“Yes, I’m going to guess that if you were sick just now, you’ve been sick for a while. You need to get something in your stomach,” he says, worry lining his tone. “Maybe we should talk to the doctor about your nausea at the appointment too. See if they recommend anything to help.”
“Okay, that’s a good idea. But please know, I don’t expect you to go to every single appointment. I know you’re busy on the ranch and it can be hard to get away,” I offer, making sure he doesn’t feel pressure so soon.
“I want to be there. For all of it,” he says resolutely.
“Okay,” I say quietly, a small smile forming on my face.
“Okay,” he agrees, mirroring my smile.
It’s small, but it’s enough to warm the corners of my heart. To ease my fear. We might not have it all figured out, but that's okay. There is always tomorrow. Without a doubt in my heart, I know Rhett won’t let me down. He never has.
Chapter 12
Aspen
Friday comes around, but not quite quick enough. The desire to call and tell everyone the news is eating me alive. I’m sure Maverick already blabbed to Ava, and since she gave me the test, there is a ninety-five percent chance she already figured it out. But Rhett and I promised to keep this secret until we knew more, so unlike my brother, I am keeping my mouth shut.
Having a baby is scary, but the thought of having to tell my brother that I’m having his best friend's baby after we’ve been sneaking around behind his back for years? I literally get a wave of nausea anytime I think about it. I’m hoping maybe Rhett and I can just live happily together secretly and never have to tell him. It’ll be fine.
A knock sounds at my door, and I look at the time on the oven; he’s early. My nerves flutter again at the thought of seeing him. He was hard to read when I told him, but I guess since he already knew, it wasn’t a shock. It almost felt like he was holdingback; maybe he wants me to be comfortable? I don’t know. I’m overthinking everything now.
When I swing the door open, the first thing I notice is his hands completely full of groceries, and the second thing is how damn good he looks. Which isn’t out of the ordinary. He’s easily the most attractive man I have ever met in my life. And he’s just so…big.
“Good morning. I ran by the store and got you some things you might need.” He slightly raises the bags to indicate to them.
“Come on in, I love presents.”
“I know you do.” The smile that peeks through melts away some of my anxiety.
He sets the bags down on the counter and I start looking through them. My heart takes off higher and higher with each item I pull out. I look away from him, trying to hide the tears because it turns out, every rise of emotion makes me cry now. Happy? Crying. Mad? Crying with a hint of rage.
“I looked online a lot and it said you might need these things.” He gets to one of the bags and pulls out a few cans of ginger ale. “These are supposed to be good for nausea, and I got you some chews. And I read that vitamin B6 can help too, so I grabbed some. If it’s not safe for the baby or anything, you can throw it out.” He eyes his selection, as if he is dissecting it, making sure it is all good.
I get through the rest of the goods: plenty of healthy snacks, but also, there’s two of my favorite candy bars: Paydays, a bag of Cheeto Puffs, and a pill container, but it looks like it’s already filled.
“I filled it with prenatals. If you already have some and want to use those, you can just toss them out. I just wanted to cover all the bases.” He looks almost nervous, and I decide right then that he was the best possible person I could have had this baby with.If he is this thoughtful now, I can’t imagine how he will be once the baby is here.
I walk to him and wrap my arms around his waist. “Rhett, this was…exactly what I needed. Thank you.”
His hand rubs circles on my back, and I close my eyes for half a second, savoring the way it feels when I’m in his arms. Safe, calm, and seen.
I’ve never really felt like I belonged anywhere. I was always my brothers’ plus one. I don’t really contribute to the ranch business. But when it's just Rhett and me, I don’t know, it just feels right.
I pull back before my wandering thoughts lead me to tears again. “We’d better get going.”
The appointment is an hour away. HIPAA is a thing, yes. But questioning eyes and loud mouths are also a thing, so I made an appointment at a sister facility. When the time comes, I can transfer to the clinic closer to home, but while this is our secret, we’re going to keep our distance.
The drive there goes quickly. While I am still completely unsure of where Rhett and I stand right now, he doesn’t hesitate to grab my hand on the walk into the building. Which is good because I am so nervous I feel a bit off-kilter.
“You nervous?” I ask him.
He doesn’t answer right away, but there’s a small nod, and a flex of his hand around mine.
“Me too.”
After filling out a mountain of forms and waiting, we get pulled into the exam room where countless tubes of blood are drawn. Once I’ve been thoroughly questioned, we finally get to the good part, the ultrasound. The nervousness I feel over it has my heart galloping away in my chest.
Shuffling into the new room, I look down at the sheet they provided to give me the tiniest bit of modesty before. You’dthink since it was Rhett, having seen my body a million times, it wouldn’t feel like a big deal to undress in front of him, but things were different then. We’re just friends now, no benefits.
