“Yeah,” I confess. “I don’t fucking know how to go about this. I don’t want to be an asshole. I don’t want to be that guy, ya know? There are other reasons to feel pregnancy symptoms and they can be easily written off.”

“I get it,” Jacob says. “But I also know you’re looking for an out, and I don’t blame you. If she’s been sick from the start but only found out a few weeks ago, then maybe it’s not yours. Unless you fucked her another time after your 'one-time' hookup.”

“No, we both knew that night in June was a mistake. We talked about shit that next morning too…how we don’t work as a couple and the one-night stand thing was growing old. And I hadn’t seen her since until she showed up telling me she was pregnant with my baby.”

“And Chloe has no idea.”

“Not yet. I need to tell her, I know. Fuck,” I grumble again and take another swig of beer. “I wanted to have one more weekend with her before dropping the bomb…and what if it’s not mine? Why tell her and upset her? And if it is, not telling her still sounds like the better option.”

“And what? You’ll have a secret family on the side like a serial killer?”

“Doesn’t sound so bad.”

“I thought you were the smart brother.” He rolls his eyes. “Look, I wouldn’t want to tell her either. Hell, I’m dreading you telling Mom and I’m not the one who knocked up a gold digger. Sorry,” he adds, but he’s not sorry at all. “I didn’t want to jump on Rory’s bandwagon of hating on Stacey, but we all think she used you for money.”

“Because that’s all that’s appealing about me?” I shoot back.

“You said it, not me.” He looks at me empathetically. “We never met her, and we know that was for a good reason. And I never wanted to give you shit over her because I didn’t think it was worth it.”

“She wants to move in with me,” I tell my brother. “She called this morning and Chloe saw. She knows Stacey’s my ex. Stacey thinks she should move in with me so we can raise the baby together.”

“With you?” Jacob asks, eyes wide with shock.

“So we can raise the baby together. I get it…if the kid is mine, I want to do my part. I want to be there. I want to help. But not with Stacey in bed next to me. And I know people do this all the time. They co-parent and raise kids separately and it works out in the end. The kids turn out all right. But this…what the fuck do I do? She told me she won’t get maternity leave, which is fucked up in another sense, but what do I do? I don’t want to be with Stacey.”

“I don’t know,” he says, and while it’s not helpful, I’m glad he’s honest. “It’s hard to say what’s right here. You have a sense of responsibility for that child, and you two are going to have to decide what you want to do. Put the kid in daycare so you can both work, hire an at-home nanny either full-time or part-time to help provide childcare while you both work, have Stacey stay home for the next few years, or move back home and live with Mom because you know she’ll eat up any chance she’ll get to be a full-time grandma.”

“She would.”

“How do you think Chloe’s gonna react?”

“She’s not going to be excited, I’m sure about that. If she had a kid, it wouldn’t change how I feel about her,” I say, remembering Archer’s words.

“That’s a good point. What if she was living with her baby’s father for the convenience of things, not because she was romantically involved with him.”

I take a few seconds to really think about it. Chloe famously dated Charles Baldwin, and if she came back to Silver Ridge with a baby in tow, she still would have taken my breath away. I still would have fallen for her all over again, still done anything to make her mine. It wouldn’t matter. I love Chloe, and for some reason, seeing her as the good mother I know she will be would only strengthen how I feel about her.

But if she told me she was still living with the guy she used to sleep with, the guy who has such a close, bonded tie to her…I might wonder if she still has feelings for him, and putting that kind of doubt on a brand-new relationship sets us up to fail, I know.

“It would be hard,” I say honestly. “Because I’d wonder if she’d rather be with him.”

Jacob nods. “Yeah. I’d wonder the same too.”

“If it’s my kid, though…I…I have to put him or her first. I won’t be one of those dads who’s only there when it’s convenient.”

“You won’t be. We were raised better than that. Though if I’m being honest, I thought Mason would be the one coming home telling us about some one-night stand he knocked up, not you.”

“I did too.”

“Look…it’s not ideal and not how you imagined things would happen. It’s gonna work out. I know that sounds like bullshit for me to say it like it’s easy, but you’re not alone in this either. You got us, and if Stacey legitimately needs a place to stay for a few months after the baby is born, you know Mom will clear out a room the same day you tell her. That baby is a Harris, regardless who the mother is.”

“You’re right.” Pepper rolls over, sliding off my lap and onto the couch next to me and sticks his paws in the air so I can rub his belly.

“When can you do a paternity test?”

“Now,” I tell him. “And I brought it up a few times to Stacey and she dances around it.”

Jacob arches an eyebrow. “Don’t you find that suspicious?”

“Yeah,” I say, feeling relief for finally admitting it out loud. “Which is kind of why I want to wait to tell Chloe. I know,” I sigh. “You don’t have to say it. If the DNA test comes back and it is my kid, she’ll be upset I kept it from her. I don’t know the fucking protocol on this.” I shake my head.

“I don’t think anyone does. You gotta tell Chloe. Keeping this from her isn’t much different than leading her on when you don’t want to commit.”

“You’re right.” I pinch the bridge of my nose again, feeling a headache coming on. It’s from stress, I know. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Tell her what you told me. Stacey recently came to you with the news, you plan to have a paternity test done to be sure, and you want to be with her, not Stacey.”

“Sounds easy when you say it like that.”

“Chloe is pretty level-headed and laid back,” Jacob goes on. “I think she’ll take it better than you expect. Tell her when you get back. If she needs space, she can stay here while you go back to Chicago for work. And if not, you two can go back like you planned and work it out from there. It’s not gonna be easy, man, but if you two can pine after each other for years and years, not act on it, and still have feelings that strong, I think you’ll be able to work shit out.”

“Fuck, I hope you’re right.”

“I usually am. And don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone yet.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s not every day I get to offer you advice, albeit on something I know nothing about.”