“Really. I’m okay.”

Pete touched his thumb to his lips, lifting his pinky in the air.

“No. I wasn’t drinking. The girl Taylor was with in San Diego? She’s pregnant.”

Pete’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and he released my arm. I hurried to the stairs, taking them two at a time.

I jumped in the shower, pushing down memories of the previous evening before they could surface.

I was never so glad to be working on a Saturday. It would be busy, and there was a festival this weekend. There was no better distraction than impatient, hungry customers. Without a phone, Taylor would have no way to contact me, other than coming to the Bucksaw, and I knew he was on second shift that day and the next.

I was conflicted, trying not to cry one minute and fighting anger the next. I worried, knowing he was miles away in the burning woods with so much on his mind. Leaving him alone to deal with Alyssa hadn’t helped matters any, but I had created the mess we were all in. Taylor had made it worse. But his job wasn’t going to change, and neither were our problems. It was time I bowed out for good. One of us had to do it.

I walked down the stairs, tying my still damp hair into a bun at the crown of my head, and I heard Phaedra having a one-sided conversation. I pushed through the double doors and sat on my regular counter in the kitchen, across from the center prep table.

Hector was washing vegetables, keeping his head down, not saying a word. Pete was peeling potatoes, grimacing at me while he worked.

“What the hell is going on?” Phaedra asked.

Chuck was standing behind her with no sign of talking her down. I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand.

“And don’t tell me it’s nothing, that it’s no big deal, or that you just had a bad night because nothing that’s nothing is going to make you curl up in the fetal position on a tiled floor for an entire night.”

I snapped my opened mouth shut. Phaedra could intimidate anyone, but she had never been so cross with me.

“Spill it,” Phaedra demanded.

“When I asked Taylor for the break, he went to San Diego to see his brother. He ended up … with another woman while he was there. He told me about it in Saint Thomas. We’ve been working through it.”

“And?” she asked, unfazed.

I sucked in a breath, feeling a lump form in my throat. “She came to the hotel last night. She’s pregnant.”

Audible gasps came from all four of my coworkers.

I quickly wiped away a few escaped tears.

“She’s keeping it?” Chuck asked.

I nodded.

Phaedra shifted, trying to uphold her stern demeanor. “What does Taylor have to say?”