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“Yeah, talk about bizarre! But he’s a great dad and Jesse’s a really fantastic kid. And now he’s got Ally, too. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
“Same.”
We both went quiet after that. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a fucking thing to say. I glanced at Emma. She had her legs curled up, her fingers wrapped around the coffee mug, and was gazing out at my garden. My heart stirred: she looked both forlorn and lovely at the same time. I felt the urge to say something pathetic like “What are you thinking about?”which annoyed the fuck out of me. So I looked away.
“What’s the matter? Are you in pain?”
Great. Now my feelings were showing on my face. I rubbed at my brow with my good hand, trying to wipe the scowl away.No, I’m not in any more pain than usual, if you don’t count the heavy ache in my heart, that is.Couldn’t say that, though, could I? “A bit, yeah.”
“Okay, time to go in.” She tossed back the throw, took my mug and put it with hers on the table, and stood up. It was then that I realized what was about to happen. I couldn’t get up from the recliner without her help.
My first instinct was to say,“No fucking way, call Gabe,”but that would be admitting I couldn’t deal with her proximity.
She saw the worry on my face. “I do this for a living, remember? I’m totally strong enough to pull you up.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Still, I had no idea how exactly this worked.
“Okay. Swing your legs around so your feet are firmly on the ground. Then we do this.” She stepped in, sliding her hands carefully under my arms and around my back. “Put your arms around my shoulders. Yep, like that. Up on three. One, two, three.”
And there we were, standing chest to chest, our arms around each other and damn me to hell, I didn’t want to let her go. I wanted to wrap my arms tighter around her, pull her closer, crush my mouth to hers. It was only for a nanosecond, but the ball of lust that hit me in the guts had me moving my hands to her shoulders and pushing her firmly away.
Without looking at me, she turned away, retrieved our stuff and moved to the door, sliding it closed behind me after I shuffled through. Only when I was settled on the couch again did she look at me properly, and that was just to make sure I took the pills.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. I need to get going. Do you need anything else?”
You.“No, Ellen said she’d swing by later. I should be fine until then.”
“Great. Bye, then.”
“Bye.” I was already drifting off to sleep as she rinsed out the mugs, grabbed her purse and quietly opened the front door. In my drug-induced sleep haze, I almost called out, “Wait, don’t go,” but some instinct of self-preservation stopped me.
Thank Christ.
CHAPTER5
Emma
“You want anything, Em?”
“No, I’m good.” I shifted on the couch, nestling baby Sophie in the crook of my arm, leaning down to smell her beautiful little head. “Why do babies smell so good?”
“They don’t. It’s just your ovaries lying to you.”
“Ally!” Zara admonished.
“What? It’s the truth. Everyone’s always going goo-goo for babies, no pun intended, when really, they’re just potato-shaped blobs, aren’t they? Give me an eight-year-old any day.”
“I was wondering where you were going with that. You love babies!”
Ally grinned, her eyes sparkling. “You’re right. I do, of course. But I never really knew how much fun third-graders are.”
“I love that for you, so much,” Lucy sighed. “And Jesse. And Gabe.”
“Me too,” I agreed. The room fell quiet, the only sound the rain pattering against the bay window behind me, while we all smiled at Ally.
“Thank you, me too, but you can all stop staring now. You’re starting to creep me the fuck out. Oops, sorry Sophie.”
