She didn’t know me. She hardly knew anything about me.
“You gotta gypsy soul, and it takes you wherever the winds may roam. Tryin' to tie you down and keep you in one place is like ropin’ in the wind. Damn near impossible.”
I opened my mouth…to say what actually? She wasn’t entirely wrong. My whole life had been on the go, Texas had been the first state I’d stayed in more than a couple months. But even still, in the past couple years, I’d lived all over the state.
“I’m not gonna leave him,” I finally settled on saying.
Her disbelieving look spoke volumes.
“I mean it,” I continued. “I’m stayin’.”
“Even in a few months from now? Or a year? Maybe five years? Are you gonna stay with him for the long haul?”
I thought of Maverick. Of our blossoming relationship. We worked well together, and living with him was far easier than I’d ever expected. And he meant the world to me.
“Yes.”
A flicker of surprise flashed in her gaze, some of the anger melting away. “Do you love him?”
I thought of his admission to me six weeks ago now. He proved each and every day how much he loved me and this baby. And I loved him. Though, I’d been too scared to admit it.
I’d never told a boyfriend I loved them. Never. Honestly, I hardly ever stayed in a relationship long enough to get to that point. I think deep down, some part of me was scared to be that vulnerable, to open myself upthatmuch to another person.
Keeping my chin up, my head held high, I said with certainty, “I do.”
Some of the harsh lines in the corners of her eyes softened. “Then tell him. Tell him every day. As much as you can. Maverick’s thestrongest man I’ve ever known, but it’s the strong ones who need the most remindin’.”
“I will,” I said with a nod.
I don't know what she saw or heard in my eyes or voice, but it seemed enough to satisfy her. With a nod of her own, she turned and left me alone on the front porch.
Well, that was fun.
My heart fluttered anxiously against my ribcage still, trying and failing to calm after that stressful conversation. I tried to focus on my breathing, taking slow, deep inhales in before blowing them out.
Why was this harder than it had been telling my own dad? He’d congratulated me, told me he’d be making a trip out from Mexico or Hawaii or wherever the hell warm tropical place he’d decided to vacation at, and that was that. No judgment. No questioning. It’d been so much easier.
The door creaked open once more and my hopes rose like the swell of an ocean wave thinking it was Maverick, only for my dismay to plummet down once more as Bad came out instead.
His hazel gaze landed on me, his lips pulling up into a hint of a smirk. “Easy girl. I ain’t comin’ out here to scold ya.”
“Your wife already did that,” I huffed, the words falling from my lips before I could stop them. I clamped a hand over my mouth at the admission.
Bad chuckled and waved me off before making his way off the front porch and onto the gravel driveway. He gestured with a nodfor me to follow. I did. Not only was I probably one of his biggest fans and just the thought of being in his presence was the coolest thing ever, but also, when Bad said something, you listened.
He didn’t talk for a few moments, the only sounds that of the gravel crunching beneath our feet and the cicadas screeching in the trees. “You know what the baby is?”
I shook my head, examining my cow print slip-ons as I walked. “No. Maverick and I went to this place to have an ultrasound that tells you the gender, but we’ve been waitin’ to open the envelope.”
“How come you haven’t opened it yet?” No accusation, no confusion, just pure curiosity.
I glanced over at him. “I don’t know, honestly. I think I’m scared.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because then it just makes it even more real.”
He huffed a laugh, jerking his chin toward my stomach. “That’s as real as it gets there, girl. It don’t make no difference what that baby comes out as.”
