Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“Dad?” Taliana mumbled, flopping over onto her back and somehow managing to pry her eyes open.
“Home, Taliana.
Now .”
The line went dead before she could get in another word. Not a good sign.
Still half asleep, Taliana snagged her dress off the floor and stumbled into the bathroom to clean herself up. Once she was dressed and halfway to feeling human again, she left the room and knocked on Sebastian’s door, not waiting for an answer before letting herself in.
“Seb, wake up,” she called out, letting her eyes drift over his strong back and shoulders, the sheet stopping right above his hips. “I’ve got to get home.”
Sebastian groaned and slid further down in the bed. “Ten more minutes,” he mumbled into the pillow.
“Not happening,” she said, slightly louder this time as she tugged the covers off him. Thankfully, he was wearing boxers. “My father just called, and he didn’t sound happy.”
Sebastian grabbed the blankets back.
“Look, if I don’t get home in the next twenty minutes, my dad is going to kill me.”
The word kill managed to get Sebastian’s attention. He finally turned over and squinted up at Taliana, a hand resting on his forehead. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Good question.”
He waved her off, and she made her way back outside, leaning against the wall next to his door until he joined her a few minutes later.
“Let’s go.” He yawned, pocketing the phone that had just been in his hand. “Michael’s coming with us.”
Taliana grunted in reply and followed him downstairs, where a half-asleep Michael was standing at the bottom of the steps. Taliana made a brief pit stop to the living room where she’d left her shoes last night, but other than her black pumps lying by the doorway, there was no sign that anyone had gathered there the night before. The empty bottles were gone, as well as the glasses, and the furniture looked like it had never been touched. Either a cleaning crew had already come through or one of the boys had taken it upon themselves to clean up. Taliana was putting her money on the first option.
She managed to get her shoes on and joined the boys in the foyer again, where they quickly shuffled her out of the house and into the backseat of Sebastian’s car. When Sebastian finally pulled up in front of her house, Taliana caught sight of a rental car parked in the driveway.
“Oh no,” she groaned, stomach sinking. “I think my mom is here.”
Sebastian shot her a look via the rearview mirror. “Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s a horrible thing,” she said, gripping the door handle tightly. “If my mom is here with my dad and Katherine, either something bad has happened or something bad is going to happen. She wouldn’t come out here just for anything.”
Deciding she could no longer put off finding out why Andrea was there, Taliana opened the door and hopped out. After calling goodbye to Michael, she blew out a shaky breath and watched them take off down the street. She was on her own now.
She forced herself up to the slightly ajar front door, ignoring the gnawing fear in her gut as she entered the house and went straight to the living room.
Taliana’s father was seated at the head of the circle of couches and chairs, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his fingers steepled. Katherine was perched on the loveseat to his left, but the woman of the hour was standing to Taliana’s father’s right, arms crossed and a trace of a sneer on her lips. Upon hearing Taliana enter, the heads of all three of her parents snapped in her direction.
“Well, this is interesting,” Taliana mumbled, her eyes darting to each of them. “Mom, what are you doing here?”
The look on her mother’s face didn’t change as she stared Taliana down. “I was in New York for work,” she answered coolly. “I was going to surprise you by coming down for the weekend, but apparently you’ve got a surprise for all three of us instead.”
“Oh.” Taliana could sense the shitstorm was going to commence at any moment. “So, um, what’s the reason for this little meeting?”
Her father looked just as incensed as her mother. “Sit down, Taliana.”
Taliana squirmed nervously. “I was thinking I could go-“
“Taliana Marianne Colton-Avilla, you will sit down this? instant .”
“All right, all right. I’ll sit.” Taliana dropped onto the closest piece of furniture, which happened to be the couch next to Katherine. Taliana cleared her throat before speaking again. “Why is everybody together?”
Both women looked to Charles, silently assigning him the duty of explaining. If it weren’t for the fact she was scared for her life at the moment, Taliana might have felt sorry for him.
“We got a call from Arabella Phillips this morning,” he said.
“Oh?” Taliana swallowed hard, already knowing what she’d called about. “What did she want?”
Taliana could see the muscles working in his neck as he tried to remain calm. “She wanted to check in and see how you and the baby were doing. Is there something you want to tell us, Taliana?”
She groaned internally. She’d known this moment was going to come eventually, but she hadn’t expected it to be this soon. “Um,” she stammered, twisting her hands nervously in her lap. “Well, you see, the thing is-“
A strangled scream from Katherine cut Taliana off. “Oh my god! You really are pregnant, aren’t you? I thought Arabella was just drunk when she said that!”
“She might have been,” Taliana replied, trying not to snicker, “but that’s not the-“
“I’m going to be a? grandmother
?” Andrea looked like she was about to have a stroke. “This is outrageous, Taliana! I thought you were smarter than this!”
“But I’m n-“
“How did this happen?” Katherine exclaimed. “I mean, I know? how it happened, but? why
?”
“Guys, if you would just li-“
“For god’s sake, Taliana.” Andrea had to put a hand on the couch to steady herself in her outrageously high heels. “Didn’t I teach you to be careful?”
Would these people ever let her get a complete sentence out?