“Not this weekend, but next weekend, I have four straight days off. Though I might pick up a couple of shifts . . .” She trails off. “Not sure, I’m going to see how I feel by next week before I ask for them.”
“Why don’t you just take the days off and recover?”
She dips a piece of quesadilla in the sour cream before looking at me. “I’m going to be off work for a bit when the baby is born, and I figure I should have a nest egg in case something happens. I heard babies can be pretty expensive.”
“They are,” I agree as she finishes what I made her. “You want the other one?”
“You’re not going to eat it?”
“I made both for you. I ate earlier.”
“Oh. Thanks. I’ll take it for my lunch then.”
I get up and store it in a container. “If you want, you can go to bed, and I can clean up here.”
“I was going to go and sit outside a bit,” she says. “You want to come with me?”
“Yeah.” I follow her to the front door, where she puts on a pair of flip-flops before heading outside. She walks down the stairs and heads to the side.
“Where are you going?”
“The door to go out back is broken.” I follow her around the house to the back deck. It needs to be ripped out and replaced. “No trees here,” she says of the empty backyard, “so you can see the sky.” She sits at the top of the two steps, and I join her. “It’s peaceful, isn’t it?” She puts her elbows on her knees. She looks at me. “Are you scared?”
I tell her the truth. “Petrified. Knowing you were pregnant was one thing, but seeing my child—our baby—and listening to his or her heartbeat made it so much more real.” I smile shyly. “You?”
She takes a second to think about her answer. “You have no idea,” she starts softly, and I put my hands on my knees like she has hers. Her shoulder rests against my arm. “I hate that I said I wasn’t going to lie to you.” She smiles sadly. “Not that I lie in general. Actually, I hate lying altogether, but I have been fibbing about a couple of things the last couple of weeks to everyone I work with. It’s been eating at me, and I know soon I’m going to have to tell them the truth, and I’m a little bit afraid no one is going to trust me anymore.”
“I’m sure they will understand,” I say, trying to ease her fear.
“I really fucking hope so. I worked so hard to get to this point with them.” She looks ahead. “My parents didn’t do me any favors when I was growing up,” she shares softly, “and I’ve been working my whole life to make sure people know I’m not like them.” It’s the first time she’s let me in. The first time she’s given me a piece of her that I know she’s been hiding.
“I promise you that everything is going to be okay.” I raise my hand and tuck the hair behind her head. My fingers touch her cheek as I gaze into her eyes.
“I highly doubt that,” she tries to joke.
I can’t help myself. My head moves into her space, and my lips touch hers. It’s a soft kiss, or at least that is what I wanted it to be. Instead, my hand moves to her cheek, and I hold her face as I slide my tongue into her mouth. The kiss I didn’t know I needed. The kiss I know I’m going to want to have more of. The kiss, I think, that changes everything. She places her hand on mine at her cheek as we share the kiss that is slow and full of need.
She’s the first one to move away from the kiss, and when she does, I bend my head and kiss the side of her neck. “You should get to bed,” I tell her.
“Yeah.” She rubs her thumb over my hand before standing up. “Thanks for making me dinner, Theo. I’ve never had anyone try to take care of me.” I stand and slide my hand into hers, making a silent vow that I will do whatever I need to do in order for her to never feel that way again. I am going to show her that I will always take care of her. Of her and our child.
I walk with her to the front door, and she lets my hand go, but I follow her inside. “I’m going to clean the kitchen before I leave.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, Collins, but I’m going to. I can’t do much for you right now. You’re doing all the work.” I reach for her hip instead of putting my hand on her stomach like I want to do. “So you take care of our baby and let me take care of you.”
She walks to her purse and takes out the picture of our baby. “This is for you.”
“Thank you so much for this.” I smile as she hands it to me, looking at the image. “I already picked up a frame to put this in.”
“You did?” She sounds surprised.
“Yeah.” I nod. “Shit, I should have gotten you one also.”
“You’re too good to be true, Theo,” she mumbles and walks away from me into her bedroom. All I want to do is follow her. Instead, I go to the sink and wash the dishes. As I leave her house, the sun is slowly starting to rise.
I stop by the bakery to grab a coffee before heading to the jobsite.
