Lovestruck Forever (9 page)

“It
doesn’t have to be a nightmare.” I reached across the
table to grab her hand. “I’ll help you. Whatever you
need.”

She
shook her head, her expression so sad it made my heart twist. “What
I need is a time machine. Don’t think you can help me there,
Lizzie.”

She
released my hand and started fidgeting with the wrapper from her
straw, twisting it tightly before smoothing it flat against the
table.

“Is
it…is it the guy from work?” As soon as the words left
my mouth, I felt like an ass, but she merely nodded sadly.

“Yeah.
Tim.”

“And
I take it you haven’t told him?”

She
shook her head. “What’s the point?”

“If
it’s his baby, he deserves to know, Sof.”

Her
next words were so soft I had to strain to hear them. “He
doesn’t love me. And I don’t love him.” She met my
gaze, her eyes wide and clear. “There’s no fairy tale
ending here, Lizzie.”

Shit.
I had no idea what to say to her, how to make this better. I
remembered the brief pregnancy scare Thomas and I’d had last
year in L.A. I remembered the panic and the shock. How scared I was
to tell my parents. And my situation was completely different from
Sofie’s. I had Thomas, for starters— a man that I loved
and was committed to. A man that could and would be happy to take
care of a baby. Sofie didn’t have any of that.

“We’re
going to get through this,” I said, my voice suddenly firm. She
needed to know that she wasn’t alone, that I would be here
through this, whatever she needed.

“They’ll
kill me, Lizzie,” she whispered, and I knew she meant her
parents. For a lot of families, a twenty-four-year-old having a baby
wouldn’t be a huge deal, married or not. But our family wasn’t
like most others. To say our parents were old fashioned was the
understatement of the year. I had left to go to London with my
boyfriend—not even living in the same apartment with him—and
my dad had refused to speak to me for months. Sofie wasn’t
over-reacting with her fear of their response.

“They
will not kill you,” I said, with more conviction than I felt.
She raised her eyebrows at me. “I mean, okay, so they’re
going to freak out. That’s a given.” She laughed a
little, and I felt a rush of relief. At least she wasn’t
sobbing anymore. “But seriously, Sof, what’s the worst
that they can do?” I shook my head. “Yell for a while?
We’re used to that, being the terrible rebels that we are.”

My
second attempt at being lighthearted didn’t even elicit a
smile. “They’ll kick me out, Lizzie. I bet they won’t
even speak to me.”

I
swallowed, wanting to tell her that she was being silly, that they
wouldn’t possibly kick her out or cut off communication. Then I
remembered spending the previous Christmas with Thomas’s
family, because my dad and sister weren’t speaking to me.
Damn
it
.

“Maybe
they’ll surprise us,” I suggested, willing myself to
believe it. “They have come a long way over the last few
years.”

Her
expression was so completely skeptical that I had to laugh. “I
mean it, Sof. Look at me—a year ago, they were all freaking out
because I wanted to study abroad. Now I’m living with my
boyfriend, and they aren’t batting an eye.”

Sofie
laughed before hiccupping. “Yeah, except my mom still sighs and
shakes her head every time your name comes up.”

I
scowled at her, all too familiar with the Aunt Maria sigh and
headshake combo. “She may do that,” I pointed out. “But
she still helped throw me an engagement party, didn’t she?”
I smiled at my oldest friend. “It might not be everything, Sof,
but it’s progress.”

She
nodded, staring at the table. I felt my heart clench—she must
be so scared. “Do you want me to come with you? When you tell
them?”

“No.
I think I just want to get it over with.”

“You
call me as soon as you tell them, okay? No matter what they say.”

She
nodded again, her eyes still on the table.

“I’m
sorry, Lizzie,” she finally muttered.

I
blinked in surprise. “Sorry? For what? You think I care if you
got knocked up?”

She
threw her shriveled straw wrapper at me, sticking out her tongue.
“No, brat. I meant I was sorry about dropping this on everyone
when you have the wedding coming up. The last thing you probably
wanted was a new family scandal, right when everything was finally
going back to normal for you.”

“Are
you kidding? I’m grateful—now they’ll all forget
about the fact that I’m living in sin with my godless Hollywood
gringo boyfriend and obsess about how terrible you are for a while.”

“You
joke,” she murmured, smiling sadly. “But it’s
actually true.”

“Screw
them, Sof,” I said, much more vehemently than I had planned.
“I’m serious. If they can’t be supportive of you,
then screw them.”

“Thanks,
Lizzie.”

“Have
you…do you want to talk about the…eh…plans?”

She
groaned. “Stop worrying about saying the wrong thing, Lizzie,
please. I need you to be normal with me, okay?”

I
nodded. “Okay. I won’t tiptoe around anything.” I
met her eyes. “Do you want to keep it? Because if you don’t,
I’d, you know, be supportive of that.”

“I’ve
thought about it,” she said, looking away. “Believe me.
But mostly because then I wouldn’t have to tell my parents.”
She smiled into the distance. “I think that’s a pretty
crappy reason not to have a baby. Because I’m twenty-four and
still scared of my mom and dad.”

“But
you also shouldn’t have the baby just to prove that you
aren’t
scared,” I pointed out. “You should only have the baby if
you want to, Sofie.”

Her
hand came up to her stomach, absentmindedly, as if she wasn’t
aware she was doing it. “I do want it,” she said softly.
“I’m scared out of my mind, but I can’t imagine not
having it.” She rolled her eyes at me. “See, my mom
should be proud. At least some of her constant preaching stuck—turns
out I’m pro-life. Who would have thought?”

I
snorted. “Yeah. Too bad their preaching about abstinence didn’t
stick.”

For
the first time since we’d sat down, she let out a real,
full-throated laugh, and I felt a rush of relief. She might be scared
witless, but if she could still laugh like that, I knew she was going
to be okay.

***

I
told Thomas about Sofie’s secret the moment he walked in the
door from rehearsal.

“Wait,
Sofie is what?” he asked, looking confused from the doorway,
through which I hadn’t even let him pass before spilling the
news.

I
grabbed his hand, pulling him into the kitchen. “Sofie is
pregnant
,”
I hissed. “And I couldn’t tell anyone until you got home,
so you need to get in here so I can get this all off my chest.”

“Holy
shit,” he muttered, looking dazed. He pulled his messenger bag
from his shoulder and sank into a chair at the kitchen table.
“Seriously?”

I
sat across from him, nodding vigorously. “Yes. She told me
today. Apparently it’s that guy I was teasing her about dating,
the one from work.” I made a face. “Tim something.”

“Does
he know?”

I
shook my head. “She didn’t even know for sure until
today. She took the test—multiple times—this morning, but
she’s suspected for weeks.

“Has
she told anyone else?”

I
shook my head. “Just me. She says she didn’t want to say
anything before the engagement party. She thought it might divert
attention from us. She’s under the impression the family might
freak out when they find out she’s pregnant with no intentions
of marrying the father.”

He
made a scathing noise in the back of his throat. “
Might
freak out?”

I
nodded vigorously. “Right?”

“God,
what are her parents going to say?”

“Pretty
much what I was afraid my parents would say last year.”

Thomas
met my gaze, his expression turning from shocked to sad. It had been
one of our worst fights, those moments after the test showed I wasn’t
pregnant. Thomas had been excited by the prospect of a baby and
furious when I listed my parents’ reaction as the biggest
reason I was relieved not to be pregnant.

“The
difference,” I said softly, not really wanting to think about
that night, “is that I had you, no matter what. Sofie is only
casually dating this guy. She doesn’t think he’s going to
be there for her.”

“Maybe
he’ll surprise her,” Thomas suggested.

But
I shook my head, thinking about her words at the coffee shop.
He
doesn’t love me. And I don’t love him
.
“She’s alone, Thomas. And she’s terrified.”

“She’s
not alone,” he said firmly. “She has us. No matter what
she needs—a place to stay, someone to help her pick out baby
stuff, money for diapers—we’ll help her, Lizzie.”

I
felt a rush of love for him, knowing how sincerely he meant it. Of
all of my family, I think it was Sofie that he had come to love most,
to think of as a member of his own family. I slipped out of my seat
and went to sit in his lap, my favorite place to cuddle after a day a
part. “Thank you for saying that.”

“I
meant it.”

“I
know.” I kissed the tip of his nose. “And that’s
why I love you.”

Thomas
raised an eyebrow at me. “And I thought it was because of my
rugged good looks.”

I
giggled, poking him in the stomach. “That, too.”

Thomas
pulled me closer into his chest, and I nestled my head under his
chin. “So I guess there’s no point in asking how your day
was, huh? You’ve probably been obsessing about this since she
told you.”

“I
can’t help it. She said she wanted to tell them as soon as
possible, get it over with. What if she’s telling them right
now?”

“Then
she’ll probably be calling you any minute.”

My
eyes flicked to my phone on the counter of their own volition and
Thomas laughed. “You can’t make it ring by sheer force of
will, Lizzie.”

“I
wish she would have let me go with her,” I said. “I
offered, but she said no. She’s scared and she hates being
scared, so she’s trying to cover by not accepting help. She’s
always like this.”

“Can’t
say that reminds me of anyone,” he muttered, his voice dry.

We
sat in silence for a few moments. It was nice to snuggle up to
Thomas, particularly when I hadn’t seen him for several hours,
but I couldn’t turn off my brain. I knew a family freak out of
epic proportions was on its way, and there was nothing I could do to
slow or stop it.

And
there was a little part of me—a nasty, selfish little part—that
was a little resentful of Sofie’s news. It already seemed
nearly impossible, telling my family that I didn’t want to get
married here in Michigan. But how on earth could I do it now, when
everyone was about to be all worked up and upset over Sofie’s
bombshell?

“You’re
thinking about the wedding, aren’t you?” Thomas asked,
and I shook my head at his ability to read my moods so well.

“It’s
going to be even harder to tell them about getting married in London,
now,” I said, feeling guilty even as I said it. It was just a
wedding. Considering the life change Sofie was about to undergo, my
little problems were silly.

“Do
you
want
to tell them?” he asked, looking down at me.

I
shrugged. “I don’t know. I always imagined our wedding
would be in London. But before I met you, I figured I’d be
married here, just the way they’re planning now.” I
paused. “It wouldn’t be terrible, you know. Having the
wedding here.”

“I
know it wouldn’t. Look, Lizzie, all I care about is getting to
call you my wife. How we get to that point isn’t so important
to me.” He placed a finger under my chin, making me look up at
him so he could meet my eyes. “What’s important to me is
you—you getting the wedding you want. Wherever that is. Here,
London, Vegas.”

“Didn’t
you veto Vegas? I thought you wanted to see me in a big white dress.”

He
gave me a wicked grin. “If it’s anything like the quince
dress, you’re damn straight I want to see it.” His face
turned serious. “I mean it, Lizzie. If you want to get married
in London, I want that, too. Even if that means having a scary
conversation with your family.”

I
sighed. “You’d think I’d be over it by now—being
scared of them, I mean. What with all of the defiance you’ve
been encouraging in me since we met.”

“That’s
me,” he said, matter-of-factly. “A terrible influence of
drugs and sex.”

I
laughed at the image, knowing he was moments away from changing into
a worn cardigan and slippers—his “at home” clothes,
as he called them—and settling down with a book or newspaper.
He may be an internationally famous movie star, but Thomas was much
more curmudgeonly old man than mysterious danger man.

“Think
about it, okay?” he pressed. “It will only get harder to
tell them the more planning that they do.”

He
had a good point there. “Let’s just give it a while to
see how they take Sofie’s news.” I straightened up in his
lap. “Who knows, maybe everyone will just be really excited for
her.”

I
could tell he didn’t believe me for a second, but still he
smiled and agreed. “Maybe.”

Yeah
,
I thought to myself.
And
maybe Maria will give up teaching and motherhood for a life in the
circus
.

“Poor
Sofie,” I muttered, cuddling into Thomas once again. I’d
been on the receiving end of family disapproval enough over the last
few years to know that she had a rough road ahead of her. I couldn’t
protect her from it, but I could be there for her. And not just in
private either—Sofie had always stood up to our parents for me,
no matter how disappointed they were in my choices. I would do the
same for her, no matter what. Even if it did put me on my parents’
bad side.