Page 43 of My Girlfriend is Not the Father

‘It heats the oil in the meds, so it’s easier to inject. Or at least that’s what they told me. But I call bullshit. Last night it felt like super glue was pushing through my veins.’

Jade shuddered at the visual.

Lucy closed the bathroom door behind them. A thud hit the floor. ‘Chucky gets so moody when he’s not invited to the party.’

The bathroom was a decent size, but between Lucy’s vanilla scent and the way her ample cleavage peeked out from her sundress, the room felt a heck of a lot smaller. And warmer. After scrubbing her hands, Lucy hiked her dress up past her hip, hooked her finger on the strap of her black underwear, and lifted it higher.

Jade stopped breathing. She whipped her head to look somewhere else, anywhere else, besides the smooth skin and curve of a beautiful, perfect ass that was so close. ‘Alcohol wipe?’

‘Yes, please.’

Jade grabbed the wipe and met Lucy’s eyes in the mirror. A look – a curl-the-toes, heart-patter, hot-neck look – passed between them.

‘Looks like my Sharpie circle is still intact.’ Lucy’s words were rushed. ‘I might need to re-outline my bull’s-eye later this week. I’ve been too scared to exfoliate, but I don’t want to get all flaky and crunchy.’ Lucy filled the syringe and contorted her body. She held the needle away from her hip as her lips pulled tight. Her nostrils flared with each heavy breath.

Jade wished she could strip that fear away. She tiptoed behind her and touched her shoulder. ‘You got this.’

Lucy nodded. ‘One, two, OWWW!’ She leapt from the counter. ‘Christ, that hurts.’ She pressed a gauze strip on the entry point, her cheeks morphing from white to pink. ‘I did it! Oh, my God. I can’t believe I did it!’

God, she’s beautiful. ‘You should be proud! I’ve never injected myself, but I’m sure it’s hard.’ I really need to get out of this small space. ‘Do you think you should lie down in case you get dizzy again?’

‘Good idea. I need to lie in the bed. I have to massage my leg for like a hundred hours or it gets super stiff.’

Jade followed Lucy out of the room. ‘Did that happen yesterday?’

‘Yep. I seriously got so stiff. Like I’d been dancing the running man all night, forgetting that I’m thirty-two and not sixteen. I woke up and my leg was all “Bam, sucker! Take that!” It hurt so bad.’

Jade couldn’t help but laugh at Lucy’s animated words and air punches. ‘Oh no. Hopefully tonight isn’t as bad.’ Jade stepped over a sleeping Chucky in the hallway. ‘Well, I should probably head out.’

Lucy stopped. Her eyebrows squished together. ‘You don’t have to leave yet. I know this probably isn’t the most exciting Saturday night of your life, but maybe after I’m done, we can watch a movie or something?’ Lucy’s cheeks turned pink.

Jade needed air. She needed to not be walking this closely to Lucy, who smelled so good and looked so delicate while also looking so fierce. The sense of urgency in Lucy’s voice shouldn’t affect her this much. And she definitely shouldn’t be this conflicted over staying or leaving.

‘So … bedroom?’ Lucy asked.

Jade swallowed. ‘Bedroom it is.’ The air felt like sludge in her throat. Lucy didn’t mean bedroom bedroom. Jade knew that. She simply needed to lie down more comfortably to massage a leg. So why did those words, coming from that mouth, make her pulse do this? ‘Hey, that lemonade sounds good right now. Cool if I grab us some glasses?’

‘For sure.’

The air in the kitchen was breezier, thank God. Jade fanned the bottom of her shirt to cool her sticky skin and dug into the fridge. Exhaling, she calmed her racing heart, expelled the vision of black lace, and returned to the bedroom with two glasses. She stopped in the doorway. ‘Wow. This was not what I was picturing at all.’ Her eyes travelled over the soft grey pallet-wood accent wall, the wrought-iron bed, the rustic nightstands, and two single grey-scale abstract paintings, one on each wall.

‘Be honest. Were you picturing it more like a rainbow unicorn exploded?’ Lucy pulled her knee into her chest and ground her fists into her thigh.

Jade set the drinks down and returned to the doorway. She could not let everything about tonight – about the last month – fuzz her judgement. Sure, Lucy was amazing. But she was about to embark on a life-changing journey, one that Jade couldn’t be part of. Right? Yes, er, no. Definitely, no. ‘I just didn’t expect it to be so, I don’t know, calming in here. Not that the rest of your place isn’t calm. It just has a lot of—’

‘Stuff?’

‘More like a lot of colour. And stuff, but not in a bad way. Like a homey way.’

‘I wanted my bedroom to be super peaceful. No TV. No heavy colours, just calm.’ Lucy patted the top of the soft cream comforter and wiggled back into the mattress. ‘You can sit here.’

Jade tucked a leg under her butt and sat, wincing along with Lucy as she pounded her leg.

‘Most times, I feed off energy and a sprinkle of chaos. But at night, I like the quiet.’

Jade rested a palm on the bed. ‘I did the same after my divorce. Downsized everything.’ The physical pain of the divorce had been gone for a while, but talking about it still felt like a chokehold. Memories of shoving clothes, a favourite pillow, and boxes of hair products into her car to make the six-hour trek from Chicago to Stillwater flashed through her mind. ‘I didn’t even need a moving truck. There’s something liberating about a fresh start. You know, leaving all the crap behind.’

Lucy swung her leg higher and shook out her hand. She exhaled and continued to rub. ‘Was it hard to date after your divorce?’