“Just you?”
“Our parents passed around ten years ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Not your fault, but thank you. Tell me what else you do for the holiday.”
She seems to sense that I don’t want to talk more about the subject of my parents and quickly continues. “Since it’s Christmas Eve, we get to open one gift with our matching pajamas because we’re that kind of family. My mom buys them for us every year. Overnight, Santa will come and drop the gifts for the kids,” she says and I interrupt with a teasing, “like you,” and she aptly replies, “obviously, because I’m the youngest and there’s no grandbabies yet,” before continuing with her story. “My dad will demand that we watch A Wonderful Life.”
“My sister makes me watch White Christmas every year.”
“Oh no.”
“Right. It’s brutal.”
“Brutal?” She laughs. “Oof. That’s harsh. That’s the one that they sing about sisters and on a train. ”
“It’s the truth,” I counter. “In fact, your examples just now only prove my point.”
In the background, I hear someone calling her name. Her mother, maybe. “Just a second!” Ashley calls out, the sound muffled slightly. With a heavy sigh, she tells me, “I’m being summoned to help decorate a gingerbread house.”
“Fun.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” she grumbles.
“Ashley?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for calling me. It was good to hear your voice.”
“It was good to hear yours, too.”
“Call me when you’re back in town? And let me know about the doctors’ appointments. I want to get them on my schedule. Maybe we can meet for dinner, too.”
“Absolutely.”
After hanging up, I shove my phone in my jeans pocket and stay outside for a few more minutes, enjoying the silence and solitude. I’ve never been one for crowds or in the middle of a lot of activity. My comfort zone is being by myself or a few select people. Luckily, two of those people are sitting inside the house right now, waiting for me to come inside and share whatever I’ve learned from my phone call.
Problem is, the only thing I’ve really learned is that I have the potential of becoming a jealous asshole when it comes to Ashley. I best get a handle on that quick.
Chapter Nine
Ashley
There’s no way I’m going to survive this appointment without throwing up all over the doctor. Or maybe Nik. Or the nurse. Maybe just myself. I have no idea why I’m so nervous, though.
I’m sitting in my car staring out the windshield when I see Nik climb out of a very large dark gray truck and I immediately know why I’m so nervous.
Because I’m about to go into my first obstetrician appointment with Nik by my side and everyone is going to ask questions, then they’ll take one look at this gorgeous man and wonder what he was thinking.
He wasn’t.
He was drunk off his ass.
We spent just two nights together — really, really good nights — and now he’s stuck with me for life. Having a baby with someone doesn’t last only the nine months until the baby is born. We’ll be making decisions together for the next two decades regarding the baby.
Nik walks in my direction with this swagger and smirk that is usually reserved for models and A-list actors. His jeans could not fit him more perfectly. I remember staring at his thighs and tight, round ass — the ass that has a teddy bear holding a heart tattooed on it — and wondering if he ever, even once, missed leg day. Not likely. Though, based on my memory of him, which is extensive, I don’t think he’s ever missed ab day or arm day or back or shoulder day or any other day that people in far better shape than me participate in.
He lifts a hand in a wave, his dark eyes aimed right at me. I blow out a stuttering breath. He’s so attractive it’s intimidating.
I tell myself, “He’s just a man, Ashley. That’s all. Nothing more than a man. A beautiful, strong, handsome, kind man who’s seen you naked and been inside you and let’s not forget that he got you pregnant one of those times he was inside you.”
Great pep talk, Ashley. Not creepy or weird at all.
I dip my head so he can’t see my face, roll my eyes at myself and grab my bag from the passenger seat. He opens the door and slides inside, sitting where I just pulled my bag from.
“What are you doing?”
“Saw you sitting here worried. Figured you needed a few extra minutes before going in and hearing from the doctor what we already know. But, Josie said we won’t hear the heartbeat quite yet because it’s too soon. Unless they do an ultrasound that gets shoved up… well, it sounds really uncomfortable. So I’m leaving that decision to you.”
“Did Josie have that done?”
“Don’t ask a lot of questions when it comes to my sister’s vagina so I can’t say for sure yes or no.”
A giggle bursts out of me and I relax just a little. Nik turns in his seat, his body taking up every inch of space in the passenger seat of my car. I never thought I had a small vehicle until he came along. Now it looks like a matchbox car.
“Little small for you?”
He grumbles. “This fucking car is tiny. It can’t be safe.”
“It’s a fine automobile,” I tell him, narrowing my eyes.
He grins. “I believe you.”
“I’m not buying a new car.”
He looks in the back seat and to me. The car is very tiny. “Right.” Something tells me I’m going to buy a new car, but it’s not because of him. His not so subtle reminder that I’ll need something slightly larger to accommodate a car seat wasn’t needed. I already knew this. “Okay, are you ready to go in?”
“No.”
He sits back, knees up against the dash, and turns his head toward me. “It’s going to be okay, Ashley. I promise. I’ll be there every single step of the way and we’ll get through it together.”
When Nik grabs my hand and squeezes once, something inside me chips away and I lower a few of the defenses I had built up around my heart. Becoming vulnerable to another person is risky and I admit, at least to myself, that it’s one of the reasons I’ve not had successful relationships in the past. “You promise? Because I’ve gotta be honest here. I’m scared out of my mind to do this.”
“To do what specifically?”
“Become a mom. Make decisions that affect another person’s life.”
“And where do I fit into this equation? Do I factor into any of this fear?”
I blow out a breath and fiddle with my purse’s shoulder strap. “You don’t scare me,” I admit, “but not knowing you does.”
“We’ll fix that, though. Remember when you called to tell me the appointment time, I told you I would clear the rest of the day to spend with you. I did that and I’m planning on it. We can go wherever it is you feel most comfortable and I don’t care if you ask me questions all day long, just as long as at the end of the day you realize that I’m not going to bail on you.”
“We need to meet each other’s families, too,” I add. It’s not at the top of our list of things to do, but does need to happen. We live close to them and they’re a big part of our lives separately, they will be a major part of this baby’s life, too.
He nods once. “Whenever you’re ready for that, too.”
“You’re being too perfect,” I grumble.
“Want me to act like an asshole?” he jokes. “I’m not always perfect, Ashley. Far from it, actually. I have my moments like everyone else. But when it comes to this baby and what you need from me? I’m there for you and that won’t change.”
I can’t imagine Zachary would have been the same if I had gotten pregnant by him. He would have said I was trapping him and blamed me. He wouldn’t have cleared his schedule to spend the day with me just to answer any questions I have for him. Keeping my heart intact and not falling for Nik will be hard to do if he doesn’t lessen the perfection he’s sporting.
Would it be so hard for him to be a jerk for a minute or two? At the very least, he could have an acne flare-up so when he’s being perfect he isn’t so damn attractive.
“Let’s go inside. Sitting here isn’t helping to calm my nerves.”
“It’ll be…”
“Fine,” I interrupt. “I know. I know.”
When we’re walking toward the clinic, I reach over and grab Nik’s hand. It feels like a bold move, and maybe one that’s going to backfire, but I need stability and a little bit of comfort right now. Luckily, he doesn’t flinch or seem to mind. He simply folds my small hand into his, pulling me closer.
Then in a bold move of his own, he tugs on my arm, leans down, and kisses the top of my head.
“We’ve got this. No more worries, okay?”
I nod, swallow hard, and look up at him.
Well. The baby will be pretty, that’s for sure.
“Five more weeks and we can hear the baby’s heartbeat? Why so long?” he pouts as we sit down for an early lunch at the diner. “It’s the twenty-first century. You’d really think they’d be able to stick that Doppler thing to your stomach and they’d hear the heartbeat without having to shove that thing up your vagina.”
Shrugging out of my coat, I grin at Nik’s grumpiness as I hang my coat on the back of my chair. I’m incredibly proud of myself that I didn’t even flinch at the word vagina. It’s not that the term bothers me, but I’m shy in public. “You’re the one who said it was up to me.”
“I didn’t realize that you would remember that when we were in the room, though.”
I snort. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?”
He folds his arms, placing his elbows on the table and leans over. “Just had hopes you’d come to your senses,” he teases.
“I’m all about the buildup. Patience is a virtue, right?”
“It’s going to kill me. And in case you’re wondering, that means that I’m also all about finding out the sex of the baby as soon as they say we can. We’ve had enough surprises for a while, I think.”
“Definitely,” I agree. I was hoping for the same thing anyway, so much like buying a new car, this is also something I’m on board with. That has to be a good sign, that the two of us agree on fairly big decisions.
The waitress stops at our table, handing us each a menu and placing silverware on the table. “Hi there. Did you have a chance to see our specials on the board when you walked in?”
“Yup. Chicken pot pie and French silk pie?”
“We also have a winter salad. It has cranberries, grilled chicken, shredded Swiss cheese, and chopped walnuts over mixed greens. The dressing it’s served with is a poppyseed dressing but you can order whatever you’d like. Can I get you two something to drink?”
Nik gestures for me to go first. “I’ll have a lemonade, please.”
“Iced tea for me, wedge of lemon if you have it.”
“You got it. I’ll give you a few minutes to look over the menus and be back with your drinks.”
“Thanks,” we say at the same time.
I open my menu but Nik’s stays closed.
“You’re not hungry?”
“Oh, I’m starving. Like usual.” He smirks. “But, I know the menu by heart. I’ve been eating here since I was learning to walk.”
“Wait. So you grew up here?”
“Born and raised,” he says, nodding.
“Wow. Never wanted to move?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Not really. I mean, when I was in high school I had a few years where I thought it was boring as fuck here and didn’t want anything to do with it anymore. But my parents suddenly passed away and this crazy town stepped up in a big way. My parents knew everyone, it seemed, and they took us under their wing. I was married, I’m not sure that I told you that I’m a divorcee or not, but I’ll share more about that later. And by the look on your face right now, it’s glaringly obvious that’s news to you.”
Our waitress sets down our drinks in front of us and Nik orders the pulled pork sandwich with a side of fries and macaroni and cheese. As he’s ordering, my stomach grumbles and even though it sounds like I’ll be in a coma from the carbs, I can’t resist ordering the same. But with extra pickles on the side.
Once our waitress is gone, I launch in. “Married? You don’t have other kids, do you? I mean, it’s okay if you do, obviously, but you haven’t mentioned anything about kids and I would hope that you would have. How long were you married? Why did you get divorced?”
His eyes are wide and he chokes back a laugh. “Anyway, I was married at the time, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.”
“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. That was a lot of questions all at once, right?”
“It’s okay. I’ll answer all of them rapid fire just like you asked them. Yes, I was married. No children. We were high school best friends turned sweethearts turned we felt like marriage was the logical next step. Turns out that wasn’t the best next step for us to take. We were friends who loved each other but not friends who were in love with each other. Married at twenty-two years old for three years. Divorce was a mutual decision. There’s no hard feelings between us. We talk, but not regularly. She’s remarried to a great guy who had two children from a previous marriage.”
I blink. Once, twice. “Well, okay then.”
He laughs lightly, shaking his head. “You’re welcome to ask me more questions, but that’s the basics.”
“And your parents?”
“Killed by a drunk driver when I was twenty-four.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yup. That’s the gist of it. It sucked. Still does. Especially now with Josie about to have a baby and with us having one, too. Not that they would have loved the idea of us not being together and having a baby, but they would have loved grandchildren and spoiling them. Sucks that they will miss everything.”
“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine. And how much younger is Josie than you?”
“Five years. She was a freshman in college when we got the call. I was working for an electrician at the time. I have my own company now, not sure you knew that either. She moved in with me a few months after my divorce because she realized that college was far from her thing. Josie worked three part-time jobs at once until one of them stuck. Grocery store clerk, which she loved because she could talk to people all day long and she has too much energy to sit much. She was also a waitress.” He lifts a hand and twirls a finger. “Here, actually, which is where she met her now husband, Dean, so obviously she loved this job, too. And a bookkeeper slash accountant for the electrician I was working for at the time. That’s where she landed. She does my books now, she realized she actually loves math.”
“So she’s also insane.”
He doesn’t hesitate in his agreement. “Yes. Completely. Now she’s pregnant, ready to give birth any day now. She can’t wait to meet you. Dean, too. He’s a great guy. His dad was a dud and his mom worked herself to the bone. Dean helped raise his younger siblings.”
“Wow.” This is a lot of information to digest.
Our waitress brings our meals and Nik drinks down most of his iced tea, asking for a refill. I’m sure he is thirsty. He just talked non-stop for fifteen minutes, catching me up on his life story. After she’s gone, I unroll my silverware, place my napkin on my lap, use my knife to cut my sandwich in half then…
“I was not expecting that information dump. I’m a little dizzy from it, I think.”
He chuckles, digging into the macaroni and cheese first. “You think?”
I give him an eye roll and pop a fry into my mouth.
“Dip it into the ranch,” he suggests, pushing his bowl of ranch dressing in the middle of the table.
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“Trust me. Is that a reason?”
I do as instructed and groan. “Holy shit.”
“Told you.”
I give him a look tha
t goes right over his head because, well, I’m suddenly ravenous and I’m shoveling food into my mouth at the speed of sound. I’m like a high school wrestler who’s just made weight and he’s been told he can eat again.
“Good, right?”
“Oh my word, yes. Where has this combo been my whole life?”
“On top of the rock you were living under,” he quips.
I snort and then we fall into a comfortable silence while we eat our delicious meal. I’m sure I’ll be regretting it later, but I practically lick my plate clean.
Once we’re finished, I lean against the back of my chair. “I’m so full.”
“Me, too. But I just have a food baby in there. You have a baby, too. Dang, I still can’t believe that. It feels weird to even say it out loud, you know?”
“Oh, trust me, I know. So what’s your plan for the rest of the day?”
“You tell me. I’m all yours, remember?”
“I had some pretty big plans of heading home for a nap since it’s my day off and I just ate more food than I normally do at Thanksgiving.”
The waitress comes by to take away our empty plates and drops off our ticket which Nik grabs immediately.
“You don’t have to do that,” I protest.
“Shut up,” he says playfully.
After paying and a quick stop at the restroom for me, I join him outside by his truck which we rode in together after my appointment.
He opens the door for me and waits until I’m settled before closing the door and joining me in the cab. “Want to go for a walk?”
“It’s freezing out.”
“So? We’ve got coats. I have extra gloves in here,” he lifts the lid in the console that separates us, pulling out two pair of gloves, “and a couple stocking hats. Let’s go for a walk. Get some fresh air.”
“Really?” I don’t think I’ve ever gone for a walk with a guy before. It seems so… relationship-y. Domestic.
Together: A Surprise Pregnancy Romance Page 9
