Too Close

Chapter Twenty Eight

At the youthful age of seventeen, Brandy had food poisoning. It lingered in her for about three weeks until she realized it was more than that undercooked macaroni and cheese in her belly like she thought.

Instead, it was a baby. A chocolate-covered one that she'd given the name Devin, after her brother who died of gun violence years earlier.

Two years later, it was the flu that plagued her this time. Or so she thought. Nine months after her self-diagnosis, Sabrina, a bundle of caramel, was born.

At age twenty-four, however, Brandy had known her body's antics all too well. When she threw up and coughed in the same week, she knew that she and her, then newly wedded, husband were expecting. A cinnamon roll came, unexpectedly as another baby girl.

Now, that cinnamon roll was standing in her bathroom, scared as hell that her sickness was caused by something baking in her belly. She wouldn't have even thought the trait was hereditary if Devin didn't discover a new stomach virus and baked good by the name of Karter when it was her go round.

Gianna said it before, she loved kids, but it was only when she could return them back to their owners.

She had goals and a timeline. There was no room for a potential snickerdoodle cookie in her life. She wasn't like her mom. She couldn't be content with just being a housewife. And with everything Miles had going on, he didn't have space for one either.

Besides her sickness, Gianna had other reasons behind her inkling. She was on birth control so her period being irregular wasn't super crazy but it was running later than it usually would. She'd been up all night, searching for clues that she may have missed and trying to pinpoint when exactly did it happen.

Though it felt like three hours passed her by, it had only been a couple of seconds since she leaked on the stick, and she'd checked for results about five times now. Since these were more expensive, she figured they would be faster than the others. It hadn't even been a minute yet and she was already on the stress rollercoaster.

She grabbed her phone, hoping it would somehow trigger the fast-forward button and the remaining time would flash before her eyes.

Her phone opened to see the long message she'd gotten from Brooke. Gianna managed to finally calm down and register when Brooke and Leo said they weren't a couple. The idea of her best friends being anything more than friends really set her off, but now she realized she couldn't get mad at them for having nonexistent feelings for each other.

At least that was what they said.

"Gianna? Are you in here?" Hearing her mom's voice sent her into panic mode. She began to frantically look for somewhere to hide the test, and as she was moving things around the counter, she knocked it into the toilet water.

Gianna repeatedly swore under her breath, closed the lid, and sat on it when she heard her mom's footsteps get closer.

"Yeah, I'm in here." She pulled her lips into a grin once their identical rich brown eyes met. Brandy leaned against the doorframe as she looked at Gianna suspiciously.

"What are you doing? I thought you had your writing class on Thursdays."

"I do but I'm not feeling well today. Why are you up so early?" She shifted the focus of the conversation as she walked into her bedroom.

"I have some errands to run and I'm picking up Karter for Dev since she has a half day. I can whip something up for you right quick. I know you're hungry."

"I'm actually okay. I think I'm going to go back to sleep." Gianna sat at the top of her bed as her mom further analyzed her.

"Okay baby. I'll leave something small out for you." Brandy went to pull the covers over her before kissing the top of her head. After exchanging 'I love yous' and 'See you laters', Gianna reached for her phone and finally replied to Brooke's text, letting her know she'd see her soon.