The Marriage Contract by Natasha Black (best novels for teenagers TXT) 📕

I said, then turned back to Hannah. “Was it you? Were you the one who told Chloe to lie? Were you the one who told her to blame it on you if I found out?”

“No,” Hannah said. “I just bought the test for her, that’s all.”

I shook my head and went back to the cutting board.

“Hey, maybe not with the sharp knives right now,” Jordan said.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” Hannah said.

“You know what?” I asked. “I’m not even mad at you. Seriously, I’m not. I’m hurt.”

“I think everyone can understand that,” Jordan said. “This is a huge deal.”

“You’re damn right it is,” I said. “But for her to lie to my face…”

“Look, you need to go talk to her,” Hannah said. “She needs to talk this through with you, one way or the other. No more hiding things because they’re uncomfortable.”

I nodded and gripped the countertop. The anger was still there, no matter how much I tried to deny it, but it wasn’t directed at anyone specifically. Maybe some of it at Chloe. Mostly it was just being converted into shock and disappointment that she would keep it from me. That I didn’t get one of those cool memories of us finding out together. That I wasn’t even clued in that it could be possible.

“You’re right,” I said finally. “I need to talk to her. That’s why I need you to take my apron and call the line cook on schedule for tonight and see if they can come in early.”

“Go,” Jordan said. “Get out of here.”

“I’ll be back before we open,” I said and rushed out.

Silently, I cursed myself for not taking the car. If I had, I would have been home in less than five minutes. As it was, I had a little walk to get to the complex of townhouses and small apartment buildings that made up my home. I passed by the bank of mailboxes outside and noticed that her car wasn’t where I remembered it being parked.

Running up to the door, I shoved the key inside and turned the knob. As soon as I was inside, I could tell it was empty. Panic gripped my heart as I called out her name over and over.

She never answered.

34

Chloe

I felt shell-shocked by Matt’s reaction. Not that I expected him to jump up and down and be excited by the news or even to take it particularly well. But I wasn’t expecting him to act like he had. Even if he was upset, I thought he would at least be able to sympathize with me. He would understand he wasn’t the only one who was surprised or taken aback in this situation, and that we were in it together.

Apparently, though, we weren’t. His reaction told me in no uncertain terms I was on my own. He couldn’t even stand to stay in the house with me after he found out. He would barely even look at me.

I shouldn’t have lied to him. I knew that. It was stupid and impulsive. The words just kind of fell out of my mouth when I opened it without any plan as to what I was going to say. Him finding the test and coming at me like that had hit me so hard I couldn’t think straight. If I had been able to, I would know that it made no sense to lie to him. Not only was it just exacerbating an already difficult situation with dishonesty, but it was ridiculous.

It wasn’t going to take a tremendous amount of sleuthing for him to find out it wasn’t Hannah’s pregnancy test. Jordan was his brother. He could just pick up the phone and ask. It didn’t even occur to me when I said that if he did do that, it could cause a major issue between my cousin and her husband. The entire situation would get completely out of hand so fast that I would have ruined everyone’s relationship in less than a day.

I should have just come right out with it. In fact, I should have told him the day before, when I first found out, when the words wouldn’t come to me. I should have for him. This never should have been something I tried to hold on to by myself. I didn’t really understand what it was I thought I was doing by holding it in. I told myself it was so I could figure out what I wanted to do. But what did that even mean?

How did I think I could possibly figure out how to move forward with this new reality in my life without including the father?

And this was what came of it. Matt wouldn’t speak to me. I didn’t know exactly where he was or what he was doing. The house felt oddly empty and silent. It obviously wasn’t the first time I had been alone there, yet now the quiet felt oppressive.

I was torturing myself with the circular thoughts spiraling around in my head. One second I was lambasting myself for keeping the pregnancy a secret even for the short time I did and scolding myself for thinking I needed to figure it out for myself. The next I was reassuring myself I did the right thing. This was stunning, unexpected news, and I had the right to take some time and think it through, to process it and get it into my own mind before I needed to talk to anybody about it.

And that was exactly what I was doing. It wasn’t like I’d gone around telling everybody in Portland I was carrying Matt Anderson’s baby but just didn’t get around to letting him in on it. I hadn’t told anyone. Clearly, Hannah had her suspicions. She was the one who’d brought me the pregnancy test, after all. Even if it was just out of an abundance of caution and to rule out everything, she had at least an inkling it was a possibility.

But no one had confirmation. No