“You looking for Mike?”
I cringed and stepped toward Dad. “No, he was actually just—”
“I’m the father,” James said, cutting me off once more.
Dad didn’t process his words right away. He stood still, blinking with narrowed eyes. “I beg your pardon?” Oh my God. We’d been so close to having a perfectly decent Christmas after months of being a broken family, so close to being somewhat normal.
“I’m the one who slept with—”
“Don’t say it,” Dad ordered.
“…Aria,” James finished. He obviously had no desire to respect anyone’s wishes this Christmas afternoon.
“What?” Mike said, standing in the doorway, staring at his best friend. His left hand had a dinner roll stuffed with ham, and his right was a solid fist. He stepped onto the porch, his chest rising and falling hard. “You slept with my little sister?!” His words were filled with blades and anger.
“Mike, man. It was an,” Mike’s fist slammed into James’ jaw, sending him falling to the porch, “accident,” James muttered, brushing the back of his hand against his mouth.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Mike shouted, lunging toward James. Dad grabbed Mike before he could do any more damage, and a stumbling James stood back up. “She’s my sister, you asshole!”
“Mike, chill out!” Dad said, his arms still gripped around his son, who was five seconds away from killing his best friend.
“I want to raise the baby,” James said, spitting out blood from Mike’s punch.
“Shut up,” I cried. “Stop saying that.”
“I won’t,” he said, shaking his head. “Because it’s true.”
“What’s true?” Mom asked stepping onto the porch. Her eyes landed on James and filled with concern. “What happened?”
“He’s the father,” Dad murmured.
“The father?” Mom asked.
“The father,” Mike growled.
“The father?!” Grace said, standing in the doorway.
I tried my best to keep calm, staring at my family as they stared at us, their eyes shifting back between James and me. Dad still held an angered Mike back, while everyone else tried their best to wrap their heads around the newfound information.
“I just came to say that I want to give this a go,” James said, stuffing his hands back into his coat pockets. “With you, Aria. I want to raise the baby with you.”
“Oh my God,” Mom whispered, tugging on her earlobe. “I need you to go right now, James.”
“But—”
“No. No buts. I need you to walk away and let us figure this out,” she said.
“Mrs. Watson—”
“Walk. Away,” Dad shouted, his voice shaking us all. James lowered his head and nodded before he turned to walk off. Everyone’s eyes moved to stare at me. Dad released Mike and within a second, Mike was dashing off after James. As he rounded the corner, all I heard was a screaming James and Mike shouting how he was going to kill him once he got a hold of him. “I should go get him…” Dad grabbed his coat from inside and headed off in the direction of the two boys.
Mom wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “It’s cold, come inside.”
I followed her into the house, but I hardly warmed up.
* * *
Mom spent a long time telling me that everything would be all right, but I hadn’t a clue how that could be true. I felt the walls around me collapsing. Things had finally been getting better. Everyone was coming around to the idea of the baby and the adoption. Then James had to decide to ruin everything.
“We’ll wait until morning to sort through this all. Okay? Don’t worry too much. It will all work out.” She kissed my forehead and left the room.
The moment she left, a few tears fell from my eyes. The whole situation was overwhelming. My fingers rolled over my stomach. He was the only thing that kept me breathing right now. Each breath I took was merely for him.
“James is the dad?” Grace asked, standing in my doorway.
I closed my eyes, wiping the few fallen tears away. “I’m not in the mood right now, Grace.” She didn’t reply, but I listened to her footsteps walking closer to me. “Grace, I said I’m not in the mood.” I opened my eyes and saw her holding two beaded necklaces.
“I used my Christmas bead set and made one for the baby and one for you.”
I swore I felt my heart breaking. I thanked her for the necklaces, and she smiled. “I’m glad you didn’t turn out to be an ugly pregnant person.”
Snickering, I hugged her with my huge belly. “Thanks, Grace.”
* * *
I waited until the next morning to head over to Levi’s house and explain what had happened the night before. Mostly I was embarrassed, and also angry at James for thinking it was okay to kiss me, to even touch me. Standing on Mr. Myers’ porch, I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer.
When the door finally opened and a fragile Mr. Myers appeared with purple shadows under his eyes, I hiccupped nervously.
“Yeah?” he muttered, staring blankly at me.
“I’m looking for Levi,” I said, giving him a half smile.
Mr. Myers grumbled. “He’s gone.”
“Oh.” I bit my bottom lip. “Is he at Soulful Things?”
“No. He’s gone back to Alabama.”