Page 90 of Billionaire Grump's Baby

Who else would Hazel talk to?

Sarah. She’d talk to Sarah.

Sarah answers on the first ring. “I told you that I’d beat you up if you broke her heart.”

“I fucked up,” I say. “But I can fix it. I can make it right if you just tell me where she is. Is she staying with you?”

Sarah doesn’t say anything.

“Please,” I beg. “I’ll give you anything you want. Money. A job. A private audience with your favorite rockstar. Anything you want, just tell me where Hazel is.”

“What I want,” Sarah says, “is for you to stop making my best friend cry.”

The words feel like a knife to the stomach. “She cried?”

“Oh my God, you’re such an idiot.” Sarah sighs. “Look, even if I thought you deserved a second chance, it’s too late. Hazel’s moving back in with her parents so she can have support when the baby comes. She already left New York. I dropped her off at the train myself.”

I think of Hazel taking a train alone through the night, thinking I don’t love her. Thinking I wouldn’t give up anything for her.

“I can fix this,” I repeat. It’s the only thought that’s keeping me sane. “I’ll talk to her, and—”

Sarah snorts. “You’re gonna need more than a conversation. She was in love with you. She wanted to build a life with you. And you stomped on her heart. It’ll take more than a phone call apology to win her back.”

As soon as she says it, I realize she’s right.

The beginnings of a desperate, foolish plan begin to form in my mind. “Understood. Thanks.”

I start to hang up.

“Luke?”

I wait.

“Don’t fuck up again,” Sarah says.

32

HAZEL

My train pulls into West Virginia train station a little before midnight. It’s not nearly as big of a station as Grand Central Station in New York, but it’s old enough to be pretty.

Plus, it’s home. And right now, I desperately need home. Leaving New York is one of the hardest things I’ve done. But if I want to be able to raise this kid on my own and pursue a career as a novelist, I need my family’s support.

I rub the base of my back, glad my thirteen-hour trip is over at last. The normally quiet train was full of college kids and sports fans heading home from some big out of state game. Normally I like people, but today the crowd is getting on my nerves. All I want to do is crawl into bed with a tub of ice cream to ease my broken heart, and forget Luke Dewinter ever existed.

I clamber off the train, suitcases in hand and head to the station's lobby area. Normally I’d meet them in the parking lot, but since my train was coming in so late, we agreed to meet inside.

I look around for my parents, but they’re nowhere to be seen in the crowd of sports fans and college kids.

Weird.

Maybe my parents got my arrival time wrong?

I’m texting them to ask where they are, when I hear a pack of college girls who were on the train with me giggling and pointing at the electronic sign where the train times are normally displayed.

I follow their gaze and do a double take.

The whole board has been filled with a single message.

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