AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“For the record, Lo. I’ve never kissed you out of pity. Not when you were desperate to get your first kiss out of the way, and not yesterday at the hospital when we made plans to move in together. And it certainly wasn’t a kiss between friends that led to you having my babies.” His eyes run down my body and up again.
I inhale sharply. “You’re breaking a whole mess of rules right now, Gus-Gus,” I manage, my voice shaky and a suspicious warmth creeping up my throat.
“I figured it wouldn’t matter since none of it ever meant anything to you.” He crosses his arms, but his lips tilt upward.
I grimace. “Okay, I’m only going to say this once. You know I only used that excuse the next morning because I’d never been more mortified in my life. And because I’m … weird. I just couldn’t bear the thought of watching you pretend to care.”
His expression softens, and he shakes his head. “Lo,” he begins, stepping toward me, but I hold a hand out to stop him.
And I’m not sure whether I’m fueled by the look on his face or the guilt I’ve been harboring for the past few months, but I start rambling again. “Look, Blake, I should have apologized sooner. But I am sorry about the way I left. I’m sorry for making those assumptions about you and for hurting your feelings. I’m sorry I was such a jerk, but that’s as much as I can say about it if you want me to continue living here. I can’t ...” My voice cracks, and I shake my head.
“Thank you for that,” he mumbles. “It means a lot more to me than you might think.”
I turn around before he can see the tears forming in my eyes and attempt to clear the emotion from my throat. “You’d better hurry up in the shower. I’m about to eat these pillows.”
“Yeah, sorry, I’ll be right out.”
By the time I turn, he’s gone.
CHAPTER 27
Blake
“They won’t haveto use that big wand thingy this time, right?” I ask carefully, glancing around the perinatologist’s exam room.
“I hope the heck not,” Loren replies. “But if so, I’d like to at least find out the good doctor’s name before I get violated again.”
I chuckle and point to the wall. “Athanasius? That’s about the only name more Catholic than Augustine or Agnes. I bet he’s the youngest of ten and already has a handful of his own kids at home, right?”
She leans up on the exam table to squint at one of the diplomas on display. “Oh, yeah. Dr. Athanasius sounds like a loving father of five homeschooled daughters who make their own goat’s milk soap. I bet his wife is a total doll and breastfeeds her babies for like, three years, minimum.”
“Hey, for the record, I only expect you to nurse our twins for the first two years,” I say, smiling. She rolls her eyes and smirks back, and the doctor knocks on the door and walks inside.
“Hi, I’m Dr. LaFleur,” he greets us, staring down at the chart he’s holding in one hand as he extends the other to Loren. But his jaw and his hand both fall as soon as he looks up. “Loren?”
“Huh. Hey, doc. Small world, right?” I volunteer, standing up and grinning as I offer my hand instead.
Rowan tilts his head to the side and glances back and forth between Loren and me, probably counting backward in his head. Eventually, he forces a smile and shakes my hand. “Yeah. It’s good to see you both.” But he doesn’t sound like he means it.
“You too,” Loren replies in a small voice. “And … I’m sorry. We didn’t realize—I mean, I just saw Athanasius and …”
He shrugs as he walks around to sit beside the ultrasound machine. “I go by my middle name. My parents are uber Catholic.”
She glares at me, and I wink. I may be enjoying thisentirelytoo much.
Meanwhile, Loren’s probably stressing over having to explain to her brother’s best friend that she didn’t know she was already pregnant when she agreed to go out with him. Which means Landry’s also going to hear about this.
“So,” Rowan begins, his eyes trained on Loren’s chart again. “Uh, congratulations?”
“Thanks,” we both answer.
“I see your midwife diagnosed you with placenta previa? And you are about sixteen weeks into your—wow—monochorionic-diamniotic twin pregnancy. That’s …wow.”
Loren sighs. “I think ‘unexpected’ is the word you’re looking for.”
He laughs softly and finally looks up. “I guess I should have picked up on that vibe a little sooner,” he says, nodding his head in my direction.
“About that … I owe you an apology,” Loren begins. “I promise I didn’t know about this when we went out. I’d never have let Landry set us up if?—”
