Page 6 of Mending Hearts

“I just stopped by to say ‘hi’ and to say I was looking forward to tonight.” She laughed and checked her watch. “I have a class in half an hour. Maybe we can get together tomorrow night instead? The kids are with their dad.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel tomorrow. Right now, my mind wasbufferingandfailed to load,and I didn’t expect to reboot in such a short period of time.

My phone buzzed in my hand; with a frown, I read Mia’s message. Jesus. Already it was a fucking dramafest.

Don’t come. You seem happy. I’ll be fine. You’re not getting the clinic info.

I shoved my phone into my back pocket, and my jaw clenched. Why didn’t I ask what hotel she was staying at? If she was still in Little Falls, the list was pretty short. But if she was on her way to New York City, there was no way I’d find her.

“Everything okay?” Danai asked.

“I need to get going.” I grabbed my coat off the rack behind the counter. “I’ll walk you out.”

“You look stressed. Bad news for Emily?”

I shook my head, unwilling to drag my sister further into this web of lies. “No, that was a message from a supplier. Bit frustrated with them at the moment.” Understatement. There were few things I hated more than people deciding things for me. It was bad enough that Mia was havingthe abortion without discussing the choice in any detail. I’d been present at enough dinner conversations with my family as a kid to know it was her body and her decision. My father had been adamant and vocal about being pro-choice. But to cut me out of supporting her when she clearly needed someone? That wasn’t going to fly.

We walked out together, and Danai kissed me before sliding into her compact car. I climbed into my truck and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel while Danai drove out of the plaza. There was only one person I knew who could help. I hoped I didn’t screw this up.

I opened the glass door to Maggie’s pharmacy. Some days, she had a crowd of people getting prescriptions or asking questions. Thankfully, I’d hit a quiet moment. She grinned from behind the high counter, her long auburn hair tucked behind her ears.

“What’s up, big bro?” Maggie scribbled a note to herself and then stepped down from the high counter where she filled prescriptions to the cash counter closer to the front door.

“Grady’s still in L.A., right?” I grabbed the tin of lollipops Maggie kept for the kids of Little Falls or our nephew, Amir. Ripping the plastic off, I popped one into my cheek and stared at her.

“What’s going on? You only do that when you want a cigarette. And that only happens when you’re stressed.”

“Can Grady get in touch with Mia Malone and find out where she’s staying tonight?” I swirled the lollipop around my mouth. I’d called thelocal hotels on my way to see Maggie. I’d tried the alias she’d given last time she’d been in town. No luck.

“Mia Malone?” Maggie frowned, her dark-brown eyes full of curiosity. “Why would you want to talk to her? I thought you were dating Danai?”

I controlled my spike of irritation. Wherever Mia was, she wasn’t going to the clinic until tomorrow. There was no reason to get pissed off with Maggie, especially when I needed her help. “You know how this fame thing works, right? Secrets don’t stay secret. Is Grady good at keeping his mouth shut? I know you can keep a secret.”

“He understands how damaging gossip can be to a career, yeah. What’s going on? Is something wrong with Mia?”

I took a deep breath. “She’s pregnant. The baby’s mine. She’s getting an abortion tomorrow. I want to go with her, but she won’t let me.”

All the color drained from Maggie’s face and then rushed back in a blaze of red. “You and Mia Malone? When? Oh, my God. You slept with her? Tyler, she’sreallyyoung.”

I held up a hand to stave off her tirade. Thankfully, her shoes were still on her feet, so she didn’t intend to smack me for my behavior. Not that I didn’t deserve it.

“And you didn’t use protection? What if she has some kind of disease? Tyler!”

When she went to open her mouth again, I jumped in. “Cocksure Condoms fucked up. Faulty product. It wasn’t—we weren’t careless. It was the night of the benefit in October.”

“Oh.” Maggie stared at her laced hands, lost in thought for a moment. That night had been a big one for both of us. “A baby.”

“Yeah.” The word banged around my head, not landing anywhere logical.

“You’re a dad.”

“For the next,” I checked my phone, “fifteen hours or so.”

“Are you okay?”

“The hell if I know.” I pulled the lollipop out of my mouth and stared at it before popping it back into my cheek. A cigarette would be so much better. But I promised Dad a few years ago that I was done smoking. No way I’d break my promise now. “She doesn’t want to keep the baby. I can’t blame her. We don’t know each other. She’s got an incredible career. It doesn’t feel like something I can ask.”

“Do you want to?”

---