Page 77 of Breakaway

“Have a seat.” He gestured to his black leather couch.

She sat and pushed the sunglasses to the top of her head. Blinked. “Congratulations,” she finally said. “You made the playoffs.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Thanks.”

She sat there, saying nothing, her hands clutching her knees.

“Brianne?”

She swallowed, nodded, then looked at him, but her gaze was on his chest, not his eyes. “I have something to tell you.”

“Okay.” Get on with it, he thought. He resisted the urge to glance at his watch.

“I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Thirteen

“So what did you want to talk about, Jasmine?” Remi sauntered back into the kitchen after saying good-bye to Jase, feeling soft and relaxed and happy.

“Well. Um. Ethan and I want to buy a house.”

“Oh. Really.” Remi’s stomach rolled over. It had been a big step for them to move in together in Ethan’s apartment. Buying a house together sounded serious. She still wasn’t convinced their relationship was all that mature. She sat at the big oak kitchen table with Jasmine.

“We want to buy a house, but things have tightened up a lot because of the recession,” Jasmine continued. “So we need a big down payment.”

“Oh. I guess you do.” Remi nodded, still not sure where this was going. She sipped her coffee, scalding hot, dark and rich. “Do you have some money saved up?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She waited.

Jasmine looked down at her coffee, appearing to struggle for words. Then she looked up. “If you sold the house, I could use my share of the money to buy a new one.”

Remi shook her head. “What?”

“It’s our house.” Jasmine smiled. “All three of us. Right?”

“Uh…right.” Remi’s mind spun. What did she say? What?

“So if it belongs to all three of us, then one third of the value is mine and I want that money for a down payment on a house of our own. Me and Ethan. So you need to sell the house.”

Remi stared at Jasmine. What was she talking about? “But I live here, Jasmine.”

“I know. But you could find somewhere else to live. You’d have your third of the money.”

“But…” Remi blinked, looked around her. This was her home. This wastheirhome. Even though Jasmine had just moved out, she’d already moved back once. She needed a place to come home to when things didn’t work out. Okay,ifthings didn’t work out.Think positive.And Kyle—he lived in the dorm at college, but this was really still his home.

“I can’t move out, Jasmine,” she said slowly. “I don’t want to sell this house.”

“But, Remi.” Jasmine leaned forward. “A third of this house is mine.”

It was true.

Their parents had left everything to all three of them, including the house. It had to be split evenly three ways, somehow, some day. But Remi had never thought ahead to the day that might happen.

How could she leave here? The house meant so much to her. Stability. Security. Family. In a life that had her parents flitting in and out and then gone for good, it was the one constant. Home.

But that wasn’t the only problem. Remi did not have faith that Jasmine and Ethan’s relationship was strong enough to last. Buying a house together was a serious commitment.

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