Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(136)

When I didn’t answer her immediately, Anna stood up. I held her back with a hand, trying to remember if, on this particular brand, two dashes was a good thing…because I was definitely seeing two.

“What? What’s the verdict?” she asked, agitated as she grabbed my hand keeping her back.

“I don’t know yet, Anna.”

Narrowing my eyes, hoping that I was remembering the directions wrong, I looked for the one that used plain English to spell out your fate.

As the words blossomed to life right in front of my eyes, I nearly felt like crying.

381



My sister was nearly frantic with worry when I looked up at her. In the loudest voice I could muster, I whispered, “You’re pregnant…they’re positive.”

Her eyes widened and glossed over. Dropping my arm, she quietly asked, “All of them?” like somehow if just one said no, it would negate the rest.

I glanced at them again, then up to her. All of the ones without words were similar—two dashes, a dash and a plus sign, one even had a smiley face. Adding that to the one that joyfully pronounced PREGNANT and it could only mean one thing.

I nodded and gave her a sad smile. “All of them. Congratulations, Anna, you’re gonna have a baby.”

She started sobbing…and not because she was happy.

When Anna gathered herself, she seemed convinced that she could change the outcome of technology. “No!” Grabbing the sticks, she started marching her way to the bathroom. On the way, she screamed, “No f*cking way! These are wrong. I am NOT pregnant!” I gingerly followed behind the angry-at-fate woman, trying to help her without getting my head torn off. After she slammed the bathroom door shut, I timidly knocked on it. “Anna? What are you doing?” Her voice trembling with fear and rage, she yelled, “I’m taking the rest of them! Because they’re wrong! There’s no way that f*cker knocked me up! None!”

I sighed, not wanting to tell her that it was possible. Griffin may be an idiot, but his sperm could still swim…apparently. Very quietly, I asked,

“Are you sure it was Griffin?”

I cringed after I asked, knowing the temperamental woman would probably throttle me for kind of calling her a slut for a second time. The door

cracked

open

and

twin

emerald

eyes

blazed

at

me.

“Yes…I’m…sure.”

382



She slammed the door shut again and I winced. “Okay, just checking…”

When it was silent for a long time, I slowly opened the door. Anna had every test lined around the small sink. They were all various colors and styles, and the results screens showed various forms of words or symbols, but the results were the same on every single one of them.

Confirmed by a dozen different tests…Anna was pregnant.

She looked back up at me, teary eyed, her anger sapped. “What do I do, Kiera?”

I stepped into the room and hugged the lost woman. She seemed completely thrown, and I’d never seen my sister thrown. She tended to roll with whatever life gave her, breezing from place to place, man to man, job to job. A child though…that was a permanent responsibility that she couldn’t flit away from.

“You’ll do the best you can, Anna, and I’ll help you as much as I can.” I pulled back to look at her and she broke away from me, taking a step back in the small room. Shaking her head, she sputtered, “No, I can’t do this, Kiera. I’m not you. I’m not responsible or reliable or even that smart.” She tossed her hands up in the air. “I work at Hooters for f*ck’s sake. All I have is nice hair and a great rack. What the hell do I have to offer a kid?”

Sighing, I put my hand on her arm. “You’ll do better than you think, and I know you, you’ll love that baby…so much. And what more does a baby need, but love?”

Tears down her cheeks, she shook her head again. “I can’t do this…I don’t want to. I don’t want kids, I’ve never wanted kids.” She ran her hands back through her hair, groaning. “Oh my God…Dad! He’s going to kill me. Mom…she’ll never look at me the same…” Sniffling, she covered her face for a second and I patted her arm.

“They’ll…come around, Anna. They’ll be proud grandparents, and you and Griffin—”

383



She dropped her hands, her jaw dropping. “Griffin…oh my God.

Griffin is going to be a father!” She said it like she just now realized what his role in all of this was going to be.

I rubbed her arm supportively. “Yeah, that’s kind of how it works, Anna.”

Shaking her head, her face still in disbelief, she said, “Griffin can’t be a dad, Kiera. He just can’t.” She pointed out the bathroom window, to where our boys were miles and miles away from us. “He blows pot into puppy’s faces, Kiera! Can you picture him around a child?” I cringed. Nope, not in a million years. I tried to switch it to a placating smile, but Anna noticed my expression. In some attempt to reassure her, I said, “Well, you’ll have me and Kellan and Evan, and Matt especially, since he’s family. They’ll…keep Griffin in check.” Sighing, she closed the toilet seat and sat on it. “Griffin…he’ll think I did this on purpose, like those groupies they were warned about.” She looked up at me, fresh tears in her eyes. “He’ll never want to be with me again.”