I stared at Ella in stunned silence.

“What?” I said, unable to comprehend what she’d just said. “Are you sure?”

My sister shrugged her shoulders like she hadn’t just dropped the biggest bombshell of my life on my head.

“Yeah, I’m sure. She’s got a couple more months to go but I hear she’s huge!”

Bile rose in my throat but I forced it down.

“Who has seen her? Has she been back here?”

I was home for Christmas again even though I’d wanted to stay at Berkeley for the holidays and catch up on some work. Mom had warned me that I was needed at home. She hadn’t said why but I had a bad feeling that I was going to have any semblance of Christmas cheer ruined the minute I stepped off the plane.

So far, I wasn’t wrong.

“I don’t think she’s been back but my bitch-in-law went to her as soon as she heard she was becoming a grandma,” Ella sighed.

“And she’s only six months along?”

“Something like that,” Ella replied, her eyes narrowing. “Why? I thought you said that you and her never got it on.”

I shifted my eyes away, the burning in my chest increasing. I don’t know what was more devastating—learning that Blake was pregnant, or learning that she’d moved on so quickly after me.

I think I knew which the bigger blow to my ego was.

Had she just found a rebound guy right away or…?

I’d never know unless I asked her and given that she’d ignored every email and text I’d sent, I thought it was safe to say that she had honored her side of our goodbye. I knew why now—there was someone else.

God, that burned.

“You like her, huh? I don’t think the dad’s around. You should go visit her. I’m sure she’d be happy to have a friend.” There was sarcasm in Ella’s tone but I was seriously considering it. I stared at Ella in disbelief.

“She’s having the baby without the father? Why? Who is this asshole?”

Ella’s delicate eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Wow,” she murmured. “You really do have it bad for her. Trust me, little brother, you’re better off not getting involved. That family is—”

“Nuts, I know!” I snapped. I was so sick of listening to the same rhetoric about the Mavises. They weren’t any worse than we were in my opinion and it was getting really old when both sides had our own issues.

“Who is the father?” I asked again, anger rising in my blood. “Did he leave her?”

“She’s a big girl, Mal. She can take care of herself.”

She peered at me speculatively but I ignored her look. I was hot and cold simultaneously. I had no idea what to do now. Did I call her and demand answers? Of course not. She wasn’t my girlfriend. She’d never even been my girlfriend.

Had we even been friends?

No, I had to leave her alone because that was obviously what she wanted. I couldn’t force myself to be her friend.

On the other hand, if she was having a baby on her own…

“Mal!”

I turned my eyes back to Ella.

“What?”

For the first time, I realized that Grayson wasn’t with her although that was hardly unusual. If they were fighting, Ella would often take cover at my parents’ house. It had taken me a while but I could finally see that Ella was not the perfect victim she made herself out to be. Although I still didn’t care for Grayson much, I also knew that Ella could provoke the arguments between them as much as he could.

They were a match made in hell and yet they continued to thrive off each other’s drama.

I remember a teacher in high school once saying how some people were not happy unless they were miserable and I don’t think I ever knew what that meant until I saw my sister and Grayson. They fed of each other’s misery. It was sick and twisted.

The only thing Blake and I had ever fought about was them.

Shit, they even suck others into their crap. That is a talent.

“Did you hear what I just said?” Ella demanded, and I looked at her, shaking my head.

“No. What?”

“Gray and I are divorcing.”

The words didn’t make sense at first and I almost laughed.

“You’re what?”

“We’re divorcing. He filed last week.”

“Oh.”

I understood now why Mom had wanted me to come home.

“Oh? That’s the best you’ve got?”

What I really wanted to say was, “It’s about damned time” but I suppressed the urge.

“Sorry to hear that,” I managed instead. “Are you going to be staying here now?”

Ella scowled at me, folding her arms over her chest.

“You don’t even care, do you?” she whined and my eyes narrowed slightly. It was strange to me that she had once seemed so mature, so worldly. Suddenly, the three years between us felt like nothing and my sister seemed unrealistically immature. Or maybe I’d been comparing every woman I knew to Blake in the past months.

Blake was having a baby on her own and my sister was complaining that I wasn’t more surprised that her marriage to her high school sweetheart had failed. It was bizarre.

“Isn’t it going to be weird living across the street from him?” I asked, almost cruelly. “Or is one of you keeping the shack?”

Ella’s mouth puckered into a pout.

“Our home isn’t a shack!” she protested. “I made it very nice. Anyway, I doubt Gray will move back in with his parents. Remind me never to date the boy next door again.”

“Well he was the only one working,” I retorted. “I guess it’ll be a relief to get you out of his place. One less mouth to feed.”

“Why are you being so hateful?” Ella yelled, her face flushing with indignation.

How could I explain it to her in a way she would understand? She and Grayson had caused so much friction between our families that it had kept Blake and I far away from one another by rote almost. We were afraid to bond because of what the aftermath would bring.

And now, Blake was knocked up and alone because I hadn’t been brave enough to say, “screw our families—we’ll make this work.”

Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe I could still go to her and make things right.

“Did your sister tell you the good news?” Mom asked, entering the living room. The soft lighting of the Christmas tree illuminated her fairness and she almost looked angelic. I hadn’t seen her look so at peace in years.

“What good news?” I asked dully.

“She’s talking about the divorce,” Ella snapped, turning her glare onto Mom. That was why Mom looked so relaxed. When this divorce happened, she wouldn’t be stressing about Ella anymore, at least not until my older sister did something else as a cry for attention.

“I won’t have to listen to Margaret Mavis’ shrieking in my ear anymore,” Mom sighed almost dreamily. “I never thought I would see the end of this but Grayson finally showed some sense.”

“MOM!” Ella screamed, tears welling in her eyes. “How can you say that?”

Mom’s mouth became a grimace and she narrowed her eyes at Ella.

“It was so easy for you to pick up and run off to that hovel with Grayson but you know what, Ella? A mother never stops worrying about her children. Maggie and I had it out every single day, trying to figure out a way to get you two from hurting yourselves more. She refused to see her son for the monster that he is and I—”

“You could have stayed out of it and let a married couple handle their own affairs,” I interjected coldly. “If they’re old enough to be married, they’re old enough to handle their own messes.”

Mom smiled icily at me.

“Just because the law says they’re old enough, doesn’t mean they are, Mal. That family is not Laurier caliber. You don’t hang out with lower classes or they drag you down, just as Grayson did with Ella.”

And all the doubts came flooding back.

This was the reason Blake and I had agreed to stay apart. This, right here. It didn’t matter how old we got or how much logic we threw at them, our families were bound to stick their noses in everything.

I needed to stay away from Blake. She already had the foresight to ignore me. I just hoped that one day, if she really needed me, she would know that I was there for her.

“Well congratulations on Ella’s divorce, Mom,” I offered haughtily. “I am sure you and Dad will be very happy in your future without the Mavises.”

I didn’t wait for a response from anyone. I just needed to get out of the room before I started screaming.

I couldn’t get the thought of Blake having someone else’s baby out of my head.