“Which is why he proposed,” I say, putting the pieces together. He bought her her dream home and then asked her to marry him. Can it get any more romantic than that? “When are you moving out?”
My mind is reeling. Our lease is up soon, and there’s no way I can afford this place on my own, so I’m going to have to start looking for a new place to live. Which would be fine, except we live in New York where shoebox-size apartments cost thousands, and anything bigger will damn near cost you your soul, and then there’s the fact that in a couple months, I’m going to start showing and I won’t be able to work at the club anymore…
“Soph, breathe,” Naomi says, “you’re starting to hyperventilate.”
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Kendall asks, her tone filled with worry.
“I’m okay,” I tell her, grabbing a chair and sitting.
“This is why I wanted to talk to you about this later,” Naomi says, glaring at Dante, who looks at me sheepishly. “I’m not moving out until after the holidays, and I’m going to pay my half of the rent and bills until the lease is up. We’ll figure it all out, I promise.”
I snap my head up at the sympathy in her words. She just bought a home and got engaged. She should be excited, not worrying about me.
“I’m fine,” I tell her, plastering a smile on my face—I seem to be doing that a lot lately. “I’m so happy for you. I was just in shock…”
“She was too,” Dante admits. “She didn’t know. If she had, she would’ve told you.”
“I know.” I nod robotically. “Seriously, I’m so happy for you guys,” I repeat, needing her to know I mean that.
“Maybe you and Kendall could move in with us,” Naomi suggests, like the best friend she is. This is exactly what I meant about wanting her to be able to move forward with her life. I knew if I chose to keep this baby, she would be all in, and if I asked her to, she would choose us over everything and anyone else. Because she has the biggest heart. But I can’t let her do that. She deserves everything that’s happening to her and I won’t let her put us above her own future and happiness.
“I appreciate that, but we knew this day would come.” My eyes meet hers. “I love you more than life itself, Naomi Stratton, and I’ve loved every moment we’ve spent living together, but it’s time for you to focus on you.”
Tears fill her eyes. “But, Soph…” Her eyes glance down at my still-flat belly, and I shake my head, not wanting to have this conversation now. Only Dante is observant and catches on quickly. When I took the days off after my hospital scare, I lied and said I had the flu.
“You’re…” His gaze descends.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I was planning to tell you soon. I’m going to have to put my notice in at the club.” And then I’ll be jobless. I’ve applied for a million different secretarial positions, hoping to snag one at a law office, to get my foot in the door, but I haven’t gotten any callbacks.
“Bullshit,” he says. “You’re not putting in your notice. We’ll figure this out.”
“Ohhh, Dante said a bad word,” Kendall says, breaking the tension in the room. “Now you have to do a chore.”
Dante chuckles, as Kendall leans in and whispers into my ear, loud enough that everyone can hear. “Make him clean my room.”
Naomi snorts out a laugh and Dante shakes his head. When Kendall is listening to music, sometimes they have bad words in them, so she likes to try to get away with saying them. Every time she says a bad word, I tell her she has to do a chore.
“Dante’s an adult, so he can curse,” I explain.
“Does that mean when I’m an adult, I get to curse too?” she asks, her eyes going wide in excitement.
Guess I walked right into that one…
“Yes, when you’re eighteen.”
She pouts. “That’s so far away. Like a hundred years,” she says, stepping back onto the stool to continue making the cookies, while we all laugh at her dramatics.
“I have to get to the club,” Dante says, kissing Naomi. Then he looks at me. “We’ll talk later.”
Once he’s gone, Naomi tries to talk to me about everything, but I shoo her away, just wanting to make cookies with Kendall. It’s bad enough I have to have a serious conversation with Easton later.
Speaking of Easton, my phone dings with a message. We hadn’t messaged since the night he contacted me, until two days ago, when he told me he would be arriving in town today and asked if I could meet him. I figured he would want a day to decompress, and mentioned as much, but he told me he’s fine and would like to meet. Naomi said he’s probably anxious to find out what I need to tell him. When she said he probably thinks I’m going to tell him I have an STD, I laughed and told her after I tell him the real news, he’ll wish that’s what my news was.