AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vivian was wreaking havoc with his life and, instead of doing his duty to the child and being done with a sexual relationship with the mother, he wanted to share breakfast with her. He still hadn’t worked his way to sharing his life with her; breakfast was scary enough right now.
“I never expected happily ever after. Not when you bought me that first drink, not when I waited for you in this building’s lobby and certainly not now.”
That Vivian was understanding about it only made him feel worse. She would be perfect, except for the danger that waited in the wings of their relationship. Friendship was already more than he’d planned.
Sex just complicated things further. It certainly complicated this morning after.
Blessedly, Vivian changed the subject. “You have quite the collection of bookends.” When he only nodded, she continued. “And they’re all hidden away in your bedroom rather than for people to see.”
That was the point. “They’re private.”
“What made you start collecting bookends?”
“My brother, Leon, gave me some for my birthday right before he died.”
If Vivian had continued to ask questions, he might have dodged her curiosity with one-word answers. Since she just sipped her coffee, he continued. “Leon gave me the hockey players.” Their mom had given him an Encyclopedia Britannica and Leon had so proudly bought bookends to match it. At the time, the fake-gold-plated hockey players had seemed garish and beneath Karl’s teenaged dignity. Now, they were a reminder that families could be wiped out in an instant. “I took those with me to college and was the only person in my dorm with real bookends, as opposed to those bland metal ones. So people gave me more bookends.”
“And now you have more ends than books.”
“Yes.” Because she was Vivian, he offered her more information. “I have several boxes of bookends in storage. These are just my favorites.”
“When Jelly Bean is born, I’m sure someone will make her baby booties into bookends.”
“Baby booties, storks, naked babies sleeping with their butts in the air. If they make a baby-themed bookend, I’m sure someone will give it to me.”
“I’d like to make sure I get you something unique.” She cocked her head and looked out the window, innocence blanking out all other emotions on her face. “Like bookends made with her umbilical cord or something.”
Karl nearly spit out his coffee. “That was wicked.”
Vivian’s sly smile broke into a full-out, self-satisfied grin. “Yeah, but you thought it was funny.” Then she stood up in her seat, leaned over the bar and kissed him on the mouth.
And suddenly the morning wasn’t so awkward after all.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THEY SAT IN companionable silence as Karl drove Vivian back to his mother’s house. Which was good, because Vivian had a lot on her mind.
She’d meant what she said to Karl about not expecting happily ever after. It didn’t mean she didn’t want it, just that expecting it seemed a surefire way to get her heart broken. Plus, there hadn’t been any courtship in Las Vegas or when she invited herself to live in his apartment. Even if a traditional happy family was in her future, she didn’t want to miss out on the getting-to-know-you part of the relationship. Pregnant or not, she wanted to get a couple of dates out of the deal.
If she went back in time and told her eighteen-year-old self—the one desperate to escape the unstable world her father lived in and thrived on—that she wouldn’t be pushing for absolute security at this point in her life, that younger self would smack her upside the head and call her crazy.
And crazy she might be. But seeing Karl’s silliness last night made her wistful for a marriage based on more than a certificate and a baby. She wanted the trust that he’d shown her last night to underpin their entire relationship. No more doubts and no more suspicions. She wanted them to raise the baby in a home with two parents who loved and supported each other.
It was the best and most unrealistic thing she could hope for.
Up until that night in Vegas, Vivian hadn’t purposely avoided marriage, but she had been afraid to tie herself to another person whose potential impulsiveness could ruin both their lives. Karl’s impulsiveness—though she shared the blame for their situation—had changed her life completely. However, knowing him meant knowing that he took care of his responsibilities without question. If she was going to ask for the moon, she might as well ask for the stars, as well.
