Page 90 of Oxygen Deprived

Dropping all of my goodies onto the coffee table, I stood up and hurried to the door.

I guess I expected about a million possibilities, but not a single one of them was Drew’s ex-wife and his daughter.

“I guess since he’s spending so much time with you lately that this is as good of a place as any,” Drew’s ex said sourly, dropping a very packed bag onto the ground between her feet and mine. “But this shit is no longer mine to deal with. Not after what she just told me. Have a nice life, Attie.”

Then, without another word, she left and didn’t look back, taking the brand new truck Drew gave to Attie with her.

“Ummm,” I said slowly. “Do you want to come in?”

Attie burst out crying, throwing herself at me.

“He’s going to kill me!”

An hour later I was sitting on the couch, looking across the room at Attie.

She was asleep on the love seat that was catty corner to the couch I was sitting on.

A big, blue afghan covered her lower half, and her arms were curled around a throw pillow that was hugged tightly to her body.

Every few seconds a little hiccough slipped past her lips, and I was officially not in a good place.

The click of my front door sounded, causing me to look up at the beautiful man coming into the room, a large smile overtaking his face the moment he saw me.

Just when he was about to say something, though, I held up my hand and pointed at the love seat.

His brows lowered in confusion, and I sighed, knowing I might as well get it over with.

Getting up and starting toward him without another word, I prayed Attie would stay sleeping and not interrupt until I told him everything that had happened.

Gesturing for him to back outside, I followed him out and closed the door firmly behind us.

Hopefully, if he heard it from me, he’d get all the yelling out before he got to Attie.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

I licked my lips nervously, my finger going to my teeth out of pure uneasiness.

“Drew,” I said. “Everyone’s alright. She didn’t kill anyone. She’s not sick. But her mom kicked her out.”

“You’re shitting me,” he said stiffly, his muscles locking the moment I got to the kicked out part.

“No,” I breathed. “I’m not. She dropped her off to me about an hour ago, and I got the full explanation from her before she fell asleep.”

“Okay,” he hesitated, leaning his backside against the porch railing and crossing his legs in front of him. “So give it to me already. The wait is worse than the actual act, I’m sure.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I muttered darkly under my breath, turning my back on him as I said it.

“What?” Drew asked.

I turned to him, the whole distance of the porch separated us, and finally said it.

“Your daughter told your ex-wife that she was pregnant, and she kicked her out,” I blurted quickly.

Drew blinked at me, then he started laughing.

“The girl was always creative; I’ll give her that,” he said, a smile on his face. “So Constance blew a gasket, then dropped her off. Why’s she over here? She has a key.”

I winced.