xvii.
"Dad, don't be ridiculous. I'm not marrying Lewis."
"Then neither of you are leaving this trailer."
"That's abduction, Dad. I don't think the police will appreciate that."
Mr. Chadwick glowered in reply, which was enough to keep Lewis rooted to the spot. Rikki was losing more patience by the second, but was determined to maintain control of her emotions for the time being. "Can we talk about this like civilised people, please?"
"I'm sorry," he said, not sounding apologetic in the least, "I just found out my daughter was knocked up by this scrawny runt, here. I'm not in the mood to be civilised."
Lewis understood now where Rikki got her sarcasm and love of baiting others with her words. The jab at his size made him exclaim in offense, "'Scrawny?!'"
"Shut up, Lewis," Rikki spat.
"Is that any way to talk to your lover?" he retorted snidely.
Rikki opened her mouth to set the record straight for the sake of her dad, but then she considered her options. If he knew for certain Lewis wasn't the father, he'd prod her until she revealed who was. She could never let that happen. For the time being, she'd play along until a real solution could be figured out. It was far better to brainstorm with Lewis about how to get out of this pickle than have her dad shaking Zane down for a promise of matrimony. She cringed at the thought.
"Okay, Dad. Let Lewis and me talk and we'll come up with a date. Just give us some time to work things out."
He sniffed, not totally convinced. "You better be quick about it."
"A month."
"No way. That gives you enough time to make a break for it. I'm not losing you like I lost your mum, Rikki girl. You've got enough of her avoidance and my resourcefulness to do it, and I'm not taking chances."
Rikki didn't want to admit it, but he was right. Given enough time, she'd probably resolve to run away from her problems rather than stick around to deal with the aftermath. Instead of saying as much, she bargained for a week.
"Still too long. I'll give you three days. Three days, and you come home early every night from now on or I call the police and report you as a runaway."
"Dad! Seriously! If you want us to work through this together I need you to lay off the threats!" she was about to make another low blow in relation to her mother, but she resisted.
Mr. Chadwick relinquished his glaring hold on Lewis and pushed past Rikki to enter the trailer. "You know I love you, Rikki," he mumbled, "But you have to get your shit together."
It was with her dad's incomparable wisdom fresh in her mind that Rikki dragged Lewis away to talk.
"I'm not marrying you," he declared, once they were a safe distance.
"Of course not. Don't be an idiot. I'm not marrying you."
"You have to tell Zane," he said, speaking his thoughts as soon as they came to him, "You can't seriously still be thinking you can keep this a secret from him."
"Can't I?"
Lewis lowered his head, sighing in defeat. "What else are you going to do? Break your dad's heart and run away? Keep pretending the baby is mine?! Flattering as that is, I hadn't intended on having children yet. Or with you, for that matter!" he added with feeling.
"Yeah, I know! I just..." the rest of her sentence came out as an angry breath instead of coherent words.
"Just what?"
"He's going to think I did it on purpose, to squeeze money out of him or something."
"You don't really think that," Lewis countered. "Zane's not that stupid. Come on, you guys were both on that island with the same loss of memories at the same time. He'll know it was the moon fever and not some kind of sick trap. And I know my opinion is less than nothing to you, but... I think you're making a big mistake by not telling him about the baby. His baby. Your baby too!" he added at her questioning gare, "But he definitely had a part in it. By the looks of things you two were having a pretty great time before you woke up all naked and confused. I don't know what happened before the moon got you but for it to end the way it did..." his tone softened, "I can't imagine it was all that bad. You should at least give him the chance to step up. If he doesn't, well, you're back to where you started, but at least that's one less option to consider."
Rikki huffed and shook her head, "Stop it!"
"Stop what?"
"Making sense!" a small smile began to spread across her lips, "It's not like you!"
"Ha. Ha," Lewis muttered. "So does that mean you'll tell him?"
"Yeah," Rikki said. "It's not like I have a choice."
She didn't exactly jump at the chance. She had plenty of opportunity. Zane was always lurking around before and after classes, and she suspected if he hadn't been such a frequent customer at the JuiceNet before his current fascination with the place would have come across as awkward. Even though their school project had long been finished—it was a clear indication of priorities that she barely managed to care when they all got the highest marks possible thanks to Lewis's ridiculously lengthy snooze fest of a paper—there were enough places she and Zane both crossed paths to make it hardly suspect if she wanted to talk.
Still, she put it off.
A day passed. Then another. Every time she caught a glimpse of Zane out of the corner of her eye, whether on purpose or by nervous mistake, she thought of how much closer her dad's deadline was and how she had to say something, and quickly. She knew she wasn't going to marry Lewis. She knew she needed to tell Zane about his guppy. The longer she waited, the more terrified of the conversation she became, and the more frustrated with her own terror.
Finally, she went to the JuiceNet alone. Alone, meaning she went without Cleo who she sent to help Lewis catch fishing bait so she could muster up the courage to talk to Zane in relative privacy.
She absentmindedly ordered a juice; Peach Paradise since Cleo wasn't around to guilt her into something more healthy and tasteless, and fumbled with her change before insisting the cashier just keep it.
He was sitting alone at a table for two. She'd caught a peek over her shoulder when first stepping up to the counter. She took a long sip of her drink, telling herself she wasn't taking it to a booth yet just in case it was made wrong. She considered sitting down at the bar, but one more sip should let her know for certain.
She tried to make her movements look deliberate and precise as she turned quickly on her heel to find a seat. Instead of waltzing confidently to the nearest empty booth, she slammed hard into someone who'd come up to the queue, sloshing a good third of her juice down her neck and shirt.
Instinctively, her eyes met Zane's which reflected the same unbridled panic as her own.
He unceremoniously pushed his chair away from the table, strode up to Rikki, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her into a back room marked, "Employees Only."
Rikki would have covered her face in embarrassment except the one hand was sticky from peach nectar and the other was secured tightly in Zane's grasp.
They were barely safe behind closed doors before her tail grew and she fell into Zane's awaiting arms.
A/N: Since I've been so dreadful with the lack of updates lately, instead of offering a snippet for reviewers I'll post the next chapter as soon as I receive the first review for this one. :)