Page 180 of New Growth
He grinned and kissed my cheek. “Go ahead, Peanut. I’ll be right here.”
Ryan watched the exchange, then offered a small smile as we walked away. “You two have the samename.”
“Yup.” I answered dryly.
“He seems nice.”
I looked at her. “Not that he’s that type of person, but you go anywhere near him, and Iwillput my hands on you.”
“Fair.”
I folded my arms. “Where’s Ma?”
“Off catering to the masses.” She shrugged.
“I see.” I looked around to see if I could spot her. “And Jonathan?”
“He’s…around. I just wanted to talk to you alone.”
I eyed her suspiciously but kept quiet. Eventually, I followed her to a room away from the party.
“What do you want?” I asked once inside.
She hesitated with a sigh. That’s when I really looked at her, and she looked poorly. Ryan was an attitude-filled smart mouth. But now, she was just…tired.Was Johnathan draining the life out of her?
“I just…” She glanced toward the door, then back at me. “I wanted to check in. We haven’t really talked. And I know today’s… a lot.”
“Yeah,” I said flatly. “It is.”
“I kept my distance because I didn’t want you to feel awkward around me.”
Too late for that.
“But I wanted to talk to you about something,” she added.
I tilted my head. “What is it?”
She took a breath, fiddling with the edge of her dress. “You remember how Daddy put you in charge of the house until I graduated?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “Are you planning on going back to school?”
“Not exactly.”
I raised a brow but said nothing as she looked down.
“I’m pregnant.”
The air stalled between us.
“Oh. Um… okay.”
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “And I was wondering if you’d consider releasing the house to us—so we can sell it. We need the money.”
I stared at her. “Doesn’t Jonathan’s family have property they were gifting him when he got married?”
Her eyes dropped to the floor. “They took it back. When they realized what we had done.”
I nodded slowly, things clicking into place. His family hated embarrassment, almost as much as Ma.
