AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You lay on the couch, and let me take care of you,” I demand.
She purses her lips but holds onto the slot game and heads over to the couch. I fumble around the kitchen and find a pot tomake the soup in, and I find a bowl and a spoon while it heats. I bring the blanket over to her, and I show her the spa set I picked up.
“For after the soup, and you can go in and relax by yourself. I promise I won’t peek…unless you want me to.”
She cracks a small smile at that, but it’s short-lived. There’s thick tension in the air between us, and I’m not sure how to break it.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly. “I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you.”
She raises her brows, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Are you feeling any better?” I ask.
She presses her lips together, and then she starts to cry.
I know she was concerned about spreading germs to me, but fuck that. She’s crying, she feels like shit, and I’m not about to just sit by doing nothing. I slide onto the cushion beside her and wrap my arms around her as the quiet tears turn into body-racking sobs. I’m not exactly sure what to do here, but eventually she leans into my chest and cries there a while. She sucks in deep breaths as she starts to calm.
“Where’s a box of tissues?” I ask, and she nods toward what I assume is one of the bedrooms.
I get up and head that way, and this must be her bedroom. I don’t allow myself the time to take stock of what it looks like in here, and instead I search around for that box.
I don’t see it, so I walk into the connecting bathroom. There it is on the counter, and I make my way over toward it when I spot something on the counter.
A shudder races through me as it takes a minute for what I’m looking at to register.
I stare down at it, and it’s when I pick it up that I hear a whispered, “Oh, shit,” from the doorway.
My head whips up, and my eyes meet hers. “You’re pregnant?”
Chapter 42: Desiree Dixon
Shaking the Pee Stick
A shudder races through me. I’ve barely had time to register for myself that this is my new reality. I certainly wasn’t ready to share it with the guy who walked out on me because he’s scared of my father.
I clear my throat as I study him carefully. “Well, the good news is that it turns out it’s not the stomach flu after all.” I’m trying to make the air in here feel a little lighter, but I can’t help wondering whether that really is the good news after all.
He stares across the small space at me, his jaw slightly slackened and his face pale as he moves to sit on the edge of my tub.
“I…uh,” he begins. “I don’t know what to say.”
I sit beside him. “Join the club.” I suck in a breath and lightly pat my stomach. “This is yours, by the way. I haven’t been with anybody…”
He nods and presses his lips together. “Neither have I.”
My brows dip together. “Really?”
He shakes his head. “How could I when all I could think about was you?”
My face softens at his words, but I can’t just let him off the hook. “Then why’d it take you so damn long to get in touch with me?”
He sighs. “I was scared, Des. Iamscared. And this?” He shakes the stick, and I want to tell him that I actually peed on it if he’d like to set it down, but it seems like the wrong moment. He sighs. “This is fucking terrifying.”
I nod my agreement. I’m only twenty-five. I’m not ready to start a family, least of all with someone who’s already a proven flight risk.
Yet it’s our reality, and we’re going to be connected together regardless of whether we give this another try. Still, I give him the out.
“I haven’t had time to digest it. I just took the test about an hour ago.” I clear my throat. “But if you don’t want—”
