by York, Zoe
Carrie laughed.
“What?” Evie blushed furiously.
“We’re not allowed to notice that Liam is more delicious than a box of chocolate truffles?”
“No!”
“Why not?” This time it was Karen who chimed in, her grin way too knowing for Evie’s liking.
Absolutely no reason. Evie had no claim on Liam. Refused to have a claim on him, even though he wouldn’t mind. “Because he’s too young for either of you.”
“Oooooh.” Her friends harmonized the stretched out syllable perfectly.
“Oh nothing. And shut up.” Evie wanted to go home and crawl into bed. She crossed her arms under her breasts, and the tender ache there and the slight swell beneath her arms were both reminders that she needed to see this through. Needed to put up with the teasing, because her friends were going to be invaluable when everyone else found out, and the way her body was changing every day, it wouldn’t be long now.
Carrie came through the gap in the counter, but instead of stopping at her side, went to the door, threw the lock and flipped the Open sign to Closed. “Come on, let’s go sit in the back.”
Karen pressed gently on Evie’s shoulders, and she found herself being ushered back to the kitchen, where Carrie dug out a box of the aforementioned chocolate truffles.
“Dig in, this is the good stuff. Emergency stash.”
Evie took one of the dark chocolate bundles and savoured a small nibble.
“So, you think you’re too old for him.” Karen nodded thoughtfully. “What does he think?”
There was no getting out of this conversation. “He thinks all sorts of impossible things, like having a baby is going to be lovely and sweet, and we should get married because it’s the right thing to do.”
Carrie pursed her lips, but didn’t respond.
“What are you thinking?”
“Well, that’s what we did, and it turned out to be pretty wonderful.”
“That’s different.”
“Of course, every situation is different. But it’s not the stupidest idea anyone has ever had.”
“It’s stupid for me.” Evie winced again. Seriously, what had happened to her filter? “Ian is rock solid. And he worships you. Liam barely knows me. And I’m not you…I’m not…”
“What?”
“I’m not easy to love.”
“Fuck that noise.” Karen interjected herself into the conversation again. “Didn’t we basically have this conversation in the spring?” Evie didn’t bother to point out that at that point, Karen had pretty much the same self-doubt, because she knew that argument would just get turned around against her. “You are adorable. Gorgeous. Can make quinoa and spinach taste super yummy. You are funny, and you have funny kids. So obviously, you’re both a good parent and you have great genes that you pass on. I don’t know all that Dale did to your head—”
“Hey.” There was nothing wrong with her head.
Karen softened her voice. “None of us are perfect. But neither are they. The men, I mean.”
“That’s the thing…” Damnit. That was the thing. “Liam is perfect. Too perfect.”
The knock at the door was louder this time. A persistent, happy beat. Her mother had departed with the boys only a few minutes earlier, so it could only be Liam. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the same time. She swung the door open with enough force to cover her breathlessness. It wasn’t a secret that he affected her, but she didn’t need to be obvious about it when it couldn’t lead to anything. But there he was, leaning back against her porch railing, one ankle crossed over the other, sunglasses propped up on his head, and it physically hurt Evie to stay on the threshold instead of sliding across the small landing and folding herself into his hard, lean length.
“I brought you a treat from Bun.” He held up a travel mug and a small paper bag.
“I don’t do treats.”
He chuckled and propelled himself toward her, pausing a foot away to…
“Did you just smell me?”
“Sure did. You smell good.”
“You can’t do that. It’s against the rules.”
“Touching you is against the rules. I did not touch.” He leaned closer still, until his breath warmed her temple. “I want to, though. Very much. I want to touch you all over, from your pointy little nose to the tips of your toes.”
Her nose wasn’t pointy. Was it? And did she not put flirting on the no-go list? She really should have.
“Wow, you’re easy to rile up.” Liam slid past her, bumping his hip gently into her midsection. “That wasn’t me touching you, by the way. I was just saying hello to my daughter.”
She thunked her head back against the door frame and closed her eyes for a second. “It might be a boy.”
“It’s going to be a girl, and she’s going to be beautiful. She’ll have your nose.” He turned and gave her a panty-melting smile over his shoulder. “Are you coming? I’m happy to eat the muffin if you don’t want it, but it has six different ancient grains and absolutely no sugar.”
“Give it.” He handed the bag over and took a seat at the kitchen table. Very boundary-respecting.
She eyed him warily. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to chat about the next midwife appointment, and I figured it would be best to do that while the boys are at school.” Again with the perfect. She sighed audibly, and he raised his eyebrows. “Did I assume incorrectly?”
“No.”
“Then what’s with the heavy, long-suffering sigh?”
“Don’t worry about it. What about the appointment?”
“We have the ultrasound at the end of the month, right? I was hoping you might be willing to find out the gender, but I didn’t want to argue about it on the day of the appointment.”
She laughed. “Why would it be an argument?”
“I assumed you wouldn’t want to find out.”
“Why?”
“Your mom said that you didn’t know with the boys.”
It took a moment for that statement to land. So, that was less than perfect. “Excuse me?”
His eyes shifted from left to right, as if reviewing what he’d just said. It didn’t take long for comprehension to dawn and he splayed his hands wide, slowly and carefully, like he was negotiating a hostage situation. “I’m not, generally-speaking, talking to your mom about you.”
“So just specifically-speaking, this one time, you discussed my prenatal health care choices with my mother?” Evie knew that wasn’t fair, could see on his face that there was an explanation, but over the years it had become second-nature to verbally spar with Dale. Attack, counter-attack. Knowing it wasn’t mature wasn’t enough to stop her from doing it, even with someone who didn’t know that’s how the game was played.
But once again, Liam proved more clever than she gave him credit for. “I discussed nothing, of course. I live across the road from her, temporarily, and from time to time she shares things with me. Like your first food was banana, and your first word was run. That’s adorable, by the way. I have no idea about my first food or word. I’d have to find a former nanny to find out, I’m sure. So when she comes over and is all proud and concerned grandma, I listen. I don’t say anything, but I listen, because it’s polite, and it’s a way for me to learn about you, someone I’ve got a vested interest in understanding. Also, because she brings me cookies. I’m not above being bribed for my time.”
Damn him. If he kept doing that, she’d have no choice but to like him. And liking him would lead to a gates-wide-open approach to wanting him, and lord help her, he was very wantable.
“Okay. Mom told you that I didn’t find out the gender for the boys?”
“Yeah. If it’s important to you, then okay, but it’s more in my nature to plan ahead.”
“So you came here to talk about that in advance.”
He shrugged. “Seemed like the decent thing to do.”
Damn him. “It wasn’t me. The surprise—that was Dale�
��s choice. I’m okay with finding out. Particularly if this one is a girl—”
“I have no doubt it will be.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
“Whatever.” He grinned, she laughed, and her good mood was officially restored. “I won’t demand anything of you, Evie.”
“Of course not, you’re perfect.” She said it lightly, but he shook his head. “Don’t deny it. You probably also write poetry and donate ten percent of your income to charity.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. And that’s the freaking point, Liam! No one is perfect. And yet you pretend to be, so that scares me.”
For the first time since they’d started spending time together, Evie watched Liam turn stone cold. She didn’t remember the day she told him about the pregnancy as clearly as she’d like, but she was pretty sure this reaction was worse.
“Pretend?”
“Okay, that was the wrong choice of words.” Once again she found herself floundering. What was it about this guy that made her so flustered, so completely incapable of logical thought? His DNA parasite is doing its best to weaken you.
“I’m not pretending to be perfect, Evie. I’m trying damn hard to do the right thing, at every turn, because I don’t think enough people have done that for you in the past, and right now, while you’re carrying my child, that’s my job. To be there for you. I’m sure as hell not perfect.”
“I guess I just don’t know you, and that’s a problem, given the circumstances we’ve found ourselves in. Like, why couldn’t you ask your parents what your first word was?”
He shrugged. “They weren’t that involved in raising me.”
“Wow.” She wanted to know more about that, but she didn’t want to pry. No, she did. But she wanted even more for him to freely offer the information.
“Yeah. That’s not how I plan to parent, you need to know that. It’s part of why I left the city, because I could see the future and I didn’t like it.”
“And then you came here and I dumped all of this on you.”
“I like this. I like working with my uncle, and I’m going to like being a landlord when I find the right property. I like…” He trailed off, his eyes raking over her. “I like you, Evie. And I guess I’ve stumbled along the way. I was just trying to be the best I can be. For you. For our baby.”
“You don’t need to impress me.”
“I want to. I want you to know you can trust me.”
So much for hoping he’d magically know what she wanted. Time to be brave and ask for it. “Tell me something about yourself, then. Share something messy and ugly that you aren’t proud of.”
His eyes twinkled. “You mean other than having a one-night stand with someone who doesn’t like me?”
“I like you.” She couldn’t help but grin for a minute. But that wasn’t the whole story. How to convey that without sounding like a bitch? She eased onto a chair at the table and reached across to hold his hand. “I just don’t trust you yet. For my own reasons.”
“Yeah.” He squeezed her hand in his, his thumb lingering to rub against her knuckles. They sat there silently, staring at their connected hands, and when he spoke again, it was barely louder than a whisper. “I’m not a good son.”
To the people who weren’t involved in raising you? But she didn’t voice the skeptical question. He was sharing something painful, and she appreciated it.
“I cause my mother a lot of pain, by fighting with my father. I know that, and I’m not doing a damn thing about it. That’s pretty imperfect, I’d say.”
“There are reasons?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it’s human.”
He barked a short laugh. “Humanity is not a valued condition in my family.”
“Well, that says more about your family than you.” She wiggled her fingers out from his, and patted his hand. “I’d like to hear more about this, but I have to get to work. Do you want to drop me off?” He nodded, and she dashed to her room to grab one of her three empire-waisted dance shirts. As she smoothed the no-longer loose top over her belly, she realized it was probably the last day of this baby being their little secret. She raised her voice. “Liam?”
His footsteps in the small hallway to her bedroom caused her pulse to race, and she rolled her eyes at herself.
He didn’t say anything, just leaned in the doorway. She turned around, and the look on his face said it all. Her pulse picked up yet again. Work. Right. She pointed to her belly. “I don’t think this is going to be a secret much longer.”
His lips curled, and so did her toes. “Yeah, you’ve really popped, eh?”
She nodded.
“So, you tell people.” He scanned her face. “You worried about that?”
She didn’t want to be, but… “I’m not looking forward to telling my ex.”
Liam’s brows tugged together, and he chewed on his lower lip. She knew he was thinking about the different options why she might be wary of that conversation, and she wanted to set his mind at ease, but the real reason sounded stupid to her own ears. It was hard to will oneself to knowingly sound stupid out loud.
After a moment, he shrugged, and reached his hand into the space between them. “Come on, I’ll take you to work.”
As she interlaced her fingers into his, his gaze dropped to the belly between them. “Pretty soon you’ll be able to feel the baby kick,” she offered.
His face lit up. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “That’s definitely an allowable exception to the no-touching rule.”
“I can’t wait.”
When they got to the front door and she had to let go of his hand to lock up, she realized that was a rule she’d have trouble enforcing on every level.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Liam dropped Evie off at the studio, then parked his SUV two blocks down the main drag and stepped into the real estate office he’d first visited at the beginning of the summer. It was time to put down some roots. Thirty minutes later, Willa Stephens was letting him into a large brick house that had been converted into multiple dwellings—more than once.
“Right now, it’s a duplex, but in a previous incarnation, it was four small apartments, and it wouldn’t take much work to restore it to that, if you wanted to maximize profit.” The realtor paused in the foyer and gestured at first the door on the right, then the left. “There are only tenants in one unit. We didn’t give them enough notice, but this side is vacant. And if you like what you see, we can come back tomorrow to check out the other side.”
Liam had helped his friends move in and out of enough rental units not to be shocked by the state of the empty unit. An abandoned couch, a bag of cat food and more than a few dust bunnies. It could be much worse. From the front room, a narrow hallway wound past a bedroom to a small back kitchen. The cabinets and plumbing were in good shape. The windows were not, but if he squinted, he could see the potential.
“Back here is the internal staircase to the second floor.” Willa nodded to a hidden nook that would be easy enough to drywall over.
“And if we split upstairs into its own unit, where would their entrance be?”
“There’s a deck out back, off the parking lot.”
He followed her to the backyard, which had been covered in gravel to provide parking for four cars. A solid looking deck soared above them. “Can we go in this way?”
“One way to find out.” She jogged to the door and tried the key, which worked.
Inside, he was in what had probably been a bedroom, but was big enough to be retrofitted as a kitchen. Or re-retrofitted, he supposed, peering closely at the wall. A dry wall patch at sink height made him think that the plumbing might already be in the right spots, and in the corner was an electrical socket appropriate for a stove. Yes, this place had potential.
“There are two other rooms like this, and a bathroom, on this level.”
He barely heard Willa’s rehearsed patter as he turned slowly in the spac
e. “Okay. Let the tenants know I want to see the other side tomorrow.”
The last few years, Evie had had mixed feelings about September and the return to school. She’d really enjoyed having summers with the boys. But between an increased schedule at the studio and the craptastic feelings of a secret first trimester, there had barely been enough trips to the beach to justify the whining about being bored. Having to get everyone up and out of the house early was a small price to pay for five kid-free days in a row. Bring on autumn.
Ha, enjoy it while you can.
So she would. Between her lunchtime class and her only private client for the afternoon, she had time to grab a tea, so off she ran to Bun. Where Carrie made no attempt to hide a double take at the visibility of her belly.
“I know, eh?” Evie rubbed the ever-growing home for her little bean. “I swear, it’s doubled in size over the course of the day.”
“Holy crap, Evie. There’s no hiding that thing.”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t really that big, but given that only a handful of people knew she was pregnant before this morning, the news was sure to spread like wildfire. “I got a few lingering looks in my ten-thirty class. By the end of my one o’clock class, people were just saying congratulations.”
“Not the nightmare you expected?”
“I haven’t seen Dale yet.”
Carrie didn’t bother to suppress a snort. “Who cares what he says?”
“He’s the father of my children.” Evie looked down. “Well, some of them, anyway.” She sank onto one of the stools with a groan. “Shit, I really hate that.”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“It’s still not how I saw my life working out.”
Carrie knew better than to argue, which Evie appreciated, so she changed the subject. “How’s everything going with Liam?”
“Good, actually.” Evie smiled. “He stopped by this morning to ask me if I minded finding out the gender at the ultrasound, if we can. He’s…very considerate.”
Her friend nodded. “Do you want your tea to stay, or do you need to get back?”
