With tears streaming down my face, I ripped off my coat as soon as I got home. A minute later, there was a knock on the front door.

I was not in a place where I wanted to see anyone, so I ignored it and hung my coat in the closet.

The knock came again, this time followed by a voice on the other side.

"Will you please open up, Juliette?"

It was Easton.

What more did he want to say? How much more hand sanitizer did he want to rub into the wound?

I didn't want to talk to him anymore, so I didn’t answer. Instead, I walked toward the kitchen to self-medicate with ice cream.

But apparently, he didn't care about what I wanted, because a second later, the front door pushed open and Easton stepped inside, his chest heaving like he'd just run a race.

When our eyes met, I saw pain reflected in his.

Was he expecting me to apologize some more?

I crossed my arms. "What do you want, Easton?"

I probably would have come across more threatening if my voice hadn't wobbled and it didn't look like I'd just been bawling my eyes out.

He stepped closer, shutting the door behind him.

"I—" He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. "I need to apologize to you."

You bet you do.

He came even closer until there was only a couple of feet between us. "I'm sorry for what I just did back there." He sighed. "That was about the worst way I could have reacted."

I pinched my lips together, hoping it would keep me from bursting into tears all over again.

He must have noticed how unstable I was because he closed the distance between us and pulled me against him, wrapping his arms around me.

"I feel like such a jerk."

"You should," I said, my voice muffled against his shoulder.

He shook his head and just pulled me tighter against him. "I'm so sorry, Juliette."

I blinked my eyes shut, hoping it would stop my stupid tears from spilling out even more. But it didn't help.

"It’ll be okay." He rubbed my back, and I could feel his heart beating so fast in his chest. "If someone said any of those things to Maddie when she was pregnant, I would have punched them in the face. You didn't deserve that."

I buried my face in his chest as a sob wracked my body. He kissed my head then nuzzled his cheek against my neck.

"I didn't mean those things," he whispered. And maybe I was just being delusional, but he really sounded sincere.

I pulled back and wiped under my eyes. My fingers came away black. I must totally look like a raccoon right now.

"I think I need a minute." I sniffled, keeping my eyes down so he wouldn't see what a mess I was. "I'm going to go wash my face."

He nodded and let me go.

I washed my makeup off and just stayed in the bathroom for a while, not sure I wanted to go back in the living room to face Easton again. It was great he came back to apologize, but that didn't make me forget his initial reaction.

I splashed my face with water one more time, took a deep breath, and then made myself go back out to face him.

I found Easton sitting on the gray couch in the living room, his fingers strumming rhythmically on the armrest.

“Sorry, I had to wash off that mess." I sat on the other end of the couch, tucking one foot under me.

"I've always thought you looked good without all that makeup, anyway."

I ducked my head down, not sure how to take his compliment. "Thanks."

His gaze drifted toward my belly. Was he trying to figure out how far along I was?

I grabbed a throw pillow off the couch and covered my stomach with it.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, I guess what you said about going to your grandma's house meant you probably weren’t planning to keep the baby?"

"No. I don't think so."

He nodded and picked at the couch cushion. "It's probably easier to just move on like it never happened, huh?"

Easier?

I didn't think anything was easy about this.

"Does the Paris guy not want the baby then? Is he pressuring you to give it away?"

Of course, the only reason I could possibly dream of giving away a baby would be because someone else was telling me to. Not because that's what I thought was the best decision for myself and my baby.

I wanted to roll my eyes at him.

But I knew I should have expected this, because this was how things worked in his family. His sister had kept her baby.

"The guy actually doesn't know about the baby. I decided that for myself."

His eyebrows raised. "You didn't tell him?"

I looked down again and spoke carefully, hoping he wouldn't be able to detect that I was lying. Everything depended on Easton believing the baby wasn't his. "I don't have a way to contact him."

"You don't? Isn't he tagged in those photos with you?"

So he'd done a little research on Evan. "That was just a friend. This other guy was a one-night thing," I said, continuing with the same lie I'd told Lexi.

He went still, stunned that I could have a one-night stand. Should that make me feel better?

He regained his composure a moment later. "Doesn't the guy need to sign away his rights or something for the adoption? I thought I remembered Maddie talking about that."

I shrugged. "I watched a YouTube video a while back where the girl said something about the father having thirty days after the baby is born to come forward and claim his parental rights or something. After that, I think the adoption process goes pretty smoothly."

I probably needed to do more research, but the girl in the video made it sound straightforward, anyway.

I was hoping it was true.

"You'll have to keep the baby for those thirty days, though. Are you afraid that you'll bond or something? I know Maddie couldn't give Grant away once she saw him."

Which was something I was terrified of. I couldn't get attached to the baby. "I think the baby would go into foster care at that point."

He blew out a long breath. "Sorry you have to make all these decisions by yourself."

I nodded. It would be nice to decide these things with Easton's help. But I knew this was the way it needed to be. I'd seen how scared he'd look for that small instant when he thought he was going to be a dad. His whole life had probably passed before his eyes.

I felt a little guilty lying to him, but I could ignore that feeling for now. I'd be miles away soon, and the next time I was back in Ridgewater, all of this would be a thing of the past.