“Listen, you are just going through a tough time right now. But you can’t marry him. He doesn’t love you. And you can’t just be with him because your mom likes him and will cut you off otherwise.”

I regret my words as soon as I see the fire in her eyes. I don’t regret what I said just the way that I have said it.

“You know what, Olive, you have some nerve,” Sydney says, getting up from the booth and grabbing her purse. “Why don’t we review all of the things you did for a little bit of money? You went all the way to Hawaii to meet some stranger and let him do who knows what to you—”

“It was all consensual,” I interject.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, you wouldn’t have done it if he was old and ugly?”

“To tell you the truth, no, probably not.”

“And what about your debt?”

“I would’ve tried to pay it off some other way.”

“It doesn’t matter!” she yells so loudly a waitress comes over and tries to calm her down. “Just remember that you did that for a little bit of money. Not the multiple millions that I stand to inherit.”

“Sydney, I didn’t—”

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the waitress says sternly. “You are disturbing the other diners.”

“Fine, fine. I’m leaving,” Sydney snaps and starts to walk away from me.

I’m about to follow her when the waitress reminds me that someone still has to pay the bill. I pull out my card and wait for it to process, hoping that I can catch up to her in time.

While we stand here, my phone vibrates and I glance at the screen. It’s a message from my mom that says, yep, that’s him.

The words ring in my head as I walk out of the restaurant and run down the street. Sydney is leaning against the wall with her head in her hands. When I rush up to her, she opens her arms and pulls me in.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumble.

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of those things.”

We hold each other for a few moments until she pulls away. Looking straight into my eyes, she says, “I’m pregnant.”

17

Olive

When I invite her on a trip…

Everything happens so quickly that it leaves my head spinning. My mom just confirmed that the guy up in Maine is Owen’s old friend Pink Eye and Sydney just told me that she is pregnant.

Somehow, I manage to get her back to our apartment and we both change out of our street clothes into pjs. I put on the kettle for me and make her a fresh pot of coffee. Then we curl up on the couch together.