Page 33 of My Girlfriend is Not the Father

Jade grinned.

Jade: In all fairness, it was more butt-ish. Just the side. And I wasn’t looking, anyway.

Lucy: Rude.

Jade chortled. She actually wanted to say that she shouldn’t have looked but did, that touching Lucy’s skin was electric, and Lucy smelled nice, and her house was homey, and Jade kind of wanted to curl up with Lucy’s chunky knitted blanket and fall asleep next to the dog.

Instead, she hovered her fingers over the screen.

Jade: Goodnight.

And that little tingle that Jade had been fighting with, trying so hard to ignore, sprung back up. But this time, no matter how hard she tried, it refused to disappear.

Chapter 13

Lucy

Ouch.

Two a.m. on Saturday, and Lucy woke up with a thudding pain radiating throughout her leg. She heaved it into a different position. The leg felt less like a limb and more like a wooden tree trunk attached to her hip. She fisted the knot and, for the second time in twenty-four hours, her chest tightened. How the hell was she going to inject herself for the next several weeks? Sure, she had melted into a pile of goo with the calm and extremely sexy way Jade took charge, but she couldn’t ask her to just drop everything to come over every night until Drew got back into town next week.

The ache lessened and Lucy must’ve dozed off because she woke up to a whiny Chucky. She threw a robe over her pyjamas and stepped outside as Chucky zoomed past her on the lawn. The morning sun warmed her face; the dewy grass squished beneath her bare feet. Her purple nail polish peeked out between the grass blades as she spread her toes against the earth.

Of course, soon, being barefoot in the grass wouldn’t be safe. After going down a destructive internet search on everything pregnant women should avoid, from alcohol and cat litter to deli meats (that one really sucked), she starting double-clicking on the super scary articles. Apparently, bare feet on grass could lead to an infection. Manicures could lead to a staph infection. No sushi, of course (no fair). No colouring her hair. No soft cheeses, nail polish, household cleaners, coffee … the list went on. After the embryo transfer, she’d have to travel in a latex body suit and eat only organic veggies to make sure she kept the embryo growing.

Well, one more week of enjoying feeling the earth on her feet for almost a year. She might never move from this spot.

She yawned and pulled her phone from her pocket.

Drew: Hey, can you call me when you wake up?

She dialled. ‘I’m up.’

A rustling sounded over the phone. ‘You know, most people start with a hello, or hi, or hey. Not, I’m up.’

‘I’ll add that to my long list of things I should do to make me seem human.’ She watched the dog chase a squirrel up a tree. ‘What’s up?’

‘Just checking in. How are you feeling after the shot last night?’

More emotions than she wanted to share. A little scared. Sore. Kind of enamoured with Jade. And feeling a little skittish about essentially kicking Jade out last night so quickly. But Lucy had come down, hard, with a case of rescue romance after Jade saved her from shot hell, and Lucy needed some space so she didn’t do something stupid.

The only message she’d sent the previous night to Drew was: ‘Shot one down. Just like that time senior year when we got into your dad’s disgusting cinnamon whiskey.’ No reason to rattle the Drew-cage and tell him she hadn’t actually been able to do it on her own.

‘Good. A little sore.’ She wiggled her toes against the grass. ‘I’m going to have Chucky crawl on me for a paw massage.’

‘Nice. Time for him to be useful.’ A sound like a suitcase zipper sounded over the phone. ‘Question. Mason looked through the weekly invoice and you never charged us for the two doctor visits last week.’

She slouched down in the wicker patio chair. ‘I have like a gazillion sick hours at the bank. I’m not going to charge you for those hours. I use or lose them.’

‘You have to charge us. You’re already doing so much and—’

‘We’ve talked about this. Seriously. It’s like I’m double-dipping. Which is great if we’re talking chocolate fondue, but not as fun with your and Mason’s money.’

A hefty sigh sounded through the phone. ‘But it’s in the paperwork and the last thing I want to be in is a breach of contract and the lawyers get involved, and then the clinic gets involved, and then something happens.’

The unusual panic in Drew’s voice gave her pause. ‘Hey, sorry. You’re right. I just feel guilty taking your money.’

‘It still blows my mind that you feel guilty about anything. Sister Katherine would be so proud.’