When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

I check in and it isn’t long until they take me back to a room to take my blood and then hand me the glucose drink. Xander sits down in the extra chair beside me while I brace myself for the super sweet liquid.

It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be, but it’s still not pleasant. The orange liquid is slightly thick and flat tasting, like old Sunkist.

I manage to drink it down, making a face of disgust at the end.

Thankfully, the test only takes an hour and they take a few vials of blood throughout.

Afterward, we meet with my doctor and everything’s good, and I have no questions, so we’re free to leave.

Xander doesn’t bother asking me where I want to eat since I brought up pizza earlier. Instead, he heads straight to a local pizza place that wood fire grills their pizzas. My mouth is already watering at the thought of food.

We head inside and are seated quickly in a booth that overlooks the city streets. It’s a bleak day, overcast, with a misty rain.

“Thank you for painting the nursery today.”

He fights a grin, his lips twitching at the corners. “Even though you wanted to kill me for not letting you look?”

I glance down at the menu and shrug. “Yeah, even then, because soon we’re going to be holding our daughter in that room and it’ll mean more that you did all the work and not someone else.”

He inhales a soft gasp. “I keep forgetting that she’s going to be here soon.”

“Only about twelve more weeks or so.”

He rubs his jaw. “That’s the blink of an eye.”

It really is.

Once upon a time, three months felt like a lifetime, now it’s a minute.

I fear that once she’s born those minutes will turn into seconds.

I want to cherish every moment, because I know it’ll be gone all too soon.

Thea

I gasp.

“What?” Xander looks at me innocently.

“What did you do?” I shriek.

He stares at me like I’m a crazy person—like buddy, you married me, you know my ass is psycho.

“Uh … shaved?”

“Why?” I ask again, staring sadly at his bare face. “You look five.”

He snorts. “Thanks, babe.”

I wave my hand at his face. “Put it back. You look weird.”

“It doesn’t work like that, sorry.” He begins cleaning the sink.

“Maybe you should save those.” I point to the whiskers he’s throwing away. “Maybe you can glue them to your face.”

He tilts his head and sighs. “Thea, it’s facial hair, it’ll be back by tonight.”

I let out a dramatic sigh. “It better be. I love your scruff.” I frown, staring at his bare face. “But seriously, what possessed you to shave. You rarely have nothing.”