Megan stared at me from where she curled in a chair. She’d only gotten home a few minutes before.

“What’s got you down? Have you heard the news? They say that girl they found isn’t Meghan.”

That snapped my attention to her.

“Are they sure?”

She nodded. “Apparently they’ve known for a while, but kept it quiet.”

“Why would they do that?”

She brought her legs to her chest and hugged them. “My guess is they wanted to lull the killer into a false sense of security.” When she read my probing stare for what it was, wondering when she’d become a detective, she asked, “What? I watch Chicago Fire. For the hot guys, of course.”

Although I didn’t watch a lot of TV, I was pretty sure the title suggested it wasn’t a cop show. “It’s that show about firemen.”

“Yes, but they investigate.”

I blew that off in favor of a different question.

“Do you think she’s still alive?”

Megan glanced away. “I don’t know.”

“Do they still think she left on her own?”

“She’s never been gone this long. So I don’t think so.”

It was awful to think she was being held somewhere against her will. Who knew what was happening to her at this moment.

“For all we know, she’s been found, but they are keeping it from the press.”

“We can hope,” I whispered.

“Someone said she went by another name.”

“Really?”

“I think the story goes she uses Meghan when she’s hitting up guys for sex, but her parents call her Lisa or Lucy. I’m not sure if it’s her first or middle name.”

“Lisa or Lucy?”

Megan waved a hand in the air. “Something with an L. I can’t remember. I’d been so caught up in finding out who the Jane Doe is. But no one knows yet.”

I picked up my bottle of water and drained it.

“Have you made a decision yet?” she asked, cryptically.

“We’re alone and no. How can I possibly make a decision?”

Waking up feeling sick to my stomach Sunday morning had thrown my world into a tailspin. I’d wanted it to be food poisoning. But when I thought about when the last time I had my period was, I’d known. Megan bought me a test from the school store. I was mortified when we checked out. But all that went away when the plus sign appeared.

“You know I won’t judge no matter what you decide.”

The idea of having a baby brought on a wave of nausea.

“How can I possibly take away a life that didn’t ask to be created? It’s not its fault I made a mistake.”

“There are other options like adoption.”

I leaned my head back on the couch to stare up at the ceiling.

“That’s if I survive my parents’ wrath.”

“You did say he wants to marry you.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Like he didn’t say that in the moment.”

She aimed a finger at me. “You know I wasn’t going to tell you this with everything you have going on, but you should know.”

“What?”

“Today in the café I overhead a couple of girls talking about Gavin and Tade.”

“I’m sure hearing Gavin’s name perked up your ears.”

“I would have taken one for the team even if they’d only been talking about Tade.”

Though I’d teased her, I never doubted that.

“Anyway, they were talking about hearing that Tade was drunk off his ass this weekend. We’re talking stumbling over his own feet drunk.”

“These girls were there?”

“I don’t think so, but that’s not the point. They said several girls approached him, but he turned down every one. Do you hear me? All of them. They said he didn’t bat an eye at the waitress who all but pushed her tits in his face.”

I could imagine how women threw themselves at him.

“He was drunk.”

“Exactly. And as much as I hate to say this, he’s loyal and so into you.”

“Why do you hate it?”

She pushed her legs down to inch forward on her seat. “Because we were supposed to move to New York and be two chicks in the city and now—”

“You think I’m moving to Massachusetts with Tade.”

“Aren’t you?”

I wasn’t sure.

“There’s so much he doesn’t know about me. How can I involve him in my life without full disclosure?”

“Your mom?”

That was part of it. I nodded.

“Doesn’t your mom’s crazy come from something that happened to her? She wasn’t born that way.”

“That’s my guess, but without knowing what happened, how can I be sure?”

She knitted her hands together. “You’re not crazy. You know that, right?”

That was something I wasn’t entirely sure of. “I see a psychologist every week.”

Though because of Tade, life had felt like I was walking on solid ground, until finding out that I was pregnant.

“But you’re not on meds. This is just to un-brainwash you from everything your mom did.”

I couldn’t put the blame solely on her. “Sometimes I wonder how much is her and how much is me.”

He had tethered me to normality. Here I was dragging him into my crazy.

“Have you guys talked? You slept here last night.”

“Not today. I had a test and he had to work on his project.”

I’d left him a message and he hadn’t returned it.

“Maybe he’s changed his mind,” I admitted.

At least that had been my worry.

“Oh Rae, it has to be something else.”

“You know he could have been yours?” I tossed out.

“How?”

Her indignant gaze said she thought anything but that.

“That first night at the bar.”

She laughed. “No, he only had eyes for you as soon as we walked in the joint.” She pursed her lips. “Don’t give me that look like I betrayed you. You weren’t interested in any guy and I wasn’t sure he just wanted to hook up with you. So I didn’t say anything.”

“Until you pushed me at him.”

“I was drunk and you were supposed to take one for the team so I could get with his friend. And look how that turned out. You’re the one knocked up.”

I was. Another glance at my phone only showed I didn’t have a message from him. What was I going to do?