Oh, Baby!

“Aidan’s just as vulnerable,” he said. “He’s also lost his parents. And he’s having a hard time adjusting to life here in Crandall Lake. At least Joy is still living in her hometown. Aidan had to give up everything. Can’t you cut him a break?”

Sophie’s tender heart wanted to relent, because she did feel bad for the boy. “I wish I could, but Joy’s welfare is my top priority, and I think she’d be much better off if she and Aidan are not permitted to date.”

“You sure you’re not projecting what happened with us onto your sister?”

Sophie stiffened. Of course she was. How could she not be affected by her own mistakes? “Our situation has nothing to do with my decision regarding Joy. She and I had an agreement about her not dating older boys since she reached dating age.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. And I don’t want to argue with you.” Now he pulled her closer still, murmuring into her ear, “I always did like dancing with you.”

Thankfully, at that moment, the music stopped, and Sophie could pull away and leave the dance floor without making a scene. But as she and Dillon approached their table, she saw that Joy and Aidan were also heading in their direction.

“Sophie!” Joy called. “Wait up.”

Sophie stopped, and so did Dillon. Although Sophie’s mind was churning, she couldn’t help feeling a surge of pride over how pretty Joy looked in her blue dress that matched the school colors of blue and gold in her corsage. And even though Sophie was totally against Joy having any ongoing relationship with Dillon’s nephew, she had to admit, if only to herself, that Joy and Aidan made a really cute couple. Aidan was tall like his uncle and had the same striking blue eyes. His hair was lighter, though, and Sophie figured the brown/gold color came from his mother. As the two kids came closer, Sophie saw the look of uncertainty on Aidan’s face, and once again, she felt an unwanted sympathy for the young man.

“Sophie, I wanted you to meet Aidan,” Joy said, giving Dillon a shy smile before pulling Aidan forward.

As Sophie shook the boy’s hand, she was acutely aware of Dillon beside her, of Nicole Blanchard staring at them, and probably giving her the evil eye, and most of all, of the naked longing in Joy’s eyes and the tense set of Aidan’s shoulders.

In that moment, Sophie knew, without a doubt, that her worst fears were true. Joy and Aidan’s relationship had gone a lot further than Joy had let on. The question was, how far, and was it too late for Sophie to do anything about it?

* * *

Aidan hadn’t wanted to come over to meet Sophie. But Joy had talked him into it, saying she was sure once Sophie knew him, her objections to their dating would vanish.

“I don’t want to keep sneaking around,” Joy told him. “I hate lying to her.”

“Then don’t,” Aidan had answered.

“Maybe you can get away with that with your uncle, but I can’t. Anyway, it makes me feel awful to lie to her. She’s my sister, Aidan. She’s all I’ve got. And...she’s been good to me.” She’d swallowed. “Please? For me?”

So here they stood, and Joy tried to telegraph, with her eyes, how much she wanted Sophie to like Aidan. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if Sophie continued to forbid her to see him. She couldn’t give Aidan up. She loved him. It was as simple as that. Sophie might think someone Joy’s age couldn’t possibly know what love was, but she was wrong. Maybe she’d never been in love when she was in high school, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.

I’m going to marry Aidan someday.

“I haven’t seen you dancing tonight,” Dillon said.

Aidan shrugged. “I’m not very good at it.”

“I’m not, either. Doesn’t stop me,” Dillon persisted. “You need to try new things.”

Joy wished Aidan’s uncle would stop criticizing Aidan. She knew he hated it. He’d told her Dillon thought he knew everything because he’d been a “hotshot” quarterback. Aidan shrugged again, then turned to Sophie. “Nice meeting you, Ms. Marlowe.” Ignoring his uncle, he said, “Let’s go get something to drink, Joy.”

Joy looked at Sophie. On her sister’s face she saw empathy, but she also saw something else. Concern. Joy knew immediately that Sophie’s mind hadn’t changed. Joy’s heart sank, and it was all she could do to keep a smile on her face and say a nonchalant “See you later” as she and Aidan walked away.

“I hate him,” Aidan muttered.

“Oh, Aidan, don’t say that.”

“Why not? It’s true. I wish—” Abruptly, he cut off whatever he’d been going to say.

Joy sighed as they approached the drink table. She knew what Aidan wished. He wished he could turn the clock back. He wished his parents were still alive. That he hadn’t had to move to a place where he knew no one and didn’t feel as if he belonged. And yet she knew he cared about her, that he was happy when they were together. She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood.

He glanced down. Grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean...”

“I know.”

While he was getting their drinks, Joy made a vow. No matter what Sophie said, no matter what rules she tried to implement, no matter what anyone else thought, nothing and no one was going to stop her from being with Aidan.

We belong together. And that’s that.

* * *

Dillon stared after the kids. Damn. He knew, without anyone telling him, that Aidan and Sophie’s sister, Joy, were past the point of casual dating. Maybe Sophie hadn’t seen it or sensed it, but Dillon knew, just from their body language that those two kids were together in every sense of the word. Probably looking for every opportunity to be together, the way he and Sophie used to do. He smothered a sigh. Sophie. If not for her and what she’d said to him earlier, Dillon probably wouldn’t have cared what the kids did. In fact, he might have been glad, because maybe having someone like the very pretty Joy as his girlfriend would have gone a long way toward making his nephew happier to be in Crandall Lake. And anything that made Aidan happier and easier to handle made Dillon happier.

But how could he be happy when he knew how Sophie felt? Sure enough, when his glance met hers again as they were sitting back down at their table, he saw the worry in her eyes and the way she kept looking in the direction Aidan and Joy had gone.

He reached over and squeezed her hand under the table, then leaned toward her and said softly, “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Aidan. See what I can do.”

Her eyes met his again. “You promise?”

He nodded.

“Thank you.”

He wished they were alone somewhere. He wished he could tell her how things were with Aidan. How even if he did talk to Aidan, he doubted it would do any good. But how could he? They weren’t alone. And even if they had been, he wasn’t sure he wanted to confess that he was doing a piss-poor job of being a parent-replacement for his nephew. Hell, being with Sophie again, even as briefly as they’d been the other day and tonight, made him more self-conscience of his image than ever before. Even more so than when he was in front of millions of fans. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him in anything but a favorable light.

That realization didn’t even surprise him.

Hadn’t he known, the minute he’d looked into those gorgeous eyes of hers on Wednesday, that whatever it was that had drawn him to her when they were kids was even stronger now that they were adults? And that he seemed to be just as powerless to resist it as he had been then?

* * *

Sophie had a hard time falling asleep, and when she finally did, she dreamed of Dillon. The first time he ever spoke to her had been at the end of a pep rally the afternoon of a big game against Eagle Hills. She’d been a cheerleader and was wearing her uniform. He’d grinned at her as he passed on his way to the locker room.

All he’d said was, “Lookin’ good, Marlowe,” but those three words had told her he not only knew who she was but had remembered her name. Her heart had done crazy leapfrog things as she watched him walk away. He was the cutest, coolest, sexiest boy she’d ever seen.

That night, at the community center—there was always a dance on Friday and Saturday nights—he’d asked her to dance. She’d nearly fainted with delight as he took her hand and pulled her into his arms. And when he’d whispered in her ear that he’d like to take her home, she wasn’t sure she could walk off the dance floor without help.

They’d gone to the lake afterward. That was where all the kids went to make out. When he’d kissed her, Sophie’s head felt as if it was going to explode. And when his hand had moved from her waist to her breast, she very nearly did faint. Every nerve in her body came alive, and from that moment on, she was his.

The next morning, memories of her dream lingering, she knew her sister wasn’t the only one in this house who was in danger of making a monumental mistake. She also knew she couldn’t put off talking to Joy. Trouble was, Sophie hated confrontation.

She wished Beth, who’d been her BFF since they were kindergartners together, was home so she could run all this by her first. But Beth was on her honeymoon in Italy, and Sophie had vowed she would not yield to the temptation of calling Beth unless blood was involved.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Beth had said when Sophie made the promise as they hugged goodbye after Beth had tossed her wedding bouquet. “You can call or text. Mark won’t mind.”

But Sophie knew Mark would mind, and Sophie didn’t blame him. A honeymoon should be sacred. No man wanted his new bride thinking about anyone other than him. Time enough for real life when the newlyweds got back home.

No, Sophie was on her own. And since there was no one else she trusted enough to confide in, she would have to handle this problem with Joy by herself.

And I can’t put it off, either. Sighing, she got up from the kitchen table where she’d been drinking coffee and reading the news on her iPad. It was almost ten, and Joy was still asleep. Sophie had heard her sister come in at one o’clock the night before, right on time for her curfew, which Sophie had extended for the homecoming dance.

Deciding Joy had slept long enough, Sophie walked upstairs and softly knocked at Joy’s bedroom door. When there was no acknowledgment, Sophie knocked harder. Still hearing nothing, she opened the door and peered in. “Joy? Time to get up.”

“Huh? Wha? Wh-what time is it?”

“After ten.”

“Wh-why do I have to get up?” Joy pulled the cotton coverlet she used over her head.

Normally Sophie would have relented, because Joy was good about getting up on time and rarely gave Sophie problems in the morning, so Sophie gave her some slack on the weekends. But today wasn’t a normal day, at least not in Sophie’s mind. Today was the day she had to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that Joy did nothing stupid, nothing that would get in the way of the future she deserved, and more important, nothing that would break her heart down the line.

“We need to talk,” Sophie said firmly, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to Joy. “Get up and wash your face and do whatever else you need to do, then come downstairs and have some breakfast and we’ll talk, okay?”

Joy just looked at her. And from the expression on her face, Sophie knew Joy had a pretty good idea of what the subject of their talk would be. Sophie also knew Joy wanted to protest, but to her credit, she only sighed.

“Okay,” she said.

Sophie’s heart melted a little as she gazed down at the sister she loved so much, the sister who almost felt like her daughter. But even as she wanted to lean over and kiss Joy’s cheek and say not to worry, she knew she couldn’t give in to the understanding and sympathy she felt. It’s for her own good. She’ll thank me someday. Sophie squeezed Joy’s shoulder and got up. “Would you like to have pancakes today?” she said brightly.

“Sure,” Joy said.

“All right. See you downstairs.”

Fifteen minutes later, barefoot and dressed in denim cutoffs and a faded One Direction T-shirt, her long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, Joy entered the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she took out the carton of skim milk and poured herself a glass. She drank it leaning against the kitchen counter.

Sophie smiled at her and ladled batter into the frying pan. She’d already put syrup and butter on the table. “Want to put two plates out?”

“Sure.”

It only took a couple of minutes for the first batch of pancakes to be ready. Sophie put them on a waiting platter, covered it with foil to keep the pancakes warm, then put a second batch on to cook. Once there were enough pancakes to feed both of them, she turned off the stove, moved the hot frying pan to a cool burner and joined her sister at the table.

Since it was obvious Joy wasn’t going to ask any questions about what Sophie might want to talk about, Sophie waited until they’d both eaten a couple of pancakes before saying, “I’m glad I got a chance to meet Aidan last night.”

Joy, who had been hunched over her plate, looked up. Sophie’s heart pinched at the hopeful light in the girl’s eyes.

“I told you he was nice,” Joy said.

“He does seem very nice.”

“So it’s okay if I date him.”

“That’s not what I said.” Earlier Sophie had fixed herself another cup of coffee and she drank some.

“Why not, if you like him?”

Sophie sighed. “Joy, you know why not. He’s too old for you. That fact didn’t magically change because I met him and he seems like a nice boy. He’s still too old.” And troubled.

Myriad emotions played across Joy’s face. “That’s not fair!”

Sophie wished she could tell Joy she understood perfectly, that she’d felt exactly the same way when she was Joy’s age and wildly in love with Dillon. Could she? She wouldn’t have to tell Joy who the boy had been, but she could share some of what she’d gone through.

Tears welled in Joy’s eyes as they stared at each other. Sophie battled the desire to comfort her, to give in, to make her sister happy. “I know you don’t think I understand, but I do. You have to trust me on this. You’re too young to be seriously dating to begin with, and Aidan is too old for you. Honey, he’ll be going off to college next year. And then what?”

Sophie reached across the table to take Joy’s hand, but Joy snatched it away. She pushed her chair back. Her face looked like thunderclouds. “He’s less than two years older than me! You’re just using his age as an excuse because you think you know everything and I don’t know anything! So what if he’s going away to college next year? What difference does that make? He’s here now! And...and I really like him. And he likes me! I—I can’t wait till I’m eighteen and I can make my own decisions!”

“Joy...”

“Sometimes I hate you!”

And before Sophie could say another word, Joy had jumped up and run from the room. Sophie sank back in her chair and listened to Joy pounding up the stairs, followed by the sound of her bedroom door slamming shut.

“Well, that went well,” Sophie muttered as she debated what to do. Should she go after Joy? Maybe tell her about Dillon and what had happened between them? Without mentioning any names, of course. She thought back to the heartbreak she’d felt when Dillon left Crandall Lake...and her...and gone off to college. She’d cried for days, weeks. She hadn’t wanted to go anywhere or do anything. She’d haunted the mailbox, thinking Dillon would surely write to her. But he didn’t. She’d almost broken down and called him, but at the last minute she came to her senses and ignored the urge. It took her a long time to regain some kind of normality, because for months she’d felt as if the world were crashing down on her. Which was probably exactly the way her sister felt right now.

Sophie sighed for probably the tenth time that morning.

Would it do any good to tell Joy any of this?

Would it have stopped you from seeing Dillon if Mom had warned you off him? Sophie’s mother hadn’t because she’d been too preoccupied with a new husband, a three-year-old Joy and a full-time job as an office manager.

But even if she had realized what was going on with Sophie and Dillon and said something, Sophie had to be honest with herself. It wouldn’t have made a difference. Nothing in the world would have kept Sophie away from Dillon. Certainly not what some adult had said. When you fall in love with someone the way Sophie had fallen in love with Dillon, nothing anyone said would have mattered.

Face it. It’s obvious things have progressed with Joy and Aidan to the point where she won’t hear you. She’ll continue to sneak around and see Aidan the way she’s been doing.

Sophie sighed again as she got up from the table and cleared the breakfast remains. The only thing she could do now was make sure that when Joy did see Aidan, she saw him here at the house, where Sophie had some control over what they did.

Sophie knew her plan was a Band-Aid when what she needed was major surgery, but until she came up with something better, it would have to do.

Chapter Four

As Halloween approached, the weather had finally begun to feel like autumn, with cool nights and mild days. In this part of Texas, the leaves hadn’t yet turned—that wouldn’t happen for another month or so—but it still felt like fall.

Normally Joy loved this time of year. But the atmosphere at home—the way Sophie constantly watched her—had taken some of the pleasure out of it. And yet how could Joy complain? Sophie, for some mysterious reason Joy couldn’t fathom, had relented and Joy was at least allowed to see Aidan. Sophie had consented to him coming over twice a week, just as long as she was there and Joy and Aidan did not go upstairs to Joy’s bedroom, which limited them to the living room or dining room that had been converted into an art studio for Joy. Sophie watched them so closely that they hadn’t been able to make love more than twice that month, and both times had been hurried affairs—once in his car and once at school, in a storage closet near the gym—where Joy had been terrified of being caught.

But there was something else nagging at Joy. Something she’d been trying to ignore. Something she’d been pretending didn’t exist—the undeniable fact that she’d missed two periods. Since she was twelve and had begun her menstrual cycle, she’d been pretty much like clockwork. Every twenty-seven days her period started and it lasted five days. Joy kept track on her iPhone calendar.

Joy told herself she wasn’t actually worried. Not really. Aidan always used condoms, so there was no way she could be pregnant. Well, he had almost always used them. There was that one time they did it in the pool, early in the morning, when no one else was there.

Her face heated as she thought about how sexy that was, how he’d been all upset about something and come to seek her out before the pool opened and found her alone setting everything up that morning. She’d never forget Aidan’s anger and frustration toward his uncle and how he’d started kissing her and how, underwater, he’d pushed her bathing suit aside and shoved himself into her. Even now, thinking about how it had felt to do it in the water, she felt all shivery and tingling down there. Because the sex was unplanned, neither of them had a condom. Neither of them even thought about a condom. Joy had just wanted to comfort him and make him feel better.

And then, once it had happened, it was so wonderful she wished they never had to use condoms again. She’d even thought about getting on the pill, but that would have meant asking Sophie, because Joy couldn’t imagine how she could do it without Sophie’s knowledge and permission. Not in a town as small as Crandall Lake. And certainly not if she wanted to keep living with Sophie.

When had the pool sex happened? Joy bit her bottom lip and thought back. It wasn’t in June, because she’d only met Aidan in June. July. It was in July, after the Fourth, but before Aidan’s birthday on the twentieth, when he’d turned eighteen.

She swallowed. Oh God. Could she be pregnant? She closed her eyes, and her heart thudded. No. No. God wouldn’t do that to her, would He?

“Senorita Ferrelli. Senorita Ferrelli!”

Joy’s eyes flew open, and she nearly jumped out of her seat.

“If you’re bored with this class, maybe you’d rather go visit the principal’s office instead.” The speaker was Mrs. Perez, the Spanish teacher. Her dark eyes, normally friendly, pinned Joy.

“Lo siento, señora.”

Mrs. Perez nodded, but she gave Joy a thoughtful look, almost as if she knew exactly what Joy had been thinking about.

For the rest of the class, Joy tried hard to concentrate because she really liked Mrs. Perez and she liked Spanish, but that thought...that frightening thought...that unbelievable thought...that maybe...just maybe...the one time she and Aidan had had unprotected sex had left her pregnant...would not go away.

* * *

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