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“So you really didn’t cheat on me?”
“I’d never cheat on you, Gia. And I’m pretty pissed that you thought I did and didn’t call me out on it. You could be damn sure if some guy answered your phone when I called, you’d fucking know about it.”
“What about the woman in Arizona?”
“Beth? Nothing happened with her either. She’s an old friend with a great kid. I spent more time hanging around with him than her. Because in my fucked-up head it made me feel closer to you since you’re pregnant.”
“Oh my God. All this time…” Gia held her head in two hands.
“Why the hell didn’t you ask me if you suspected something, anyway?”
“I…I felt like I’d deserved it, I guess. I’d hurt you and maybe a part of me wanted you to hurt me back. Plus…I didn’t know if you being with another woman was cheating.”
“What? You didn’t know if me fucking another woman was cheating?”
She hesitated. “If you slept with a woman now, would you be cheating?”
“I just said I’d never cheat on you.”
“But if you did, would it be considered cheating? In order for it to be considered cheating, you’d have to be committed to me.” Tears built in her eyes. “I’m not sure what we are right now, Rush.”
Jesus Christ. I’d really fucked with her head badly. She didn’t even know that I would never sleep with another woman. I looked back and forth between her eyes and cupped her face into my hands. “I don’t know where we’re at right now either. How things will wind up in the future. I wish to God I could tell you that right now. But I do know one thing—you have me. There’s no one else. Me being with another woman—or you with another man—would definitely be fucking cheating.”
She started to cry. “Okay. I didn’t cheat on you either. Not that anyone in his right mind would want me with what I look like these days. But I wouldn’t do that to you, either.”
I pulled her to me. “You do realize I’m sitting here with a hard-on, even in the middle of our arguing because I fucking love your body these days. So you saying no one in their right mind would want you is sort of insulting to us both.”
She laughed through her tears. “I guess we’re both a little crazy, then.”
Truer words had never been spoken. After she had calmed down, I pulled back to look at her. “We good?”
She smiled. “Yeah. We’re good.”
“Okay. So can I shut the fucking lights off and get some shuteye? Because your ass snoring in the chair a few feet away kept me up last night.”
“You’re so full of shit.”
I was. But I loved that she called me out on it. That was my girl. Not the one who thought I cheated and was too busy tiptoeing around my arrogant ass to say something. I got up and flicked off the lights.
It took a whopping five minutes for Gia to fall asleep once I pulled her to me, wrapped her tight in my arms, and stroked her hair. Me, I stayed awake longer, enjoying the feeling of being content for the first time in weeks, even in the middle of a shit storm.It sucked to have no money when you needed a new wardrobe. I knew Rush would have given me money in a heartbeat, but there was no way I was going to ask him.
But getting new clothes was becoming an urgent matter. That was what credit cards were for, I supposed.
Laughing to myself, I thought back to before I was pregnant and how I used to feel like I had nothing to wear, despite all of the clothes in my closet. It was certainly different when you literally had nothing to wear because you couldn’t fit into a damn thing.
I found myself at the only maternity store in town. To my surprise, the woman behind the counter seemed to recognize me immediately.
“You’re Gia from The Heights, right? Rush’s girl.”
Not really wanting to get into the whole “it’s complicated” spiel with her, I simply said, “Uh…yeah. Yeah, I am.”
It was interesting because I had no recollection of who she was. Yet, she knew me. That fact didn’t surprise me. I’d been pretty oblivious to a lot of things at work lately, so preoccupied with my impending departure and the state of Rush and my relationship.
She held out her hand. “I’m Naomi, Rich Kirkland’s wife.”
Rich was one of the chefs at The Heights. Really nice guy and made the best teriyaki steak tips with mushrooms and peppers. Now my stomach was growling.
“Oh my gosh. We all love Rich. He’s so sweet and such a damn good chef.”
“Thank you. Yeah…he loves working there. When he got laid off from his other job, Rush heard about it and took him in, even though at the time they didn’t even need another person. So we’ll always be grateful for the chance he gave Rich.”
