Read Just a Little Sequel for Free Online Page A

he and Derek were semi-related. And I couldn’t lie; it was nice that Luke finally trusted the both of us enough to walk away, grab coffee, and just spend time together without giving me the third degree. It was a much needed improvement from the way things used to be.
    Leaving the others to wait together, Derek and I turned out of the waiting and room and walked down the hall.
    “Oh, I forgot to show you,” he reached into his back pocket to retrieve his cell phone. “The nursery’s done.”
    He flipped through his pictures until he found the ones he’d taken of his smallest bedroom. He’d been working on it for months, a little bit at a time—new carpet, new baseboards, and new paint. He’d really put everything he had into transforming Hannah’s old bedroom into a gorgeous nursery. It was sweet the way Derek was approaching the whole fatherhood thing. It wasn’t something he’d ever expected, and it wasn’t something any of us were ready for, but he was handling it like a pro. I worried, as did Luke and Charlie, that Derek was going to end up completely heartbroken after he realized that Rebecca was going to control every second of that baby’s time and how it was spent.
    With the way she snubbed him on a daily basis, we all figured she’d rather be shot than to let Derek play an active role in her child’s life. I was honestly surprised that she’d even let him drive her to the hospital tonight.
    “Green’s gender-neutral, right?” he asked, trying to fight a stupid grin.
    I flipped through a few pictures and eventually nodded.
    “Yeah,” I tried to disguise the sadness in my voice as I let him take his phone again, “green’s perfect.”
    “You don’t seem excited—”
    “I’m excited, Derek. I’m just... I’m trying to be realistic. You know how the last nine months have been. Rebecca won’t even look at you, let alone come within ten feet of you. What makes you think she’s going to let you anywhere near the baby?”
    He looked at the picture still on the screen, and a small smile tugged at his lip.
    “I’m taking the baby home,” he said, finally tucking his phone back in his pocket. “As soon as we leave the hospital, the baby’s coming home with me.”
    “ Ha ! You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you? She’ll never stand for that—”
    “She’s already agreed to it, Julie,” he said, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Derek walked a few extra feet before realizing that I hadn’t kept pace, and he turned back to meet my gaze. “ What? ”
    “She’s already agreed to what, exactly?”
    He pushed his glasses up, and his chest rose with a deep breath.
    “I’m going to raise the baby alone, Julie.”
    “No, you’re not—”
    “Yes, I am—”
    “No, you’re not —”
    “See, this is why I didn’t tell you,” he dropped his shoulders. “I knew you’d react like this.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you know what’s best,” he said, “like you think that I can’t… like you think that I can’t do it.”
    I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I tried as hard as I could to steady my breathing before I opened my mouth again to say another word.
    Derek was standing only inches away when I opened my eyes.
    “I can do this, Julie,” he said, planting his hands on my shoulders, “and I’m going to do it.”
    “I just think you need to consider—”
    “She was going to put the baby up for adoption,” he said. “What choice did I have? I wasn’t about to let her give my baby to some stranger.”
    “She wasn’t…?” I looked over my shoulder before turning back to Derek. “She wasn’t going to keep the baby?”
    “No,” he sounded just as breathless as I felt. “She said that she’s been there. She’s done the ‘kid- thing’ once before, and Molly’s dad bailed the moment things got hard. She said she wouldn’t do it again. And when I assured her— promised her—that I’d be there, she nearly laughed in my face. She doesn’t want a life with