I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. I knew I didn’t appreciate it when people fussed when I was a wet sack of tears, which was frequently, so I went at it simple.

“I sleep all the time. Kid makes me tired. It’s fine. You okay?”

“No, not really. My parents are pissed. They want to meet you and your parents. Dad’s... He wants a paternity test. He was an asshole about it. I knew he would be. That’s why I waited so long. I know how this is going to sound, but it was as much for you as it was for me. My mom will keep him in check to a point, but he’s going to be uncool.”

I groaned and flopped back into my pillows, my eyes adjusting to the darkness in my room. Back at the apartment, I had those plastic glowy star stickers on my ceiling. I missed them in that moment. They would have given me something to focus on that wasn’t Jack’s father potentially dickbagging at me and our unborn kid. “Okaaaaay. Well, he can deal with my mother and grandmother. Good luck to him. I’m not sure what goes into a DNA test, but...”

“I looked before I called. We can do spit tests when the kid is born—it’s a girl, right?”

“That’s the assigned gender. I wanna keep doors open in case they choose another gender, later, though. But that’s a talk for another day.”

Jack paused.

“Yeah, okay, that’s fine. I’m just going to tell my parents it’s a girl. I don’t think they’ll get it, otherwise.”

Jack’s parents sounded like charmers.

“Anyway, you can get a blood test done now but that’s probably going to cost us money and the baby’s coming soon. February, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. If you’re cool with one of those spit tests, my dad is. We can get them off Amazon. He just doesn’t want to have to pay support if it’s not mine. Which, I—I believe you, Sara, okay? My dad’s just tough. He’s not always a bad guy. He’s just... I dunno.” Jack sighed and sounded sad. “Anyway, he wants to get together. It’s probably going to suck. A lot. I won’t lie.”

“Yeah, but I’d rather get it over with. I’ll talk to Mom and Mormor and we’ll set something up. Text you tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.” He paused. “And I’m sorry for the delay, Sara. I was just really scared.”

“I am, too, sometimes,” I said. “But it’ll be okay. I’ve got plans in place. My school’s going to let me finish the last term of senior year at home so I don’t have to leave Cass too early.”