“I don’t have an issue with it.” Normally, never.
“Then why do you keep trying to make an issue of it between us?”
He wished he knew. Shook his head. “This situation is a first for me, I’ll give you that,” he told her. All that mattered was them getting through this together. Making sure that the baby she was carrying made it into the world in good health, or got healthy as soon as possible if it didn’t. And yet...for the first time in his life, he wanted to be more than he was. And he had no idea why.
Pushing her nearly empty salad bowl aside, she put her forearms on the table, leaning toward him a bit. “You could always take the GED,” she told him.
“Done,” he said, adding, “I wasn’t going to be able to advance without a diploma equivalency.” But other than the requisite contractor licensing he’d needed to obtain to do his job, he’d never sought out any other education. Although he had time. Plenty of it.
And financial means now, too. He just wasn’t interested in being a thirty-six-year-old college student now. Or a thirty-year-old one, either, several years ago. Peter had completely understood. Elaina didn’t really seem to. She didn’t push him, but the comments she sometimes made, the questions she asked...
Their waitress had just slipped the bill onto the table as she passed; the staff was hovering to turn their table.
Cassie reached for the bill. He took ownership of it before she could touch it. He’d issued the lunch invitation and was already pulling out his credit card. But he wasn’t ready to pay yet.
“Do you know the sex of the baby?” He’d meant to segue into the question a bit better. Justifying a reason why he’d need to know. Had kind of hoped she might give him some indication without him having to ask.
She shook her head. “A lot of times they can tell with the first ultrasound, but he or she wasn’t cooperating,” she said, sitting back. For the first time he saw her reach for her stomach. Put her hand there. And hoped she was feeling okay.
Not sure what to do about it if she wasn’t.
“The amnio w
ill tell us that, for sure,” she said.
“So that’s something to look forward to from the test results.”
She smiled at him. Nodded. And, because of that hand on her stomach, he somehow had to ask, “Have you had much morning sickness?”
“Nope.” Another smile. “Until now, this whole experience has been a breeze.”
He mentioned a movie he’d seen where the heroine was going through a first-time pregnancy and had everything go wrong, in terms of preparation, but with a picture perfect pregnancy and healthy baby. It was a comedy. She’d seen it, too. Somehow a half hour passed as they discussed TV shows, moving on to crime procedurals. Wood enjoyed hearing her take on those that involved lawyers. Hearing her talk about white-collar crime from a technical perspective was better than any movie, as far as he was concerned.
The conversation led into a discussion of their work hours. She asked about his current project. He told her a bit. Nothing specific. Not a whole lot of interesting conversation about hammering boards together. Or overseeing others doing so. He liked the work, though. Liked the math involved. Like solving puzzles every single day. She smiled when he mentioned that, asked if he ever played games on his phone. Pulled hers out to show him a couple of her favorites. One of which he had on his phone, as well.
They had to go. He knew it. But wasn’t satisfied. She was strong and beautiful and...pregnant with his child and bearing worry about that all alone. He wanted to do more for her.
“Listen, if you ever have anything you need done at your house...I’m happy to help,” he said. He’d done all that needed doing at his place. Or all that he had any interest in doing. “You want a light moved, or a ceiling fan put in...maybe some help putting together baby furniture... My tools travel...”
“I might take you up on that.” She was smiling again, her tone easy and relaxed, and he was glad.
And then his phone rang. Elaina. Cassie must have seen her picture come up on his caller ID. She glanced at his phone and immediately looked away, the smile fading from her face.
“Excuse me, I have to take this,” he said. They always took each other’s calls or called back as soon as possible.
As Elaina let him know that she was off earlier than planned and would stop at the big box store for the toilet paper and other household items they needed, Wood watched Cassie pull her bag onto her lap, getting her keys out.
“Are you at home?” Elaina’s question took him by surprise. They didn’t generally check up on each other.
“No,” he said.
“I was just going to ask you to check the cupboard for body wash,” she said. “I think I took the last one.”
“You did.” He’d noticed it gone when he’d needed a new box of tissues. And was concerned that if he didn’t get off soon, Cassie would be gone before he did.
“Are you gone for the day?”
A fair question. Any other day he’d have thought nothing of it.