I laugh. “I think we do.”
“Yeah.” He buries his face in my neck and hugs me like it’s the last hug he’ll ever give me. His hugs, I’m telling you, could cure all the ailments I’ll ever have. “You know what we should do today?” he asks. “Since it’s your day off, we should go out for lunch after the doctor’s appointment.”
“Yeah? Where were you thinking?”
“The bakery is good. We can even maybe grab it and go sit next to the creek,” he suggests, and I smile. He took me there last month, and I told him it was the best date I had ever been on. Ever since then, every time I have a day off, he takes me to the creek. I sit with him, in between his legs, while he places his hands on my stomach and just relaxes.
“Oh, I like that plan a lot.” I roll away and head to the bathroom, with him following me. He cleans up before me, kissing my neck and then going downstairs.
My tank top sits higher above my stomach today than it did yesterday. I swear it’s like one day the baby bump was small and then it doubled.
He’s standing behind the island when I join him in the kitchen, sipping his coffee as toast pops up from the toaster. “How you feeling?” he asks.
I look at him with my eyebrows pinched together. “Well, considering I just had two very good orgasms, and my guy is taking me for a picnic this afternoon, I would say I’m doing good.” I smile big at him as he gets the peanut butter.
“I meant about your parents,” he clarifies. I tap the island with my nails and shrug my shoulders.
Yesterday I was called as a witness in my father’s case. He pleaded not guilty and said it wasn’t him in the video, even though there was a clear shot of his face. He said it was fake.
They were also charging him with identity fraud from the stolen credit cards they found in my house when they arrested him. He tried to tell the cops I was the one who had all of those cards there. It was the last straw. I was not backing down this time.
My mother was also charged for property damage since she went to my house after Theo kicked her out of this one and broke one of the windows to get in. She tried to trash my place, but was stopped halfway through her tirade. She’s now looking at jail time.
I’m glad I have good insurance, which is covering all the costs of repairing the damage. Theo and the guys finished fixing it up in about two weeks, and I’ve been subletting it out to a couple with a newborn baby.
“There is nothing more I can do for them,” I reply honestly. “They made their bed a long time ago, and I’ve protected them as much as I could over the years. Now it’s time to protect my child and you. So if it meant me being a witness for the state, then it meant me being a witness for the state. I said the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“I was talking about when he got up and yelled at you that you were?—”
I hold up my hand to stop him from repeating what my father said. “I thought Caleb was going to have to sit on you to stop you from jumping over the railing and beating his ass.”
“I came this close.” He holds up his thumb and his forefinger, nearly touching each other. He places my lightly toasted toast in front of me, slathered in peanut butter.
“Hmm, if this isn’t the sexiest thing I’ve seen today”—I pick up the toast and take a bite—“I don’t know what is.”
“I’m going to not be offended by that comment,” he deadpans, making me laugh.
“What time do we have to leave for the appointment?”
“It’s at ten-thirty, so we should leave by ten. Are you excited?”
“We get to see our baby again.” The smirk he had turns into a full megawatt smile. “You bet your ass.”
We lounge on the couch until it’s time for me to get up and get dressed. I change into a sundress for today.
“You look beautiful,” he compliments, kissing my shoulder. The white straps of the dress are tied in a bow. The top part is elastic, and then it flows over my belly to my ankles.
“Thank you. It’s easy access in case you want to get frisky with me.” I wink at him, and he throws his head back and laughs. I get on my tippy-toes and kiss his neck.
We walk out of the house into the sunshine without a cloud in the sky. He slips his hand in mine and opens my door for me. I watch him walk around the truck and get in beside me. I take in the scenery as we make our way toward the doctor’s office. My hand is on my stomach, and I have to say I don’t think I’ve ever been this content with my life before.
We check in, and he sits next to me, his hand tapping his pants when he leans over. “I fear you have made a mistake.”
“What are you talking about?” I snatch a magazine off the table beside me and start to flip through it.
“You are wearing a dress,” he whispers, “and she’s going to have to lift it to get to your stomach. Which means you’ll be practically naked on the table.”
I snort. “I hate to break it to you, but she’s going to see a lot more of me than pretty much even you.” I lift my hand to tap his cheek right as they call my name. “It’ll be okay, I think we’ll survive.”
