When I woke up in the morning, my heart instantly broke all over again. I was not really sure where Cole and I were headed. Maybe this was all just some sick fairy tale that I made up in my head because of a crush I had on him when I was younger. Maybe that’s all this really was. Besides me getting pregnant, of course, but that was a different thing. That wasn’t on purpose. All I wanted was to fuck Cole. And fall madly in love with him. The two of us riding off into a sunset together, our lives becoming one, but that was clearly not what was going to happen here.

I laid in my bed most of the day. I skipped breakfast and by one in the afternoon, I felt sick. I knew eating would make me feel better. Besides, I couldn’t not eat. I was pregnant, and I knew that was hurting my unborn child. Part of me was also avoiding seeing my parents. I didn’t want to look at or talk to either of them.

I walked out of my room. The one I had spent so much time in before getting my studio in the city. I walked down the stairs, bracing myself for a run-in with my parents. I didn’t want things to blow up and the three of us to start fighting again. The drama was really starting to tear me apart.

I walked into the kitchen, and both of my parents turned to look at me.

“There she is!” my mom says in a cheery voice. “We heard you come back in last night. We’re so glad you came back home.”

I already didn’t like where things were going. And I wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t apologizing to me. She never had before. Why would she start now?

I poured myself a bowl of frosted flakes. I wasn’t that hungry, even though I had not eaten all day, but a bowl of cereal sounded good. And I knew it would be light on my stomach.

My mom clapped her hands together, and I turned to look at her. “So, I have a plan,” she started to say.

I refrained from rolling my eyes at her, but I was already irritated beyond belief. I didn’t want to have to face them. But I obviously had to. I was in their house and not my apartment after all. My apartment that I desperately wished I was in. Far away from them and any of this bullshit drama. I wanted nothing more than to be back there and to crawl into my own bed.

“What is your plan?” I asked as I made my way over to a bar stool so I could sit down and eat, semi-far away from either of them. It didn’t feel right to sit down and eat my meal with them. I don’t know why but it felt so wrong.

“I know how we can spin the news.” Her smile told me that she had been planning this for quite some time, and now she finally felt like she was in control.

I turned to face her. “Excuse me? ‘Spin the news’? What exactly do you mean by that?”

I didn’t like where this was going at all. Usually, when she said things like this, it usually would end in some sort of press release being sent out to make our family look good and the other person look bad. But would she really do that to Cole? The friend of my father’s for so long? The owner of the company that made sure my dad was paid good so we could be well off?

“Well, news of your pregnancy is bound to spread soon.”

I bit my tongue to hold back an insult. I was sure she was going to be the one to release the info, and she was going to do it in whatever way made her look good. It didn’t matter about me or the baby to her anymore. This was strictly about her own image. My stomach turned, and I stopped eating my cereal, silently telling my baby I was sorry and that I would try again later.

“What are you planning, Mother?” I couldn’t hide the iciness in my tone. I didn’t understand why either of them was trying to talk to me right now. Though, I noticed my dad hadn’t said a word. I figured he probably wasn’t ever going to talk to me again. And that was fine. That would be his decision to not get to know his grandchild.

I realized just how awful the last couple of weeks had been for me and Cole. It was so stressful. Going from being okay, to fighting, to wondering if things will ever even be okay between us. I was starting to doubt they were.

“We can tell everyone that the older man took advantage of you. He could have had you at twenty-three, and he would be your father. You realize this, don’t you?”

I bit down on my lip, staring into my bowl of frosted flakes. The flakes were becoming soggy, and I was losing my appetite more and more. I pretended not to hear her. I couldn’t face her. I couldn’t say anything to her. It would just make things worse, and right now, that wasn’t what I needed.

“Sure, I mean, it might look bad, but you won’t have to take all of the blame. Once that kid is out of you, we can start showing our faces to the public again, and you can use the sympathy to get started working on new prospects.”

My mother sounded absolutely delighted over this little scheme she came up with. It sounded like she had every little detail planned. She was ready to take on the media with this and flip the story so that Cole looked awful and I looked like this poor, innocent victim. But then I would also be known as the girl that let an older guy take advantage of me. I’d be looked down upon as another dumb rich girl. I didn’t want that for Cole or me. It wasn’t going to make our baby’s life any easier, either. To be born during some media frenzy crisis.

“Shut up!” I finally yelled. I had enough of what she was saying. I didn’t care about her stupid plan to win the media over. I didn’t care what her plan was to make me look good. I didn’t even care about my image because I never really gave a shit what people thought of me anyway. I wasn’t a child anymore, and she needed to know this.

“I am not a baby, Mother. I am twenty-two years old. I am ready to be with Cole, and he is ready to be with me. We are going to work things out, together. Without yours or Dad’s help. I’m not interested in being with anyone else other than him. And if he leaves me, then oh well. I just will be single for the rest of my life.”

My mom’s mouth was open, and she was staring at me in shock. She went to say something, but I cut her off. I didn’t want to give her any more opportunities to speak. I couldn’t stand the things that came out of her mouth.

“My child will be well-cared for. By both me and Cole. So, if you want to cut me off, that’s fine. I don’t really care. And I don’t need you.” I walked away.

I didn’t look back, but I assumed I left her speechless because there wasn’t another word out of her mouth. I walked out of the kitchen door, onto the back patio and down the stairs. I walked across the lawn to the edge of the water. I needed some fresh air. I didn’t want to be around people who couldn’t support me.

It made it so much worse that it was supposed to be my family. My parents. Who seemed to just not give a shit what happened to my child. Their grandchild. Did family mean nothing to these people, unless it came with a price tag?

A couple of minutes passed, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look and came face to face with my dad. He wrapped me in a hug, and I almost started crying from his embrace.

“Listen, I’m very sorry for how I behaved last night. I’ll always love you. No matter what. I don’t approve of what’s happened between you and Cole, but if Cole makes you happy, then I’m happy for you. I understand you are an adult and not a child anymore. I respect your need for privacy. Which between you and I, the only reason I wanted to come here was so that I could talk to you.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze.

I wiped the fresh tears that were falling out of my eyes. I never thought my dad would forgive me for this. “Thanks, Dad,” I said and turned to give him another hug.

“But if he hurts you, all bets are off, and I will singlehandedly kill him,” my dad said.

I laughed. It was funny. But it was also probably very true, and I had to avoid picturing my dad’s fist in Cole’s face.

“Well, I don’t think we have to worry about that,” I said.

“I was thinking of taking the sailboat out this afternoon,” he said. “Would you like to join me?”

I nodded my head and looked out toward the water. “Sure, Dad,” I said and gave him another hug.

We stood and walked back into the house so we could gather things to go sailing. My mom was back, sitting down at the table and staring at her phone. I was sure she was probably googling her own name to make sure there wasn’t any bad press on her today. It was something she did almost every day. I had caught her more than a dozen times. She always said it was so she could handle any bad press right away, but I figured it had more to do with making sure no one was trashing her name.

“We’re going on the sailboat,” my dad said to her.

She looked up at us. “Okay,” she said.

It was strange for my mom not to have much more to say. I wasn’t used to it and was going to ask if she was okay, but I didn’t need to hear her reasoning if it turned out she wasn’t okay. I didn’t want to fight with her anymore. I didn’t want to fight with anyone anymore. I was exhausted.

I helped my dad gather everything to get the boat ready. I hadn’t been out on the sailboat for a while, and I had missed it dearly. I loved being out on the water. My dad always teased me that maybe my mom had had an affair with a merman. I would point out that he loved the water, too, and that I was just being a daddy’s girl. I think he liked hearing me say things like that.

We got the boat ready and set sail. It was a wonderful afternoon, and I felt so much better. I knew that I would have both my parents on my side. Because as soon as my dad talked to me today, that meant my mom could no longer try to control the situation like it was some sort of media issue. My dad hated when she did that just as much as I hated when she did that.

“You know, I’ll always support you, no matter how upset I might get at first,” he said as we were heading back to the dock.

“I know, Dad, and I appreciate you not making this into an image thing like Mom.”

He gave me a half smile. “She only wants what’s best for you.”

“You and I both know that she only wants what’s best for her,” I said.

He nodded in agreement, but that’s all he said. He never really talked bad about her, even when she was in the wrong, and I always really respected him for doing that.