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“I hadn’t checked my phone yet.”
“I’m so disappointed you weren’t waiting for contact from me with bated breath.”
“Sorry.” She went over to the coffeemaker and set about filling the empty mug.
“Thank you,” he said.
“It’s for me.”
He shot her his deadliest look and went to the cabinet and picked out his own mug, then poured himself a cup. “I don’t think you appreciate how much I need the caffeine.”
“I’m supposed to limit it, but I can’t seem to shake the need for an early morning cup. But the doctor said that was okay.”
“Doctor?”
“Yes. I managed to secure myself a covert doctor visit while you were gone.”
He leaned against the counter. “And?”
“Knocked up, as we thought.”
“And?”
“It’s early. No point doing an ultrasound or anything like that.”
“But everything is fine. And you can drink a coffee.”
She curled her fingers like talons around her mug, her eyes glittering evilly. “I can drink a coffee.”
“Okay. Don’t cut me or anything.”
“Hiss.”
“You just said hiss.”
“Hissing at you would be overdramatic. It was like a pre-hiss. A warning.”
He looked at her, in her pajamas, her feet bare, toenails bright pink, her hair piled high on her head, and laughed. She was the most absurd little thing he’d ever encountered.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re so weird.”
“I am?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you shocked by it?”
He shrugged. “The press makes you look like some...staid and stable ribbon-cutter.”
“Ribbon-cutter?”
“Like you go to openings and stand there and cut the ribbon.”
“Hmph. That’s your bad for believing the media’s representation of me! They only see a small bit of who I am, and they report on a piece of that. They don’t know me or what I do at home.”
“Is that their fault or yours?”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re very guarded, Rachel, and while I have to say you don’t seem to be around me, in general, I think you are. Does anyone know you?”
Rachel paused with her coffee mug halfway to her lips. She was unhappy because seeing Alex walk into the kitchen had sent her heart way up into her throat, even worse than it had done when he’d sent her text messages during the time he’d been away.
