Page 71 of Clint & Ivy

“You heart looks healthy. That doesn’t mean problems can’t arise in the future. You’re still young. But right now, based on the tests we ran, I don’t see why you can’t live a normal life for a woman your age.”

I’d been so prepared for bad news that his positive words didn’t register right away. Once the truth hit me, my mind flashed with hopes for my future.

“Who do I talk to about birth control?” I blurted out, jumping right to the point.

By the time we were back in Shay’s SUV, I had a prescription for pills and emergency birth control.

“You’ll need to be careful,” Elle told me as we drove back to the Reed family home. “These regular pills take a little bit to kick in. So, if you and Clint decide to start splashing jizz all over your lady cavern, you’ll need to take the emergency stuff to make sure you don’t create something that demands more care than a Chihuahua.”

Shay looked at me through the rearview and insisted, “And don’t try to be stealth with Clint. I didn’t raise him to think certain things were girl worries and other things were boy worries. He needs to help you keep track of everything, so getting pregnant is a choice rather than a mistake.”

“Hey,” Elle gasped, turning to her mom in the front seat.

“Oh, stop. You know you fucked up.”

“How can you say that? It was always my plan to get knocked up by a stranger in Mexico while wasted off my fucking ass.”

“Goal achieved then.”

Elle smiled back at me. “You should know that birth control works for a lot of things. My periods are great now. I’m less moody each month. It’s awesome, but I haven’t tested the pills for pregnancy. Meaning, even if you do everything right, shit happens. That’s why you need to be honest with Clint since you’ll both need to live with the consequences if the birth control doesn’t work.”

“It’ll work,” Shay said and smiled at me through the rearview. “Ford and I were together for five years before Clint came along. No oopsies. It was all by design.”

“Stop hassling me,” Elle grumbled.

“You know what you did, hussy.”

As the women laughed up front, I wondered about Clint. I hadn’t texted him all day except to respond to his messages asking if I was having fun. I didn’t want to lie, so I only told him that his mom and sister made me feel included and appreciated. I immediately felt stupid once I hit send since my words sounded so canned.

As Shay taunted Elle over her “booze baby,” I realized this family didn’t hold back. They loved to speak up and mess with each other. But they were also incredibly tight-knit.

My family was never close that way, despite us living together in the same house. Everyone was stuck in their own messed-up bubbles. We didn’t share our problems or goof around like Shay did right now with Elle.

I craved the closeness they shared. If I ever wanted to truly bond with these people, I had to speak up and stop behaving like a curious observer.

CLINT

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