"Okay, clumsy wording," he acknowledged immediately. Then, sighing, he said, "Can you just meet me in Little Italy at noon on Thursday please?"
Aaron would be working at noon, so she could probably get away with it…
"I suppose," she finally muttered. She had to fight the instinct to tell him he better not mention it to Aaron—she still wasn't quite sure what the limits of their rivalry might be, and she thought perhaps letting him know that she wanted it to be kept a secret from Aaron could possibly backfire and result in him telling Aaron just to be an asshole and stir up trouble.
Not the wisest action for a married man, but she didn't know if he would think of that.
While Julie tried to imagine what about "her future" Matt could want to talk to her about, she found herself thinking a little guiltily that she shouldn't be meeting Matt in secret. It wasn't like she really owed Aaron an explanation or an account of where she went and who she was with, but knowing that it was a secret made her feel very uncomfortable about it.
When you were trying to keep something a secret from someone, it seemed like they always found out.
Shrugging it off, she decided not to worry about it until closer to Thursday.
---
Over the course of the week the bleeding turned to spotting, and by Thursday morning it seemed to have stopped completely. Although she wasn't keen on the idea of letting a man know about her bodily functions, Aaron would ask her daily if "it" had stopped yet, so she made sure that she alerted him that "it" had stopped as soon as she knew.
He was relieved.
Unfortunately, as soon as the spotting went away, the morning sickness actually kicked it up a notch. Eating—previously something the baby demanded quite a lot—became a lot less appealing.
She couldn't win for losing.
But morning sickness she could handle—that was an accepted part of pregnancy. Bleeding and spotting were not things that she—or apparently Aaron—could handle.
He didn't care if she had to throw up three times a shift, as long as the baby seemed to be okay and she was sure to drink plenty of water to replenish afterward so she didn't end up dehydrated.
One thing she was learning she could always depend on Aaron for was his extreme unpredictability. While initially she had been concerned that Aaron would be bothered by all the baby stuff—since it was Matt's, since Shannon had been pregnant by Matt, and since Aaron couldn't have children himself—he sure was surprising her.
On Thursday at a little after eleven o'clock, Aaron chose the untimely moment to pop in at the apartment unexpectedly.
Of course at that time, Julie was in the middle of getting dressed so she could go meet Matt in Little Italy.
"You here?" he called out.
Her eyes widened as she her hands froze on the clip in her hair, and she feebly called back, "Yeah."
Pausing outside the door, he asked, "Are you decent?"
"Nope, butt naked," she responded, eyeing her reflection in the mirror for any sign of wrong-doing. When she found none, she finished twisting her hair up and fastening the clip, then she mussed the loose hair hanging over and turned toward the door as she heard his hand turn on the knob.
"Liar," Aaron accused, then he opened the door.
Mock gasping, she covered her chest—which, of course, was covered by clothes— and shot him a disapproving look. "How rude."
Rolling his eyes, he ignored her theatrics. "I brought your crackers."
Sighing in relief, she remembered that she had been complaining she was out of saltine crackers, and he told her he would pick some up if he made it to the store. "You are amazing," she stated, taking the crackers from him. "These are the only thing that Poppy Seed doesn't force out of me."
"You know, when the baby comes out weighing several pounds, Poppy Seed isn't really going to fit anymore," he pointed out.
"I know," she said sadly. "Actually, I looked it up this morning, and apparently the baby is about the size of a blueberry this week."
"Baby Blueberry," he said with a smile. "Makes me think of Willy Wonka."
Grinning, she said, "When the brat becomes a blueberry. That's a good part."
He nodded, but then he glanced down at his bag and reached inside. "I picked up something else, too."