Chapter 29

„Willa." He whispered back to her, almost as an approval. He smiled to himself and placed his hand on Ann's cheek, pulling her face up for her to look at him. „We're in this together. We can do this. For her."

She sighed, locking her eyes with his. „Let the shitshow begin."

„I think your mom deserves to know too."

„I know. I'll tell her, just... I can't find a good moment."

„It'll never be a good moment to tell your mom your pregnant with your ex." He chuckled.

„You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes.

„Are you hungry? I could make you something." He said, sitting back on the bed.

„Joe, we just smashed the entire lasagna." She chuckled.

„I know, but I heard that your appetite is crazy while pregnant."

„Well..." she said, looking up. „Now that I think about it, I would literally smash a nutella toast."

„No need to tell me twice." He grinned, leaving the room.

She stood up and walked to the balcony. It was right under the outside lounge area, but she couldn't hear any voices, meaning Jazz and her mom probably decided to get some sleep as well. She sat in one of the chairs putting her legs on the railing as she pushed her head back. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warm evening wind.

„Here you go." After a few minutes Joe appeared with a plate full of nutella toasts. He put it on the table and sat on the opposite side of it. „What are you thinking about?"

„Everything." She shrugged. „Mostly my dad."

„You never talk about him."

„It's still... fresh." She gave him a weak smile, taking a bite of her cravings.

„I understand. I can't even imagine what you went through." He nodded, looking at the moon. „You don't have to tell me, if you're not ready."

„It happened a day before my birthday." She said after a moment of silence. „My mom was working a night shift and me and my dad were both craving chocolate ice cream. So we decided to go on a trip to a gas station. It happened on the way."

She felt tears building in her eyes at the memories. Joe stood up and crouched in front of her, putting his hand on her knee.

„The moment of the impact is a blur to me. I remember it all went slow motion, like in movies. But nothing specific, just a blank. Next thing I remember is wiping the blood out of my face and looking over at my dad to see him... unconscious. I quickly got out and someone called 911. I saw smoke coming out of our car and a few people stopped me, as I tried to get him out of there. I felt useless." She sighed and Joe just rubbed her knee, letting her know it's okay to continue. „The ambulance and firefighters finally arrived and one of the paramedics led me to the ambulance and started to take care of my wounds as I tried to look over his shoulders to see how the firefighters were trying to take my dad out of the car. He took me inside, knowing that I shouldn't be looking at it. A moment passed and one of them came in to inform me that..." She choked on her last words.

„It's okay." He said, pulling her into a hug.

She cried into his arm, remembering all the feelings that surrounded her in that moment. It was something she never wanted to go back to, something she always pushed aside. Yet here she was, opening up for the first time since the accident. She did it, because she felt comfortable and safe around him. She knew he would listen and would react in the most comforting, respectful way. And it's exactly what he did.

„You would love him." She smiled as she pulled back from him. „You're so similar it's crazy. Now that you're becoming a dad I see it even more. Mom always said he was a wild one, always goofing around, but once my mom got pregnant with me, he changed completely. He became so soft, caring and focused on the baby. Just like you."

„Am I too much?" He snapped out.

„No." Ann laughed at him. „I love this side of you."

"Thank you for telling me."

"You know, it's the first time I ever spoke about it."

"I'm glad you felt safe enough to say it." He smiled. "Now let's get some sleep."

They said their goodnights and Joe disappeared in his room. She got under her covers and was about to cuddle herself to sleep when she heard a notification.

Joe: I hope you sleep well, mamacita

Ann: just don't snore or I'll come in and break your nose

Joe: nice

She smiled at her phone and put it on her nightstand. She sighed and within seconds drifted off to sleep.

She woke up to loud noises from downstairs. She frowned, slowly opening her eyes. The sun was already up and straight in her face, making her close her eyes again. She growled and rolled to the other side. After a minute, she got up and walked to her bathroom to freshen up. She brushed her teeth, washed her face and put her hair in a loose ponytail.

She got downstairs and into the kitchen, where the noise was coming from, only to see Joe and her mom making something together.

„Now add about half a cup of milk." Instructed Sophie, as she grabbed the milk from the fridge.

Joe looked up from his bowl and noticed Ann coming in the room. His whole face lit up at the sight of her and a smile grew on his lips.

„Hey, sleepyhead." He said, grabbing the milk from Sophie.

„Hey." She mumbled, sitting at a bar stool in front of them.

„Coffee?" Joe asked. She smiled and nodded at him.

„Oh, she doesn't drink coffee." Sophie frowned, looking at Joe and then at Ann.

„He changed me." She shrugged, taking the cup full of fresh coffee from him. „What are you making?"

„Sophie is teaching me to make pancakes. Apparently I've been doing it wrong." He said, rubbing his neck.

„Oh, you definitely did." Ann chuckled, knowing her mom had a ‚special ingredient' for everything.

„You should try this batter, it's really good." Joe said, tasting some of it with his finger.

„Don't mind if I do." She laughed, standing up.

But before she could make any step towards Joe and the bowl, she felt an impact of something cold hitting her face. Her mouth dropped in shock, when she realized it's the batter that was now covering almost half of her face. She heard a familiar giggle and she frowned, looking up at Joe.

„You did not just do that." She said, clenching her fists.

„Who? Me? No way." He raised his hands in a defense.

„Oh, it's on." She said, before grabbing an egg and throwing it right in Joe's face. He tried to dodge it, but she was faster.

They started to laugh and run around the kitchen and dining room throwing pancake batter, eggs and random objects that they could find at each other. Ann felt her stomach hurting from laughter as she dodged another egg thrown in her direction.

"Loser is going to clean!" Joe shouted, dodging a cushion from Ann.

Joe started running up to her with the bowl full of batter and Ann squealed from the top of her lungs as she tried to run away. Suddenly she felt the ground getting slippery and before she knew it, she crashed down on the floor, taking Joe with her.

He landed on top of her and they laughed, rolling in the batter-covered floor. Ann looked up at him, still giggling, as he focused his attention on her as well. The laughing stopped the minute their eyes locked. She felt a hot wave crashing over her. His eyes were deeper than ever and she could feel herself drowning in them.

"You okay?" He whispered, scanning her face.

"Yeah. I'm okay now." She said, smiling softly.

"You got a little..." He said bringing his hand to her cheek to wipe the batter from it.

Ann gasped from the sudden impact of his warm hand. She could feel her stomach turn and flip. She cursed herself for still feeling like this around him.

"Guess no pancakes today." Ann chuckled, still locked into his hazel eyes.

"Guess not." He smiled, scanning her face one more time, before getting up. He reached out his hands to her and helped her stand up. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Totally." She smiled, ignoring the pain in her back.

They went back to the kitchen, seeing Sophie shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm so sorry, Sophie. I'll make another one." Joe laughed, putting an empty bowl in front of her that was once full of pancake batter.

"You guys..." She laughed, still shaking her head.

"What the..." Jazz looked around the room, only now joining them.

"You won't believe it. The pancake batter just exploded." Joe said with a concerned voice.

"I'm not even going to question this." She shook her head. "But I'm for sure not going to be cleaning that up."

They both laughed and started to clean up the mess they made. Ann took a few glances at Joe and couldn't stop a smile.

Meanwhile Sophie made some scrambled eggs from what was left and they all sat down to eat. Ann kept giggling, still not over their little fight. Joe kept looking over at her and admiring how happy she was. He was glad he could make her smile like that.

After they finished eating, they decided to go shower and change from their filthy clothes. When Ann stepped into the shower, she started to think about her mom and how she's going to react when they tell her she's pregnant. She was worried, that she's going to be disappointed in her and hate Joe. But she knew it was inevitable and the longer they wait the worse it will be.

She got out of the shower and changed into some comfy shorts and a tank top. She knocked on the doors that separated her room from Joe, but got no response. She thought that he'd probably still be in the shower, so she went in. The room was empty and she could hear the shower, meaning she was right. She sat on the edge of his bed and decided to wait on him.

Suddenly she heard a notification coming from his phone on the nightstand. Her eyes immediately turned to look at it and she saw 'Soph' on it. She let her curiosity win and she picked up the phone to read the text.

Soph: I miss you too. Glad to have you back in my life 🩷

She stared at the screen for a little too long, seeing the words that she felt about that man as well. She was so scared of their confrontation, even more than with her mom. She's going to hate the both of them, that's for sure.

She also wondered about the "too" in the text. That meant he must have texted her that he missed her first. That hurt. Being the 'other' girl. She felt like an intruder.

She heard Joe getting out of the shower, so she quickly put the phone back where it was. She cleared her throat and waited for him.

He went out of the bathroom, whistling to himself, not noticing Ann at first. He had just a towel on, that was lightly wrapped on his waist. A few drops of water were running down his back. Ann just now noticed that his muscles were more visible than ever. He's been working out. He turned around and jumped at the sight of her.

"Mother-" He said, putting a hand to his bare chest. "What are you doing here, you creep?"

"Just waiting." She laughed.

"Oh yeah? What do you want?" He smirked, brushing a hand through his wet curls.

You. That was the only thing that came across her mind, even though she came for a completely different reason. But seeing him like that, she could feel her heartbeat getting faster and she struggled to make a sentence that made sense.

"I think I'm ready to tell mom." She sighed, looking at her hands, avoiding looking at him.

He came up to her and crouched in front of her, making it impossible to look away. Water was dripping down his face from his curls and her eyes followed the drops.

"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Okay. Let me just put on some clothes and I'll go get her." He said, standing up and walking to his closet. "Do you want to be alone or?"

"No. Of course I want you with me. We're in this shithole together." She chuckled.

Before she knew it, Joe dropped the towel on the floor and grabbed some boxers from the closet. Ann gasped and quickly covered her face with her hands.

"Joe!" She shouted at him.

"What?" He laughed.

"Are you serious right now?"

"Oh, come on." He giggled, as Ann took a quick glance to see him already putting on his pants. "You always said you love my butt."

"Yeah, you've got... a pretty freaking good butt. But that doesn't mean I want to see it!" She frowned.

"Get used to it." He winked at her and disappeared out of the room to go get Ann's mom.

______I'm back!Please don't hate me for the late update, work has been crazy before Christmas!But I'm on a break until New Year's Eve, so I'm sure I'll catch up on some chapters.

Just wanted to wish you guys Merry Christmas, I hope you spend the best time with your family and eat some great food 🩷

Love you all, thanks for sticking around!