“Check it out. What do you think?”
I turned to where he was pointing. I gasped out loud at the sight in front of me.
“Oh. My. Goodness,” I whispered. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
In front of us was a view of the mountain range with a crystal blue lake in the small valley. The way the reflection of the mountain and sky bounced off the lake was breathtaking.
“It looks like a picture. How did you know this was here?”
“I come to visit Jax a lot when I’m home, and I do my best thinking when I’m out hiking. I stumbled across this old path. No one ever walks it because it appears the trail ends at the cliff wall, but if you look hard enough you see the trail leading up.”
“It’s beautiful,” I repeated as I glanced back at him.
He smiled. “Yeah it is. I’m not the only one who knows about it, though. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of folks up here. Especially those who hike and fish.”
“Oh, I bet the fishing is amazing. That’s one of the things on my bucket list.”
Carter turned to me. “Fishing?”
With a giggle, I looked at him. “Not just any fishing. But fly fishing up in the Colorado Rockies. I’ve always wanted to go there.”
Something in his eyes changed. “Let’s go there. Let’s go fishing in the Rockies. I know the perfect place to go.”
Tilting my head, I smirked. “You’re running.”
He returned my own look. “So are you.”
I couldn’t argue with him on that one. My stomach flipped a little at the idea of running off with Carter and spending a few days in Colorado.
No. What in the hell am I thinking? I don’t even know him. But he is a friend of Jax and Jamie seems to trust him.
Turning away from Carter, I began pacing. Could I do it? Run off and do something I’ve always wanted to do with a perfect stranger? My parent’s would kill me. Mason would kill me.
My chest ached. I should be doing this with Holden. This was our dream.
I fought to hold back the tears. He has a new dream. A new life. A baby on the way.
The hurt was almost too much to take. I knew I was running away from reality as much as Carter was, but in that very moment, I didn’t give two shits. Spinning on my heels, I looked into his green eyes. Squaring off my shoulders, I said, “Let’s do it! But one rule. Friends only. No expectations of anything other than friendship.”
He jerked his head back in surprise. “Are you fucking insane? Just like that you’d run off with a man you hardly know, Em?”
My mouth dropped to the ground. “Wait. You were the one who suggested it.”
“Well I know, but damn, girl. That’s dangerous as hell to say yes when a man asks you to run off with him.”
Chewing on my lip, I said, “Then no?”
“Fuck yes, we’re going!”
I let out a giggle. “You are confusing me, Carter.”
He took my hand and led me back over to the ledge. Dropping it, he started down over the ledge. “Slide down and I’ll catch you.”
“Wait. Where are we going?” I asked as he climbed back down. Peering over the edge, he stared back up at me with a huge smile on his face.
“We’re going fishing in the Rockies.”
I did a little jump and started climbing down. Carter’s strong arms grabbed a hold of me and set me firmly down on the ground.
Butterflies were dancing around in my stomach. Not from Carter’s touch, but from the idea of going on an adventure. Mason and I talked about it and it didn’t work. Maybe it was because I was supposed to go with Carter. I wouldn’t think too much about it. I was just going to do it.
By the time we got back to Jamie and Jax’s place, both Carter and I were over-the-moon excited. Running up the steps, I called back over my shoulder. “I’ll be packed up in five minutes!”
“Meet you back out here,” Carter said, making a pass on my left once we both hit the porch.
As I ran into the house, Jamie and Jax walked out of the living room.
“I’m going fishing!” I called out with a huge smile on my face before running up the steps to the guest room I was staying in.
Before I reached the top, I heard Jamie say, “Oh shit. They had sex.”
By the time I packed up my few things and made it back down the stairs, Jamie, Jax, and Carter were all on the front porch. I could hear Jamie talking to Carter in a raised voice. “You are not taking my best friend, whom you just met may I add, off somewhere. Hell no.”
Coming to a stop, I tried to get my instant anger in check.
“Now hold on, Jamie, this is my best friend you’re yelling at. I seriously doubt he would let any harm come to Emylie.”
“Do you know what a fragile state of mind she is in? No. She came here to get her shit together, and you are not dragging her off so you could end up in her pants because I know that’s what will happen. Jax talks when he’s drunk, and I’ve heard stories about you, Carter. Do the two of you honestly think you’re going to run off and fuck like rabbits and everything will be okay? All your problems solved with a little bit of fishing and fun?”
Carter started talking, but I pushed the screen door open causing it to bang. Everyone jumped and looked at me.
“Is that what you think of me? And for the record, we did not have sex earlier, even though you were pushing it. We’re friends. And Carter invited me to go fishing and I’m going fishing! So … so screw you Jamie!”
“Emmie! I was only kidding about hooking up with Carter. I know you’re torn up about Holden, but sweetie, running away with Carter is not going to fix anything.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get it. I want to do this. I need to do this.”
Pushing past everyone, I headed to my car. It was then I realized that both Carter and I had our own cars. I didn’t want to drive alone. Turning around, I watched as Carter shook Jax’s hand and then leaned over and kissed Jamie on the cheek. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded. Her eyes looked sad, and I knew she hadn’t meant what she said, but I was pissed. There was no way I was walking back up there and saying goodbye to her.
When Carter walked up to me, he smiled weakly. “You’ll follow me, right?”
My old insecurities came rushing back. I didn’t want to be alone. “No. I’ll leave my car here if that’s okay? I can always fly back to pick it up.”
With an incredulous look, Carter asked, “Are you sure, Em?”
Peering past his shoulder at Jamie staring at me, I nodded. “Positive. I’ll leave the keys in the car if they need to move it.”
I quickly opened the door to my car and dropped my keys on the seat. I could feel the weight of Jamie’s stare.
“Emylie, I didn’t mean what I said. Please don’t do this. What am I supposed to tell your parents if they call?”
A feeling of dread swept over my body, and for one brief second, it felt like I was making a huge mistake. It quickly passed when I thought of Holden and how Daphne was carrying his child yet again.
Glancing over my shoulder, I walked to Carter’s truck and replied, “Tell them I went fishing.”
STANDING AT THE fax machine, I watched as Daphne’s medical records printed out page by page. Becca stood next to me, chewing on her nail.
“She said Daphne hadn’t been in since when?”
My stomach felt sick. “Last December.”
Mason walked up to me. “Maybe she’s seeing another OB.”
I nodded and barely whispered, “Maybe.”
My chest tightened as the thought of Daphne not being pregnant bounced around in my head. I wanted more than anything for it to be true, but a small part of me mourned the loss of another baby. It wasn’t our first baby’s fault that he was conceived during a drunken night. He was still a child. My child.
The fax machine finally stopped printing out papers. Gathering them up, I handed them to Becca.
“How do we find out if she’s going to another doctor?
” Becca asked as she searched through the paperwork.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I headed to the kitchen. “I need a fucking beer.”
“Dude, it’s not even noon. Let’s hold off a bit longer and go grab something to eat. I know I’m starved.”
I gave Mason a small head bob. I knew he was right. Drinking is what got me into this damn mess in the first place.
“Where are you kids off to?”
My mother’s voice had us all stopping on a dime and freezing.
“Oh hell. What did the three of you do? Is Daphne okay?”
Turning to look at my mother, I let out a gruff laugh. “Do you really think I’d hurt her, Mom?”
She lifted her brows. “Well, I don’t know. You faked being sick in order to stay here longer. I’m not really sure what’s going on anymore.”
Her gaze drifted to Becca. “What is that you’re reading, Becca?”
Before I had a chance to lie, Becca answered her. “The wicked witch’s medical records from the OB.”
My mother quickly made her way over to Becca. I was ready for her to rip them from her hand and then ground us all for a month. Instead, she said, “Now, now, Becca, it’s not nice to call people names. Does it say how far along she is?”
Mason and I both looked at each other with stunned expressions. My mother wasn’t freaking out. She wasn’t yelling at me for doing something illegal. She was on my side.
“No, she hasn’t been in since last December.”
My mother tapped her chin. “Interesting. Come on into the kitchen, and I’ll make us an early lunch. We can all figure it out together.”
Becca mindlessly followed my mother as she kept thumbing through the records.
“Dude, your mother is either one hell of a badass mom, or she really doesn’t like Daphne.” Mason stated.
With a huge grin on my face, I slapped him on the back and replied, “It’s both.”
My mother set a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of each of us. I had started to read the notes the doctor had made after Daphne’s miscarriage but I had to stop. I slid them over to my mother as she sat down next to me.
“I can’t read these,” I mumbled. Trying to find my appetite, I forced myself to eat a bite of the pancakes.
“The only thing I can think of doing is calling every OB in LA and seeing about confirming an appointment for Daphne.”
“That would be crazy,” my mother said as she narrowed her stare and read something.
“Becca, where are the notes from Daphne’s first appointment, where she first found out she was pregnant?”
Rustling through some papers, Becca pulled a few out and handed them to my mother.
“Here they are. I didn’t read over them since it was the first pregnancy.”
We all ate in silence as my mother read the notes. After eating half the pancakes, I pushed my plate away.
“You not going to eat those?” Mason asked.
I rolled my eyes and motioned for him to take the rest of my uneaten food.
Burying my hands in my face, I wanted to cry. I hated that we were even doing this. It was an invasion into Daphne’s privacy, and I was about to tell my mother to forget it when she asked, “Were you in the room when the doctor told you Daphne had lost the baby?”
I dropped my hands. “Yeah. Why?”
“When you were there, did the doctor ever mention how far along Daphne was?”
“She was almost fourteen weeks.”
Shaking her head, my mother peered into my eyes. “Did anyone other than Daphne ever confirm to you how far along she was in the pregnancy?”
I thought back at the one time I went to the doctor with her. The next day is when she had the miscarriage. “Um, no. Come to think of it, the doctor came in, did an exam and said everything was going well.”
A heaviness settled into my limbs. I could tell by the way my mother was looking at me, she was about to say something I wasn’t going to want to hear.
“You couldn’t have been the father of that baby, Holden.”
Becca and Mason froze. I was pretty sure I stopped breathing.
Forcing myself to speak, I asked, “Why?”
My mother glanced back at the paperwork as she pursed her lips together, then looked directly at me. The sadness was almost more than I could take.
“Because she was almost seventeen weeks pregnant. That means she was pregnant already when you slept with her. If you even slept with her.”
Becca gasped and said, “No!” The sound of Mason’s fork hitting his plate caused me to jump.
“What?” I barely said. “Maybe she didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Shaking her head, a single tear fell from my mother’s eye before she quickly wiped it away.
“I don’t think so, sweetie. It has the date she had her last period. It says the doctor told her the date she most likely conceived and when her due date would be, which is not the same due date you told your father and I when we talked the other night. Holden, she lied to you. She was indeed pregnant, but not with your child.”
I jumped up, causing my chair to crash onto the floor. “No. Oh God, no. Please God no. I hurt her for nothing. For nothing!”
Becca was around the table and had her arm around me. “Let’s sit back down, Holden. Please.”
Mason was now on the other side of me.
“Emylie. I hurt her for nothing. The baby wasn’t even mine. I told her I had fallen in love with another woman because I didn’t want to tell her I was a cheating bastard. If I had only been honest. She might have forgiven me.”
My hands pushed through my hair as I squeezed my head and screamed out, “Why?! Why did you do this to me?”
Mason grabbed onto my arm. “Come on, dude, let’s at least step outside to get some fresh air.
I pushed him away from me and took a few steps back. “No. I’m going to talk to Daphne.”
“Ah fuck,” Mason said under his breath as my mother walked toward me.
“You will not, Holden Warner. You are angry and now is not the time to confront Daphne.”
I let out a short blunt laugh. “You’re goddamn right I’m angry. I want to rip her fucking head off. She lied to me, Mom. She ruined my life. If she lied to me then, how do I know if she is lying to me now?”
“You don’t, but you’re not going to solve anything by going over there angry like this.”
Becca touched my arm, causing me to jerk away before she squeezed it. “Holden, your mom is right. If you go in blazing mad, it’s not going to help the situation. She could honestly be pregnant. If she lost another baby, do you really want that on your conscience?”
My head was spinning and my entire body felt as if it was buried in sand. I fought for each breath like it was my last one. I had so many different emotions tumbling around in my mind, I didn’t know which way was up or down. Disbelief. The feeling of loss all over again. Disappointment. Anger. Hatred. It all swirled together into one big fucked up mess.
Mason walked up to me with a serious expression on his face. “Let’s put at least one thing into perspective here. We wouldn’t even be standing here if you hadn’t slept with her.”
I went to say something when he lifted his hand and continued. “I honestly think she drugged you that night, Holden.”
My mouth partially opened, but nothing came out. I’d had a feeling all along that someone had slipped something in my drink. “The last thing I remember is I was flirting pretty heavy with Daphne and realized what I was doing. I backed off, said I was heading back to my place, and she got upset with me. Then I was in her bed.”
Mason closed his eyes and shook his head. “Dude, I really wish you would have been up front and honest with us.”
Stabbing my hand into my hair, I nodded. “You and me both.”
My heart dropped. If I had been honest with Emylie, she might not have fallen into Mason’s arms. The thought of them together still made my skin crawl. I needed to get to her. Tell he
r everything we found out. The only way to do that was to finally get the truth from Daphne.
With one deep breath, I slowly exhaled. “I’m going over to the cabin to talk to Daphne.”
“Maybe we should come with you, Holden,” Becca said as she glanced between me and Mason.
With a gruff laugh, I shook my head. “I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
Lifting her brow, she smirked. “Well your track record shows differently. The first thing we’re going to do is stop and buy a pregnancy test. It’s time to nip this shit in the bud.” Becca’s eyes filled with tears and her voice cracked. “I want my best friend back.”
Mason walked up to Becca and wrapped her in his arms. “We all want her back,” he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.
I turned to my mother. She blew out a long sigh and slowly shook her head. “This is so surreal. It’s like watching a movie play out right before me. I’m honestly stunned and trying to figure out why this girl lied to you about being the father of that baby.”
Walking to my mother, I stopped and glanced down at the papers spread out on the table. “That’s what I’m about to find out, Mom.” My gaze lifted and met hers. “I’m so sorry I stayed away like I did. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on in the first place. I knew once I did, you and Dad would be disappointed in me.”
She dropped the papers in her hand on the table and walked into my arms. I held her tight before she pulled back and studied me. “We’ve all made mistakes in our lives. This will not be the last one you make. I can promise you that. The key to it though, is learning from them. The one thing you have in this world is family and friends, Holden. Your strength grows from our strength. Your love from our love. You may falter with the trust, but that can be earned back.”
I turned away. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to earn back Emylie’s love or trust again.”