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“Fascinating.” I murmur. Ezra places a hand on my back, leads me to one of the wooden tables, and pulls out a chair for me. “Or would you prefer the couch by the fireplace? It looksmore comfortable, and you can lie down if you get tired.” He’s rambling now.
“It’s fine, Ezra, I’m not going to pass out at a moment’s notice,” I respond with an eye roll while I peruse the menu.
I know he doesn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of my sass, but he did let me storm out of his office before he came running after me. I didn’t expect him to, however; I had given him an out. We could’ve made a clean break. The more time we spend together, the messier this could get. Protective mama mode has been activated.
“Let me know what you want, and I’ll go get it for you. You just sit here and relax,” Ezra says as he picks up his own menu.
I lick my lips as I glance over the options. They all look so yummy! I’m suddenly starving. “I’ll take an everything bagel with cream cheese, toasted, the kale quinoa chicken Caesar salad, a fudge brownie, and the carrot mango smoothie.” My stomach rumbles in anticipation when I complete my order.
I glance up to see Ezra staring at me with wide eyes.
“What? Don’t judge me, I’m eating for three now.” I tease, patting my stomach gently as I lean back in my seat.
Ezra smiles softly. “No judgment here, I swear. Pure admiration only. Be right back.” He gets up and walks to the counter to place our order. I glance out the window, so I won’t get lost in thought, overthink and become even more nervous. What the hell does he even want to talk about?
I watch the light foot traffic on the sidewalk. In a way, Brattleboro and Burlington are so similar. This town feels so homey and inviting. I hate to admit it, but I’m enjoying the slower pace and being out of the city.
“Here you go, milady,” Ezra says placing a nearly overflowing tray in front of me.
“You’re not getting anything?”
He raises his coffee cup. “Already had breakfast.”
“Well, I only had crackers so…” I shrug, picking up the plate with my bagel first and diving in. “Mmm!” My eyes widen as the cream cheese melts over my tongue. Heavenly.
“You like it?” He grins at me, and I nod as I take another bite. He silently sips his coffee as he watches me clear the plates in front of me one after the other.
That’s the thing about Ezra: he has this vibe, thispresencethat just makes me relax when I’m in his company. Normally, I’d feel self-conscious about devouring this much food in front of a man–well, in front of anyone–but surprisingly I feel no shame. He honestly looks impressed. He put me in this condition after all.
After I got the test results last week and the doctor confirmed it, the nausea has definitely gotten worse. Morning sickness my ass. I puke my guts out as soon as I wake up in the morning and at night, sometimes in the afternoon too if I smell something off. But after the initial sickness in the morning subsides, and I get a couple crackers to stay down, hunger overcomes me with a vengeance.
One minute I can barely tolerate the thought of eating anything and the next my insides are gnawing at me like I haven’t eaten in years, and I’ll die if I don’t eat right that second. It’s the worst. But my doctor says once I’m in my second trimester–in two more weeks–the sickness should abate. And I. Can’t. Wait!
Unfortunately, carrying twins means higher hormone levels and usually more intense nausea, that sometimes lasts longer than normal, but I’m hopeful that come next month, I’ll be feeling more like myself; less pukey and a whole lot less sleepy.
“Wow,” Ezra says when I’m done devouring my meal. “I’m glad to see you’re able to eat well.”
I narrow my eyes as I drink my smoothie, “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
“I don’t know much, scratch that. I don’t know anything at all about pregnancy and what your body is going through, but I always thought that in the first couple months, women have morning sickness and are unable to keep things down. So, I’m really glad that’s not the case here.”
I start laughing. I can’t help it. “Oh trust, me, if it were a few hours earlier, this would be a completely different meal. It’s almost eleven, so I’ve moved on from theeverything makes me want to pukestage of the day to theeat everything in sight and hope I don’t regret it laterstage. It’s a fun game trying to figure out which one I’m in. And sometime I don’t really know until I’m half way through a pizza, and I realize I’m most definitely in theimmediate regretportion of the evening. But that’s the joy of pregnancy, especially with multiples.”
He frowns and utters, “I wish I could be there for you more.”
My heart flutters at the concern in his eyes. “You’re adorable. But there’s nothing you could do.” He doesn’t mean that, anyway, he’s just feeling sentimental in the moment. Tonight he’ll go home to his bachelor pad and sigh in relief that he’s single, childless and free to live his life as he pleases.
“Oh.” His gaze drops to my stomach again. “Can you feel them yet?”
“No, I’m only twelve weeks along. I won’t feel them kicking and moving around until about eighteen weeks or maybe even later during a first pregnancy. I do have something for you if you want, though.” My cheeks warm up as I take out one of the extra copies of the babies’ image Ella had requested. “Here.” I place it on the table and push it to him.
Someone comes at that moment to clear the table. I murmur a silent greeting, and as soon as he leaves, my gaze is on Ezra.His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows and tightens his grip on the photograph.
“This is them? It looks like a bunch of goop.” His voice is thick with emotion, and I smile.
“The doctor said that at this stage, they’re each about the size of a kiwi and already even have tiny limbs formed. But don't worry, they’re growing well.”
He nods once, twice, not taking his gaze off the photograph in his hand. “Great. When will the heart form and we can hear the heartbeat?”
