Page 1 of Calling from the Heart
One
“Brother, grab the phone for me? I’m having a deep, heated discussion with my curling iron.”
Jeb rolled his eyes at his sister, who was acting like she was getting ready for prom instead of a huge Friendsgiving hosted at the Secret Springs hotel. “Sure, honey.”
He grabbed it, smiling at the sight of Andrea, Jen’s best friend, on the screen. He hit the green button, getting out a “Hey—” before she started in.
“Oh my God, Jen, guess who I ran into? Just guess. No, no, don’t guess. I’ll tell you. Owen. I ran into Owen. Like Owen, our friend Owen, like your brother’s ex Owen. That Owen. Okay, well maybe ran into him is a strong word. I know that he always shops on Fridays, so I ran to the grocery store to see if I could catch him, because he said he wasn’t coming to Friendsgiving. And I was like, that’s ridiculous. Just because you and Jeb have broken up doesn’t mean that you can’t come to Friendsgiving. This is not, I mean, it’s a tiny town. Secret Springs is small. He has to show up. So anyway, I ran into him, and you will never believe what I saw. Do you want me to tell you what I saw? I saw Owen. He looks like shit. He has to have lost like fifteen pounds in his face and everything, but that’s okay because he hasn’tlost it, you know where? In his belly. He’s pregnant. OMG Can you believe this? He’s pregnant like with a baby, like showing, like wearing, you know, his heaviest sweater but that belly still sticking out so everyone’s gonna notice. He says he’s going to have to move. Do you think it’s Jeb’s? I mean, surely if it was Jeb’s, Jeb would like have— Jeb wouldn’t just— I mean, we all know he wouldn’t. Jeb’s a good guy, but oh my God, can you believe this shit?”
Jeb just stood there, the bottom of the world dropping out from under his feet in a heartbeat. What the fuck?
“Jeb? Honey? Who is it?” Jen asked.
“Oh.” Andrea sounded horrified. “Oh, good Lord. Jeb? Um, can I talk to Jen?”
“Uh-huh.” He said it with stiff lips, thrusting the phone at Jen.
Jen’s eyes were big as saucers. “Are you okay?”
“No.” He turned his back on her, his hands clenching into fists. No, he was absolutely not okay.
“Andi? What’s going on?” Jen said.
But he already knew what was going on. God. Owen was— and he obviously wasn’t planning on telling Jeb about it.
They’d broken up in a slightly spectacular way — Owen had been acting strange, avoiding him, and all the signs had been there, so finally he just asked if Owen had been cheating on him.
Those pretty blue eyes had widened, shock making Owen’s mouth go slack. “Whaaat?” he popped out.
That was after the whole conversation about why Owen had been hanging around with all their alpha friends, the one wherein Owen wouldn’t answer his questions, just hemming and hawing.
“Well, what am I supposed to think?” he’d asked.
The Owen’s eyes had flashed blue fire, and he’d poked Jeb right in the sternum. “Not that! You’re supposed to trust me.”
“Babe.”
“Fuck you!”
And that had been pretty much it, with a little more of Jeb trying to make nice and Owen stomping away and not coming back to get his shit.
He’d called several times, apologizing on voicemail. And on text. And then his pride had forced him to stop trying. Owen could damn well come to him if he wanted to make up.
Except he hadn’t. And now this?
“Is it mine?”
Jen stared at him, eyes huge. “What?”
“Fucking ask her if it’s mine!” he roared.
“Okay, okay! Jeez. Yeah, he wants. Sure, I know you heard. Well, that’s what I think too, but did you ask? No, I know you’re not tacky like that.”
“Oh, bullshit.”
He could hear Andi’s indignant squeaking from where he stood.
“Well, he kind of has a point, but I’ll tell him.” Jen glared at him. “She didn’t ask. But Owen isn’t the kind to spread it around, you know.”
