Daryl: Dolly?

Molly: Oh crap, I forgot to text him back.

Mercy: Who???

Molly: Daryl.

Molly: I haven't texted Dad back, either…

Mercy: Text him!!!

Mercy: Daryl – text Daryl. Do not, I repeat DO NOT text your father.

Molly: And say what????

I kept my eyes glued to the speech bubble on the screen of my phone, indicating that Mercy was typing back, and willed her to hurry the heck up.

However, I never got to read her advice because Daryl chose that exact moment to call me.

"Breathe," I instructed, puffing and panting, as I paced my bedroom floor with my phone held out in front of my body like it was the enemy. "Just breathe."

Finally, after the ninth ring, I mustered up the courage to swipe accept.

"Hey, D."

"Baby." His deep southern drawl filled my ears and I shivered. "You feeling any better?"

"Yep." Grimacing, I swallowed deeply and continued my pacing. "I'm all better now."

"Good," he said, sounding genuinely relieved. "I got Mercy's text about y'all cutting school, but fuck, I couldn’t stop worrying about you all day."

"You shouldn't even be thinking about me right now," I said, chewing on my thumbnail anxiously. "Your entire focus should be on tomorrow's game."

"My entire focus is only ever on you, Dolly," he shot back and I swear my heart wilted. "You sure you're okay now?"

My breathing increased because lying to him wasn’t something I felt comfortable doing. This felt all wrong, wrong, wrong!

"D?" I croaked out, swallowing down a mouthful of bile.

"Yeah, baby?"

I blew out a ragged breath. "D."

"Dolly, I'm listening."

Daryl, I'm pregnant.

I'm pregnant, Daryl.

I'm really sorry but my womb just screwed us both.

I'm having your baby.

We're going to be parents.

You can put a rush on that child support check…

Surprise; happy finding out that you're going to be a daddy day!

I rehearsed the words over and over in my mind before finally blurting out, "I'm late," and then slapped my forehead for my absolute idiocy.

You are way beyond late, dude, Mercy's imaginary voice infiltrated my thoughts and I balked.

"You are? For what?" Daryl replied. "I kinda need to stay at home tonight, but I can drive you wherever you need to be."

This wasn't something a guy should be told over the phone.

Get a grip, Molly!

Don’t do this to him. You'll ruin his chance at state…

"Handing in my history assignment," I choked out and then cringed in shame. "I'm late handing in my history assignment. Today was the deadline."

"Is that it?" he laughed. "God, you really are a nerd."

"Uh, yep." I forced out a humorless laugh. "Total nerd here."

"I should probably get going," he said then, sounding distracted, as loud voices boomed in the background. "I'll see you at the game tomorrow?"

"Unless…" I sucked in a sharp breath, needing to feel his arms around my body right now. Needing to hear the words 'it's going to be okay' from his mouth. "I know you have to stay at home on a game night, but I could come over…I mean, just for a little while if you wanted to, uh, hang out and talk?"