Our bed is still a mess from last night, and with nothing else to do, I start yanking the sheets straight as anger rises in my chest. “I thought you’d be happy.”
He claps his hands together once. “Well, I’m not. You should have told me. I would think that’s something you’d mention to your husband instead of keeping it from me.”
I gasp and point at him. “There’s no way you’re saying that to me right now.” I throw a hand up. “First of all, you’re the one keeping secrets. Second of all, we’ve talked about this. We bothwant kids. We’re not using protection, Penn. No, I didn’t think I had to make an announcement before we had sex.”
He lets out a hard breath. “You should have told me.”
“Why?” I ask, my voice rising. “So you could avoid touching me?”
His face goes pale, but probably what freaks me out the most is the way he goes completely silent. And suddenly, I know this is something, but I don’t know what.
He runs a hand through his hair. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
He doesn’t answer fast enough.
I shake my head. “We both know there’s pressure. I feel it too, Penn.”
“Pressure?” he snaps. “You’re under pressure? What kind of pressure are you under? I’m the one with the demanding job. I’m the one who?—”
My eyes widen, and he stops as soon as the words are out, but it’s too late.
Never in all our time together has Penn ever treated my job like it doesn’t matter. What I do is important. I know it, and he knows it. So for him to stand here and act like I don’t understand pressure makes my stomach turn.
He comes toward me with his palms up. “Aria, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I shake my head and hold the pillow to my chest. “No, you shouldn’t have.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He looks lost as he stares at me. “I don’t know what happened. I just snapped.”
I look at him, trying to make sense of the man in front of me. “Does it bother you that I’m ovulating?”
He closes his eyes, and my heart drops.
“This doesn’t make sense,” I say. “We’ve talked about wanting kids. We’re not using protection. We both know it’s eventually going to happen.”
Something flickers across his face. I try to decipher it, but one emotion after another appears before I can take it all in. But I do see the anger. It’s still there.
I take a step back. “Or has that changed for you?”
He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
I press my hand to my stomach as the words come out in a whisper. “Do you not want to have kids with me?”
He pauses. It’s only a few seconds, but it feels like forever.
I bend forward like he punched me.
“Aria—”
I shake my head and back away from him. “No.”
“I do,” he says quickly. “I swear to God, I do.”
But he’s too late.
The answer should have come right away. It wasn’t a hard question. Heck, it should have been as easy as breathing for him, and the fact that it wasn’t scares me.
