because it was probably used in the commission of a crime like Ford says. It’ll be fine.”