Chapter 15

The following Saturday at 6 PM at Jalen’s apartment, it was time.

Jalen knew it was going to be awkward. How could it not be? Standing there though, watching as the six women arrived one by one, he could feel the tension in the air.

Kristen arrived first, looking a little hesitant and wearing blue jeans that accommodated her growing bump comfortably with a loose-fitting cream silk blouse that draped over her stomach, and brown ankle boots. She was clutching a Sprite in her hand like it was her lifeline.

Sydney was next to show up, her usual confidence slightly subdued, but still offering Jalen a warm smile. Being the furthest along in her pregnancy, she was really showing now and wore a pink flowing maternity dress in a soft midi-length with a subtle v-neckline and three-quarter sleeves draping elegantly over her belly without trying to minimize it.

Megan followed, dressed as impeccably as ever, wearing black wide-leg trousers that flowed over her baby bump elegantly, paired with a fitted ivory cashmere sweater that accommodated her stomach and black matte platform high heels. She gave Jalen a knowing look before scanning the room, assessing the situation like she was strategizing her next move.

Then came Karla, cool, calm, and collected. She had on high-waisted dark jeans, a fitted black turtleneck with the sleeves pushed up to her forearms, and brown leather ankle boots with a low block heel. She had a way of reading people that made Jalen nervous. He could already tell she was taking mental notes on everyone’s body language.

Megan and Karla, who obviously were very familiar with each other, exchanged a warm greeting. Megan gave her a teasing smile since, a while back, Karla had insisted to her that she wasn’t into Jalen.

Now she was carrying his child as well.

Heidi arrived next, her usual vibrant energy somewhat muted, like she wasn’t sure exactly how to be in this setting. She sported a semi-elegant knee-length fitted cream-colored long-sleeve dress with a modest v-neckline. She paired it with her signature nude high heels that Jalen loved.

Then, finally ... Rachel.

She walked in last, arms crossed, making it clear from the start that she was not here to make friends. She had on black leggings, an oversized cream-colored knit sweater that draped over her small bump, and white Nike sneakers. Her hair was in a high ponytail. She didn’t look at Jalen right away. Instead, her sharp brown eyes scanned the room, sizing up each woman like they were opponents in a game she hadn’t agreed to play.

For a long, painful moment, no one spoke. The women appeared to be sizing each other up. One thing that was clear, even through the silence, every one of them could see that each woman there was beautiful in their own way.

Jalen shifted awkwardly. “So, uh ... welcome?”

Sydney let out a small laugh, which seemed to break the tension just enough.

Megan exhaled, shaking her head. “This is crazy. We’re crazy.”

Kristen took a sip of her Sprite, looking at everyone nervously. “So, um ... I guess we should start by ... introducing ourselves?”

Heidi smiled a little. “I mean, I think we all know who we are at this point.”

Rachel scoffed. “Oh, do we?”

Jalen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Here we go...”

Sydney, being the most composed of the group, took a deep breath and decided to take charge.

“Look, we’re all here. We all know why we’re here. So, let’s just ... get through it, yeah?” She glanced at Jalen before looking at the other women. “I don’t think any of us expected our lives to look like this, but here we are.”

Kristen shifted uncomfortably but nodded. “Yeah ... and I know we all have our own feelings about this whole thing, but if we’re going to be in each other’s lives because of him,” she shot Jalen a look, “then maybe we should at least try to be civil.”

Megan smirked. “I’m plenty civil. I think it’s the rest of you that need to catch up.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

Karla, who had been mostly observing, finally spoke up. “You know ... as wild as this situation is, I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that we all care about the same man, and for some reason, we’re all here instead of running for the hills.”

That actually made everyone pause.

Jalen, for his part, was doing his best to stay quiet and let them work through this, but Rachel’s voice pulled him back into the moment.

“I just wanna know one thing,” Rachel said, arms still crossed, staring directly at Jalen. “Are you really prepared for this? All of this? Us?”

Jalen held her gaze, then looked around at all of them. “I wouldn’t have brought you all here if I wasn’t.”

A moment of silence stretched between them all before Sydney exhaled. “Well ... in that case, maybe we should actually talk instead of staring at each other like we’re about to start a war.”

Megan smirked again. “Fine, but after I get something to eat.”

Jalen laughed despite himself. “I ordered food. It should be here any minute.”

Rachel shook her head. “You really do think of everything, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “I try.”

Kristen sighed and grabbed another sip of her Sprite. “Well ... here’s to the most awkward dinner of all time.”

And with that, the women who were carrying Jalen’s children finally sat down together, for better or for worse.

The food arrived a short while later (pizza, wings, pasta, and a house salad), and Jalen set everything up for them, including paper plates, napkins, cups and a bowl of ice.

Karla spoke, “Jalen?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you go to the store or something?” she said.

“Wait what?” Jalen asked, confused.

“Let the ladies chat for a bit.” Karla clarified.

Jalen looked around at the women, his women, and immediately felt like he was being exiled from his own apartment.

“You want me to just leave?” he asked, glancing at Karla, who only gave him a knowing smirk.

Sydney nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Jalen. Go take a walk, go grab some snacks, something. Let us talk.”

Kristen looked far too amused at his discomfort. “I mean, you did want us all to meet, and you said you wanted us to get along, right? So let us have our moment.”

Megan waved him off. “You’ll be fine. Go.”

Rachel just stared at him before finally sighing. “I won’t say it’s a bad idea.”

Jalen sighed and rubbed his face. “Alright, alright, fine, but if I come back and the apartment is in flames, I am blaming all of you.”

Heidi grinned, clearly enjoying this far too much. “Just trust us, Jalen.”

He gave them one last look before grabbing his keys. “Alright, I’ll be back. Please, no bloodshed.”

As soon as he walked out and the door shut behind him, there was a brief silence.

Then Megan leaned forward, smirking. “So, now we can talk.”

The tension in the room was thick, but Megan’s smirk carried an air of confidence as she glanced around at the other women.

Kristen crossed her arms and leaned back on the couch, her fingers picking nervously at the hem of her blouse. “So, what exactly do we talk about first? The fact that we’re all carrying the same man’s child? Or that he somehow convinced us to sit in the same damn room like this is a family meeting?”

Sydney sighed, but she was smiling. “He didn’t convince us. We agreed.”

“Most of us.” Rachel let out a dry laugh.

Karla had been quietly observing since she sat down, but now she leaned forward and clasped her hands together on her knee. “Let me reframe what’s actually happening here. Six women, all carrying children with the same father, all aware of each other for the first time tonight. The question isn’t whether we like this situation. The question is whether this situation produces children with stable lives or chaotic ones. Everything we discuss should be measured against that.”

Megan tilted her head, studying Karla. “That’s a very lawyer way of putting it.”

“It’s an accurate way of putting it.”

Heidi blinked, the analytical framing not quite landing for her. “I mean ... yeah, but also we all love him. That’s why this works. Right? That’s the whole reason any of us are here.”

“Loving him isn’t a structural plan, Heidi.” Karla’s voice was even, not unkind, but the correction was firm.

Heidi’s mouth opened slightly. “I wasn’t saying it was a plan, I was saying it was the reason we’re—”

“Reason and plan are different things.” Karla looked around at the others. “She’s right that the foundation is love. But we’re going to have six children in this group within the next several months, and love isn’t going to handle the logistics of that.”

Megan raised an eyebrow. “Six children, six different households, six sets of needs, one Jalen. You’re saying we need infrastructure.”

“I’m saying if we don’t build it, we’ll be building it under crisis conditions instead of right now while we can think clearly.”

Kristen exhaled, sitting up. “Okay, so what does infrastructure look like? Because I’m with you in theory, but I don’t know what we’re actually proposing.”

“Communication first.” Karla counted on her fingers. “Time allocation second. Decision-making for situations where multiple of us need him simultaneously third. Financial arrangements fourth. Emergency protocols fifth.”

Rachel had been listening with her arms crossed, and now she let out a short laugh that wasn’t quite humor. “You want to draft an operations manual for our baby daddy.”

“I want us to not be at each other’s throats in eight months when three of us are postpartum and one of us needs Jalen at the same time another one of us is in the hospital. Yes.”

Sydney whistled low. “Damn, Karla.”

Heidi was still processing the earlier correction. “I get what you’re saying, I just—” She stopped, gathered herself. “I just don’t want this to turn into a business arrangement. We’re not running a company. We’re trying to have lives with the man we love.”

“Those aren’t in opposition, Heidi.” Megan’s voice was measured. “I lived for five years in what was technically a marriage and was actually a business arrangement disguised as love. The reason Chris’s version was so bad wasn’t that we had structure. It was that the structure served him and not me. Structure that serves everyone in it isn’t cold. It’s just functional.”

The room shifted slightly. Megan didn’t talk about Chris often, and the reference landed with weight.

Heidi nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay, that’s fair.”

“So, we’re discussing this.” Karla looked around. “Good. Let me put something concrete on the table. I think we need a group communication channel.”

“A what?” Rachel’s voice was sharp.

“A group chat. All six of us.”

Rachel sat up. “Absolutely not.”

Heidi laughed. “I was going to suggest the same thing. Then next maybe share baby names.”

“Of course you’d say that.” Rachel muttered.

Heidi’s smile faltered. “What does that mean?”

Rachel turned toward her. “It means you’ve been in this for five minutes and you’re already trying to make us all best friends. I’ve been processing this for months. I’m not ready to text-thread with five women about my pregnancy.”

“I wasn’t trying to make us best friends, Rachel.”

“You literally just said you wanted to share baby names.”

“That was a joke.”

“Was it though?”

Sydney held up a hand. “Okay, time out. Let’s not do this.”

But Karla was watching the exchange with interest. “Actually, I think this is exactly what we need to do.”

Everyone turned to her.

“Rachel’s resistance is information. So is Heidi’s enthusiasm. If we don’t surface the differences now, we’ll be navigating around them silently for years. Rachel, what specifically about the group chat bothers you?”

Rachel exhaled. “Everything. I don’t want my phone buzzing all day with updates from five women I just met. I don’t want to know about Heidi’s morning sickness or Kristen’s cravings. I don’t want to be available to all of you all the time. I have a job. I have a life that isn’t this.”

“That’s fair.” Karla nodded. “So, what would work for you?”

Rachel paused, caught off guard by the actual question rather than the resistance she’d expected. “I don’t know. Emergencies, maybe. Like, if something serious happens, sure. But not daily life.”

“Megan?”

Megan considered. “I’d want something more than emergencies. Something between daily and crisis. Major updates. Things that affect Jalen’s availability. Things we should all know about.”

“So, a low-traffic channel, not a chat room.” Karla looked back at Rachel. “That work for you?”

Rachel shrugged, but the resistance had thinned. “Maybe.”

Heidi was watching this with visible recalibration happening. “Wait. So, we’re actually negotiating this. Like, this is how we’re going to handle disagreements.”

“This is how I’d suggest we handle them.” Karla looked at her. “If it works for you.”

“I’m new to this. I’m following your lead.”

Kristen had been quietly noting how the conversation was operating. “Can I say something? I think Rachel’s right about not wanting to be in each other’s daily lives, but I also think Heidi’s right that we need more connection than just emergencies. I’d actually like to know what’s going on with the rest of you. Not because I need to, but because I want to.”

Sydney smirked. “You always did want everyone to be okay, Kris.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m not making fun of you. I’m saying it’s a strength.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Are we doing affirmations now?”

“No, we’re being honest. There’s a difference.”

Megan leaned forward, returning the conversation to the structural question. “Here’s what I’m hearing. Karla wants infrastructure. Rachel wants minimal contact. Heidi wants community. Kristen wants connection. Sydney, what do you want?”

Sydney shrugged. “Honestly? I want to not be doing this alone anymore. I’ve been with Jalen the longest. I’ve been doing this by myself the longest. I’m tired. If having you all around means I’m not the only person who knows what it’s like to be in this, that’s enough for me.”

The room quieted.

“And me, I want clarity.” Karla looked around. “I want to know what I’m operating in. I don’t need to be friends with any of you. But I need to know what to expect.”

Megan nodded slowly. “So, we have five different versions of what we want from this group, and we need to find something that gives each person enough of what she needs.”

Rachel sighed. “This is going to take a long time.”