Penny set the book down with a sigh and looked around the room. She was finding it difficult to concentrate, and she didn’t know how to occupy her mind. She wanted to focus on the book as she always had done on her days off, but it was getting harder and harder for her to do anything without thoughts of Chase creeping up on her.

She hadn’t spoken to him since the day she had told him that she didn’t want to be with him anymore. Though she was still hurt about everything that had happened, there was a part of her that wondered if she had overreacted to the situation. He treated her so well throughout the two weeks, and she knew it couldn’t have all been a lie. There was no way he could fake his interest in her like that. He was Chase Fucking Ellis—he didn’t have to fake anything to get a girl. If a girl didn’t like him, he’d move on to the next one. And he stuck with her, Penny Connor, a simple waitress at a nightclub. Or was she putting herself down too much? Was she right to break up with him because of that bet?

It pissed her off to think that someone would make a bet at her expense, but at the same time, she did understand that they were two different people from two different worlds. Of course, they would make dumb bets like that. She wasn’t ignorant to the type of people that existed in that financial bracket. They were all jackasses—Chase himself admitted he could be one while he was with the guys. When it came down to it, she knew that he didn’t mean anything by the bet, and at the time, he probably didn’t think anything would come of it, either.

But, at the same time, she had to argue with herself that he should treat her that way whether he thought something was going to come of it or not. It wasn’t his place to treat any woman that way, whether he was joking or not, or whether he thought she was going to find out about it.

Sure, he had messed up, and he shouldn’t have told her that it was because of his tips that she was doing so well, either. There was so much about the situation that was messed up in so many ways, she didn’t know how to handle it. But she also didn’t want to go crawling back to him, either.

She was a stubborn and proud kind of woman, and she wasn’t going to let her own insecurities and hurt feelings get in the way. She just wished that she could stop thinking about him. Then life could go back to the way it used to be.

Her phone rang, and she looked down a little too quickly. She hadn’t been answering any of his calls, but it did make her feel good to see when he was still trying. At least, it made her feel as though he cared about her more than one would expect when a man made a bet about her, even if she did end it because of that.

But her heart sank when she saw it was her mother. She had been hearing from Chase less frequently, and she knew the time was going to come when she wasn’t going to hear from him at all.

“Hello?”

“Hi, dear, you didn’t call this morning, and I was getting worried. Did you still want to go to lunch?” her mother asked. She mentally kicked herself. Of course, her mother would get worried after not hearing from her. She always went to lunch or dinner with her parents on her day off.

“Of course! Sorry, I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately and forgot. I’d love to go to lunch,” Penny said quickly. Her mother breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, good. Your father is going to be working, but I would still love to see you,” she said with a smile in her voice. Penny rolled her eyes. She loved her mother, but her mother was often very overbearing when her father wasn’t around. But it would get her mind off things, which was just what she needed.

“That sounds great,” she said. “Do you want to meet at the restaurant? It might be easier that way.”

“Alright, honey. I’ll see you then,” her mother said. She had the same smile in her voice every time she spoke, and Penny sighed as she hung up the phone. Her parents didn’t know she had been seeing anyone, and she didn’t want to bring it up, especially now that things were over between them.

They were always pushing her to find the special someone in her life, but that always ended poorly for her, and she didn’t like talking about where things had gone wrong and where she might have been able to do something different. The more she thought about it, the more she blamed herself for not being able to get herself into a relationship she could keep.

She knew that her parents only wanted what was best for her, but they wouldn’t understand that her being alone was better than being in a relationship she didn’t want to be in. One that was based on lies.

Penny gathered her things, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. She hadn’t eaten anything yet that day—something that was strange for her. Come to think of it, a lot had been different for her over the past few days. She was tired and irritable. It felt like she was about to get her period, but she still hadn’t.

When was the last time she had?

She walked out the door, slinging her purse over her shoulder. She could worry about that sort of thing later. Right now, she needed to focus on clearing her mind and getting rid of her aching heart. It was going to take time, but Penny was no stranger to things taking time in her life. She would wait it out, hoping that she’d get better soon.

She arrived at the restaurant and her mother smiled, gesturing at the seat across from her for her to sit down.

“There’s my beautiful daughter!” she said, beaming. Penny shook her head, fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

“You’re too kind to me, Mom,” she said with a reluctant smile. She lurched forward suddenly, and her mother looked at her with worry clearly written in her eyes.

“Are you alright?” she asked, and Penny quickly assured her she was just fine.

“I don’t know what it is, I’ve just not been feeling well the past few mornings,” she said with a shaky smile. She didn’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t that she was sick, but there was certainly something off in the way that she felt.

Her mother laughed. “Sounds like me when I was pregnant with you! I had the worst nausea in the mornings, but it seemed to go away as the day worked on. Have you had any water today, dear?”

Penny paused. She sat down across from her mother with a smile, but she couldn’t shake her words out of her mind. It hadn’t crossed her mind that she could be pregnant, and there was no way for her mother to have reason to make such a comment. She had no idea about her fling with Chase, and she didn’t bring up anything else about it to either of her parents.

“Well, I’ll probably feel better after I eat something,” Penny said reassuringly. She settled in, but found it difficult to eat at all. Everything was staring back at her, and she felt as though she were going to be sick right there in the center of the restaurant. But she wasn’t going to say anything about it to her mother.

She covered it up as best as she could by moving her food around on her plate, not wanting to go into the topic. As soon as they had finished with their lunch, she grabbed her things and slid them under her arm.

“There are a few things I’ve got to do today,” she said with a smile, “but it was good to see you.”

“Alright, honey. I hope you feel better,” her mother said, hugging her. Penny gave her a peck on the cheek and dashed out of the restaurant, eager to get down to the grocery store. She didn’t know what she was going to do if she was pregnant, but right now, it was the only thing that made any real sense to her.

She grabbed a test and headed to the bathroom of the grocery store, not waiting to get home first. She had to know now.

Within minutes, Penny found herself seated in the bathroom stall, her jeans down around her ankles, her hands shaking in front of her. It was a dim line, but it was an undeniable line nonetheless.

She was pregnant.