Free A Second Chance at Forever by JM Stewart Page B

appeared on the view screen in bright vivid blue. She quickly glanced at the back of the box for the instructions. “Oh God…”
    Stacy threw an arm around her shoulders, her voice soft and gentle as she said, “I think you’ll make a great mom.”
    ****
    Angela dumped the potatoes and carrots she’d just finished slicing into the roasting pan and shook her head as she set the meat on top of them. A week had passed since she’d found out she was pregnant. She had no idea how in the world to tell Alex, but she couldn’t put it off much longer. The man had a right to know.
    The problem was, she wasn’t looking forward to the conversation. Given how they’d left things the last time she’d seen him, she had no idea how he would respond. The thought terrified her.
    She was going to have to stop being such a chicken though, and call him. Today, she supposed, was as good a day as any.
    When the doorbell sounded through the house, Angela quickly stuffed the roasting pan into the oven. “Coming!” she called out, taking off at a jog for the front door.
    The sight that greeted her when she pulled it open a moment later froze her in her spot. “Alex.”
    He stood with his arms folded across his chest, feet set apart, a deep scowl etched in the lines of his forehead. He’d been glaring at the floor, but looked up when she opened the door, turning that glare on her. “How come I have to hear from your brother that you’re pregnant?”
    Oh God…
    She darted a glance at the stairwell behind her. Grateful when the silence of the house echoed back at her, she braced her hand on his chest and shoved. She pushed him out onto the porch and pulled the door closed behind her. She hadn’t told her mother yet, hadn’t figured out how to drop this particular bomb, but she did not want her mother finding out this way. When the time came, she would figure out how then.
    Out on the porch, however, she once again came face to face with Alex’s glare.
    He looked angry, disappointed. Her stomach twisted with nervousness. She remembered too well the exact look on David’s face the one time she’d had to tell him she thought she might be pregnant. Birth control sometimes failed. It wasn’t a hundred percent effective. She’d taken her pills religiously. The one month she’d had to take antibiotics for a strep infection, they’d used backup. Luckily her scare had been a false alarm. Still, he’d gone ballistic.
    Part of her refused to back down again, to be that weak person who’d been married to David.
    Her stomach twisting itself into knots, she forced herself to hold his gaze. “When did you talk to Brock?”
    Alex opened his mouth, but immediately shut it again and pivoted away from her. He paced to the end of the porch, dragging both hands through his hair as he went. Meeting the railing, he dropped his hands to his sides. As abruptly as he’d turned away from her, he faced her again. “A week ago.” He leaned back against the railing and gripped it in his hands, those dark eyes narrowed in accusation. “He called me on a lunch break. It’s been a week since Brock dropped that tidbit into my lap. You haven’t been answering my calls.”
    Brock. She turned her gaze to the weathered boards beneath her feet and glared at the picture of her brother that popped into her mind. She should have figured once her brother had discovered her secret that he might decide to share it with Alex. The two had been glued at the hip since Alex and his parents moved in down the street all those years ago.
    “Brock needs to remember to mind his own business,” she mumbled half to herself.
    “Would you ever have told me?”
    She jerked her gaze up, met his glare with one of her own. “Seven days isn’t exactly waiting a long time, Alex. I work two jobs.”
    “I’m sorry, but it’s a fair question, Ang,” he said, a hard edge to his voice. “We weren’t exactly careless. You weren’t even going to tell me who you were that