AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Which probably means it has something to do with me. Dana tells me everything. Why would she feel the need to hide something from me unless she was afraid of what it could do to me? Or worse, do to us?
Dana has always been good at drawing things out of me with just the right question or the right phrase. I’ve tried to learn from her. But she’s trained to do that. I’m just a novice.
The bathroom door shuts just outside the kitchen. I go to it and rest my head against the door. I know, listening to her pee, how romantic.
I can’t stand to have her far from me.
The faucet turns on.
“D.”
“Oh my god, Drew. You’re like a cat. Or a toddler,” Dana says through the bathroom door.
“Sorry.”
“Give me a minute.”
I swallow. I don’t have a minute to give. “What if we moved in together?”
The faucet turns off. The door creaks open. Dana’s brow is furrowed. “What?”
“I thought–“Yeah, whatwereyou thinking, Drew?“The longer we have to prepare for the baby together, the easier it will be once they’re here.”
Dana’s hand rests on the door as if she’s a second away from slamming it in my face.
“Then I can be closer to you. I can take care of you.”
She sighs. “Drew, you don’t have to–”
“Stop. Thatiswhat I have to do.”
Dana’s face falls.
“Isn’t that–don’t you want that?” I ask, my voice curling out pathetically.
“Of course, I do. Just…”
Just what?
“Too fast. It’s too fast for me. Right now. Let me get a handle on everything first.” Dana touches my cheek. “Okay?”
This would be the moment in the movie that I tell her I love her. But I can’t. I feel like my heart has been stuffed with buckshot. I can’t handle another rejection right now, especially when I don’t know where this hesitance and distance are coming from.
Force a smile. Remember that for all the changes you’re feeling, she’s feeling it tenfold. “Okay.”
Dana kisses my cheek and then goes to collect her clothes.
I don’t know what I did. Which means I don’t know what I have to fix. And worst of all, I have no idea what any of this means for us.
23
DANA
I thoughtI’d be excited to walk into Oh, Baby!, our local baby superstore, but all I feel is overwhelm. Even with Harley and Gillian by my side.
“Okay, let’s start with the big stuff,” Gillian says, pulling me toward the displays of cribs and bassinets.
“No, let’s start small. The cute things,” Harley says, tugging me the other way.
