“We should,” Dad says. “When are you guys leaving?”
“She has work on Monday at three, so we should leave here Monday morning, but it depends. We might leave Sunday.” I shrug. “We’ll see how she feels.”
“I’ll be okay if we leave Monday. I can sleep on the way home,” Collins offers, not wanting to be a bother.
“Either way, I think we can set it up for tomorrow night. It’ll be a treat having everyone over.” Mom drops her hands off Collins. “We’ll get out of your hair now so you can relax, but tomorrow night, dinner at our place.”
“That sounds nice,” Collins replies to her, her voice shaking a bit. “Thank you both so much for welcoming me.”
“Thank you for being forgiving.” My mother hugs her again, and then my father comes forward and kisses her cheek.
“You let us know if you need anything,” he says to her, and then looks at me. “I’ll be around.”
“Will do,” I reply, and my father holds out his hand to let my mother walk in front of him as they both leave.
The door shuts behind them, and Collins sinks to the floor. Her hands go to her face, and she sighs. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.” I squat beside her. “I’m a fucking liar. I lied straight to their faces.” She puts her hand on her lips. “I’m exactly who I said I was never going to be. I’m no better than—” She springs up. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She runs to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her, but it doesn’t close, and I hear her throwing up. I push open the door, grabbing one of the facecloths and wetting it.
She’s on her knees, hair in one hand as she spits in the toilet. “Sorry, the door was open,” I tell her softly, squatting next to her and handing her the cloth.
“It’s okay.” She takes the cloth from me. “I bet you’re thinking to yourself, What the fuck have I gotten myself into?”
“Actually, I was thinking, How can I get this girl to agree to go out with me?” Her gray eyes stare at me. “I would love to discuss this with you, but I need you to rest.”
“Theo,” she says my name with the same softness she did that day everything changed.
“I’ll get your bag. I’ll be right back.” I hold out my hand to help her up.
She gets up, and I kiss her neck before going to the truck and grabbing her bag. I walk back inside and find her in the kitchen drinking some water near the sink.
“Do you want a tour?” She nods. “Follow me.” I motion with my head toward the stairs on the side. Now that we’re here, I’m hoping she’ll share my bed with me, but I’m not going to press her.
I walk to the left, where the primary bedroom is. “This is . . .” I stop before I say my bedroom because, knowing her, she might refuse to even stay in here. “. . . where you’ll be staying.” I dump her little bag on the king-size bed. “The bathroom is right through there. Do you want to nap a bit?” I ask her. “It’s okay if you do.”
“I didn’t, but then I saw the bed, and it was calling my name,” she says, making me laugh, “but show me the other rooms first.”
She follows me to the other side of the house, where there are two more bedrooms. One is completely empty, the other has a queen-size bed. “Wait a second,” she steps into the room with the queen-size bed, “which room is yours?”
“This one,” I lie.
She lifts her eyebrows. “This one is your bedroom.” I don’t know if she’s asking me. “So if I go back to that room”—she points to the hall—“and I go into the closet, your clothes won’t be in there?”
“It’s my house, of course, my clothes are here,” I reply, folding my arms over my chest. She walks toward the closet, and I stop her by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to me. “Let it go.” She looks over her shoulder at me.
“No, I’m not taking your bedroom from you.”
“I mean, we can always share the bed,” I suggest softly. Her eyes flicker. “I thought you wanted a nap.”
“Do you want to nap too?” she asks me, and I tilt my head to the side.
“I could nap,” I say, telling the truth. She puts her hand on mine at her stomach.
“Then let’s go nap,” she urges softly, turning and heading to my bedroom.
I feel the bed move beside me and open my eyes to see Collins sliding out from under the covers. She walks toward the bathroom. My eyes watch how her ass swings side to side, the gray lounge pants she slipped on before bed falling perfectly. She has no idea how fucking sexy she is. I listen to her flush the toilet and hear the water run before she walks out on her tippy-toes. “Did I wake you?” she asks softly. “I tried to hold it in as long as I could, but I was about to burst.” She puts one of her knees on the bed.
“It’s time for us to get up anyway.” I sit up, turning so my feet hit the hardwood floor. “You hungry?”
She nods. “I swear, before I got pregnant, I could go with one meal a day.” She laughs. “Now, if I’m not sleeping, I have to have food in my mouth every couple of hours.”
