It’s not long before the door opens, and the moment is over. Somehow, I’m able to call off the appointment, though I’m not sure how, with the blood rushing to my ears, making it hard to think. Thankfully, the nurse leaves quickly. Neither of us saysanything as I get dressed, or when we walk out, but I’m okay with it. A calmness settles over me. I don’t know how this is going to work, or what’s going to happen next, but what I do know is that I’m making the right choice.
As we pull out of the parking lot, I exhale a deep breath.
“You okay?”
Still looking out the window, I turn my head toward Graham. There’s concern in his eyes.Am I okay?I don’t know, but I answer honestly.
“I think I will be.”
9
Graham
Iknew from the minute Charley told me she was pregnant that I wanted this baby, but I didn’t know just how strongly I felt about it until we drove away from the clinic and tension melted from my shoulders. The relief was indescribable, and even though I can tell Charley is still freaked out, I think she’s relieved too. We stopped at a drive-thru and grabbed some lunch before parking at this lookout I saw signs for, and we’ve been eating for the last ten minutes, not really saying much, but my mind is still in that doctor’s office, reliving that moment. I didn’t mean for the forehead kiss to happen, it just…did.
It just felt so…easy.
And natural.
The way everything has always felt easy and natural with Charley.
Glancing over at her, she’s staring out the windshield, and I can practically hear her thoughts from here. She’s spinning, but silently, and I hate it. “Talk to me,” I say, wanting nothing more than to dissolve the stress she’s experiencing.
Charley heaves a sigh and looks over, then shoves her fries at me. “Here, I can’t eat these.”
A chuckle bubbles out of me that I cover with a cough as I take the container from her and set it down on the center console. “Tell me what’s going through your mind right now, Sunny.”
Clenching her jaw, Charley swallows before saying quietly, “You can’t call me that.”
“What?” My brows dip. “Why not?”
“Because it’s confusing, Graham,” she explains, as if that clears anything up at all. “If this”—she gestures between us—“us doing…this…co-parenting or whatever is going to work, there needs to be boundaries and rules.”
“But I’ve always called you that.”
“Graham.” She groans my name, and it really shouldn’t turn me on, especially with everything we have happening. But it does.
“Okay, okay.” I hold my hands up. “Boundaries and rules, got it.”
Pointing a finger toward me, she sternly—and adorably—adds, “And no more sex.”
“I vote another rule is honesty,” I throw out, half teasingly, half truthfully. “And with that rule in place, I’d like to point out that I’m pretty sureyoumade the first move that night.”
Charley’s eyes narrow and her lip twitches. “I don’t think I like your tone,” she mutters.
Chuckling, I ask, “Is it my tone you don’t like, or the fact that I’m right?”
She juts her chin out before taking a sip from her Sprite.
“Okay, but really,” I say. “Tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
“Graham.”
“Charley.”
“No flirting,” she spits out. “That’s another rule.”
I arch a brow. “Answer the question, Charley.”
