I threw my paint roller on the ground like a football player slamming the ball in the end zone after making a touchdown. It totally would have been deemed excessive celebration but I didn’t care, I was excited as fuck. “Finito!” It was the best feeling in the world to finally be finished painting.

“It’s all coming together so nicely.” Crickett took a step back, wiping sweat off of her forehead.

“Thanks for all of your help with this.” I sat down cross-legged on the plastic-covered wood floor, collapsing from exhaustion. Painting always seems like such a great idea when you’re picking out colors and all excited, but it was hard fucking work.

We had finally finished moving all the furniture into our four-bedroom home. The front steps still needed some work and the basement needed refinishing, but other than that we were making the house into the perfect home.

“Who knew elephant skin could be such a pretty gray color for a bedroom?” she remarked, handing me a bottle of water.

It was the last room that had needed paint and it was finally done. I stifled a yawn as I agreed with her. “I have to hand it to you, you were right—it is the perfect color.”

“Are you feeling all right, honey? You’ve been more tired than usual lately.” Leave it to Crickett to always play the concerned mom card.

“Moving has definitely taken it out of me,” I responded.

She eyed me for a second. “It’s more than that. You’re not pregnant, are you?”

The question took me completely by surprise. Ryder and I had known for only a few days and we had planned on keeping it just between us for the first trimester.

I couldn’t lie to Crickett, so I just didn’t say anything. Her eyes narrowed at me. “Holy shit! Are you kidding me?” She started bouncing on her heels as she bent down to throw her arms around me.

“I’m barely at eight weeks.” I walked over to the nightstand, pulling a sonogram out of the top drawer. “We were going to tell you guys once I was a little further along.”

Her eyes watered as she stared down at the black and white photo of a small circle that was barely visible. “I am so beyond thrilled! Honey, this is incredible.”

Suddenly, my stomach went into knots, making a noise like a swamp creature was living in my gut. “Damn, I think it’s time for a food break.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me, little momma.” Crickett walked into the bathroom. “Let me just get some of this paint off of me.”

We both had elephant skin speckles splattered all over us. As I got up to follow her, I felt like my insides were doing flip-flops. Rushing past her, I barely made it to the toilet fast enough.

Without missing a beat, Crickett put a damp towel on the back of my neck. “The morning sickness will pass, sweetheart.”

I groaned. “Not soon enough.”

She laughed. “That’s for damn sure. Pregnancy is no picnic, trust me.”

“Whoever decided to call it morning sickness was a damn liar—it’s any-time-it-fucking-feels-like-it sickness,” I grumbled.

I sat on the edge of the bathtub feeling like complete ass. I was still kind of in disbelief. Ryder and I had talked about wanting to start trying soon and I had missed a few of my birth control pills while we were on our honeymoon in Mexico, but it wasn’t supposed to happen so quickly. I didn’t know if I was ready, if we were ready.

Crickett was sitting on the plush white mat in the master bath, barely able to contain her excitement.

“Can I call Abel?” she blurted out with a little shrill. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandmother!”

I grabbed my cell from the counter, dialing my dad. “I think he would kill me if I didn’t tell myself.”

His phone rang and rang, finally going to voicemail.

“Let’s just go tell him in person. It’ll be better that way anyway.” Crickett grabbed my hand, helping me up.

After brushing my teeth quickly, I followed her to the car.

“He’s going to fucking freak,” I remarked as we made our way to the mechanic’s shop where my dad and husband were working.

“I can’t wait to see Abel’s jaw hit the damn floor.” Crickett smiled over at me from the driver’s seat. Right as we were going through the last intersection, I heard the squealing of tires. I felt the crash, my body being jostled and thrown as our car spun, and then nothingness.