Page 17 of Together

Rather than answer, I show her that I’m on board, too.

Chapter Four

Nikolas - FIVE WEEKS LATER

“I don’t know,Josie. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

“What the heck is taking you so long? I’m starving and it’s getting bad out.”

“Well, let’s see. It’s Christmas Eve Eve. There’s a blizzard heading our way. And, to top it off, everyone has lost their minds. I’ll get the rest of the stuff on your list and be over there within an hour.”

“You promise?”

I sigh and drop my head back as I wait in the long-as-fuck line at the grocery store. And that’s when I realize I forgot to buy her damn maxi pads. What kind of sister makes her brother buy her maxi pads?

Josie.

That’s what kind.

So awkward and uncomfortable but yet I do it because she asked and I don’t want her driving on the slick roads. A layer of ice came before the snow is expected to start flying.

“Order a pizza and I’ll pick it up on the way. I’m starving.”

“I can cook something.”

“Let’s just chill tonight.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Josie, I’m sure. Now, hang tight and I’ll be there.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too,” I tell her and slide my phone into my pocket.

I know why she’s scared. Blizzards make her nervous. Even though my parents were killed because of a drunk driver, it was in the wintertime and they tried using slick roads as an excuse. But what they forgot was that just because it’s cold outside, that doesn’t mean the roads are automatically covered in ice. That night they were dry. Too bad the other driver wasn’t.

I round the corner to the aisle where I’m pretty sure the feminine products are located and I grin.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” I ask Ashley and she jumps about a foot off the floor, the box that was in her hand flying in the air and landing on the hard tile floor between our feet.

We both look down.

And that’s when our lives change forever.

Chapter Five

Ashley

“Sally? Care to explain?”

I bite back a laugh at the name Nik uses when he points down at the pregnancy test lying on the floor by our feet.

“I’m good.”

“Ashley.”

“I’m late,” I tell him in a whisper, irritated that he caught me, for one thing, and irritated that I was an idiot and became the biggest walking cliché known to man.

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