The Trouble with Faking It / Tyler Seguin

Chapter 23: Family Is Forever

Tyler grins. "No, there will be no texts about a girl." His emphasis on the word girl is interesting but when I reach out to grab his phone, he locks it and tosses it on the table. I know his password so I could technically take it and look but if there is really something Axel doesn't want me to know, I guess I should respect his privacy.

"Hey," Tyler says and I look at him. "He will tell you when he's ready."

"Whenever that may be." I mutter.

***

September 14th

To my surprise, it only took a couple days before Axel calls me. He said he was planning a trip to Dallas in the next few days and told me there was something he wanted to tell me so would I be interested in going for breakfast so we could chat.

Of course I accepted right away and now I'm sitting at the airport with Clara who insisted on coming to pick up my mother and Axel despite it being four-thirty in the morning.

"How are you so awake?" I ask Clara who's basically bouncing out of her seat.

"Axel said that Jo sent something for me." She tells me and then wrinkles her nose. "Wouldn't tell me what it was though."

"Well, you can ask Axel for it now because I see him." I point towards where Axel and my mom are walking towards us.

Clara, the never ending bottle of energy, races towards them and I follow behind slowly. By the time I get to them, she's already begging Axel for whatever Jo sent.

"It's in my suitcase. You'll have to wait until we get back to your house."

She looks disappointed but I know she won't make it until we get home before she falls asleep. She's already dragging her feet as we walk to the car and five minutes later she is snoring in the backseat.

Axel is nervous about something because he is unusually quiet as we drive home and I have an itching suspicion as to why.

But he is dead on his feet by the time we get home so I wave him off to bed even though I'm dying to know what this huge secret about his girlfriend is. Tyler is awake when we get home so he carries Clara in and I lead my mom to the other guest room. I want to ask her what this huge secret is but I know that she is the last person who would go behind Axel's back and tell me.

"He'll tell you when he is ready." She says softly because she's one of the few people who know what I'm thinking even when I don't say it out loud.

"I know." I mutter. "I just don't understand why his girlfriend is a big secret." Then a thought comes to me and my jaw drops a little. "It's not Maddie, is it?"

"No." she says. "that's ridiculous." I watch as she sits on the edge of the bed and motions for me to sit next to her. "sit down."

She has that look in her eyes that means I'm not going to like what she's about to say and I'm spot on.

"How far along are you?" She asks quietly and I groan.

"That obvious?"

She smiles. "You've got that glow. So? How far along?"

"Almost ten weeks." I mutter and without thinking, say, "You can't tell dad-"

The smile that crosses her face is somber. "It's all right. I do it sometimes too."

"It's the first-" A wave of emotion washes over me and a sob comes out. "I'm sorry."

She doesn't get mad or upset though. Her arms wrap around me and she lets me cry until Tyler comes looking for me. The look on his face shows that he has an idea of what I'm upset about.