His lips curved in a smile and he looked more relaxed while awake than she’d seen him in months. “Yeah, you are awesome that way, but you are still going to lose.”
Nope. He was wrong. Whether she toppled him in cards or not, she had won. Because he was kneeling down to sit on the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table and they were smiling at each other. That definitely made her feel like the winner.
She just wasn’t sure why she felt that way.
* * *
Chrissie’s time was up and she wouldn’t be coming back to stay with Savannah. Which was just as well. Savannah felt able to take care of herself, despite the way Charlie treated her as if she were a fragile invalid.
Yes, she still hobbled around and looked like someone had beat her with a stick, but she felt stronger each day.
Plus, it was Friday and her baby had gotten in another week without being born. Every day was so critical. Plus, with each passing day the odds of going into premature labor decreased.
“I brought Chinese,” Charlie announced, entering the apartment with a plastic bag full of food. “I hope that’s okay.”
“I told you in my text that Chinese was fine,” she reminded him. She’d be glad when he quit being so accommodating. Accommodating Charlie was too much like Pre-Leaving for Nashville Charlie, and it was too easy to forget they were no longer a couple.
“Yeah, but I thought you might have changed your mind.”
“About Chinese?” She frowned. “Never.”
“I’m glad your appetite is back. I wasn’t the only one who’d lost weight.”
“I hadn’t lost weight. It was just distributed a little differently.”
“Even naked I didn’t immediately realize,” he mused.
She gave him a duh look. “That’s because you were naked and distracted.”
“True, but I can’t believe I didn’t straight away notice.”
“I was only three months pregnant, barely showing, and even I forgot I was pregnant,” she admitted, a bit stunned that she was doing so. “I’d never have kissed you or let you take me to the bedroom if I’d been thinking clearly.”
His expression tightened and she realized what she’d said and went to clarify.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want you, Charlie. I did.” She still did, but she’d keep that to herself. “I just wouldn’t have chosen for you to find out I was pregnant that way.”
His expression remained terse. “Sometimes I wonder if you wanted me to find out at all.”
She understood why he felt that way. She’d known two months without telling him. Two months when she’d agonized back and forth and came to the same conclusion. How could she tell him prior to his move without him thinking that she was trying to force him to stay? So, right or wrong, she’d kept her news to herself. “I would have told you. Doing otherwise was never a real option. I just thought it best if I waited until you were settled in your new life.”
He leaned back against the sofa, closed his eyes, and seemed to take in what she was saying. “I’m sorry, Savannah.”
Her throat tightened. “For?”
He half shrugged. “Putting you in this situation.”
“Again—” she searched for the right words “—it’s not how I would have chosen and certainly wasn’t intentional, but I always wanted children. Our baby is a blessing. At least, that’s how I see it.”
The skin pulled tight over his cheekbones and if she didn’t know better she’d swear his eyes looked glassy.
“Not everyone thinks that way.”
His words stung deep. No, she imagined he didn’t think that way. This pregnancy was a major inconvenience to him.
She was a major inconvenience to him.
Which she hated. She just wanted to go home. If it weren’t for the baby, she would beg Chrissie to come get her.