“I had soup?” I raised a brow, unsure when I would have bought such a thing.
Liam chuckled softly. “No. I ordered in once I realized my limited cooking talents could do nothing with the crackers, ice cream, and three bottles of wine that were left in your fridge.”
“Thought you could cook anything,” I challenged lightly.
“I’m not a magician.” With no other chair to sit on, Liam leaned against the fridge and watched me. “Feel better?”
“Much.” Taking the spoon, I had a few sips of the soup and was surprised at just how good it tasted.
“If you’re dehydrated, then soup is a decent, slow way to rehydrate yourself without making the salt imbalance worse,” Liam explained, not taking his eyes off me.
“Speaking from experience?”
“A little.” His smile was easy. “I used to binge drink a lot. I know how to rehydrate on a dime.”
“Noted.” Another few spoonfuls and despite everything, I was beginning to feel calmer. However, that quickly piled on more guilt, and my hand trembled.
“Callie, I know we’ve asked you this before and you always give the same answer, but I’m not sure I believe you when you say things are fine.” The easiness faded from Liam’s face. “We’ve all noticed that you’ve been a little different this past week or so. A lot different, actually.”
“Have I given you reason not to trust me?” I asked boldly over my spoon.
“No,” Liam replied honestly. “But sometimes words don’t always match actions.”
“True,” I nodded. “I think you guys just haven’t seen me stressed, that’s all. So it feels like something is off.”
Liam nodded, although his face remained impassive so I had no idea if he was buying that or not.
“It really is just stress,” I assured him, and quickly sought a change of topic. However, I had one burning question, which was painful but necessary: “What’s going to happen now that it looks like we stole the patent from PRISM?”
Liam’s face hardened. “Honestly, I have no idea. Sawyer has to survive dealing with his father first. After that, it’s just a guess.”
My stomach churned and the soup soured in my mouth.
“Speaking of…” Liam’s attention was down on his phone, then he pushed off the fridge and moved closer. “I’m so sorry but I need to go and collect Marie. Kane is coming over to replace me, so please don’t go to sleep or do anything until he gets here.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I snapped. The last thing I needed was another one here to add to my guilt.
“Don’t care,” Liam said, kissing the top of my head as he passed. “Sawyer wants you to take the rest of today and tomorrow to rest as well.”
“Alright,” I muttered, already knowing that I wouldn’t. “Thank you for the soup.”
“Any time. Eat it slowly.” His hand lingered on the back of my head and then he was gone. I remained sitting until the front door clicked closed, then I was on my feet with my phone in hand. In my hurry to dial Bianca’s number with emotion bubbling over, I accidentally accepted a call that came through at the same time as I tapped the screen.
Fuck.
“Hello?”
“Miss Everheart?”
“Yes?
“Hi there. I’m calling from the clinic about your appointment with us a few days ago.”
Oh no
“Of course.” My heart stopped. “Is something wrong?”
“As you may recall, the pregnancy test you took was positive but I wanted to wait on the blood test results before we talked about your options. Your results came back today, and I’m happy to confirm that you are indeed pregnant…”