"I'm going to bed so you can go take this,” Anne said.
I stared down into her pretty gray eyes wanting to tell her that Dane could wait. She kissed me on the cheek and headed upstairs. How was I going to win this woman's heart?
"Thank you, Mr. Joseph." I headed to my office and picked up the phone. "Is something wrong, Dane?"
"No. Nothing’s wrong. I guess I'm calling late. I wanted to invite you over to our place this weekend. We frequently have pool parties for friends and family and people who work for me, as well as people I work with, which includes you."
His invitation shocked me. I knew that my demeanor didn't endear me to people although maybe that was changing. After all, Anne didn’t think I was quite so hideous anymore.
"You can bring a friend if you like. I wasn't sure if you are dating or not. We’ll have plenty of food and drink. I warn you there are children, many of them. But there's also a lot of friendship and a good time too."
"Thank you, Dane. I think I'd like that."
I wondered if Anne would come with me? Deep down I knew she wouldn’t. While Harper didn’t socialize with the same group Dane was a part of, there were people there who knew her. Anne would worry someone would see us together and tell Harper.
The idea that I was still a dirty little secret fucking hurt.
After the call, I decided to do some work since I was in my office and Anne was sleeping. As it neared midnight, I headed upstairs to go to bed.
Laying in my bed, I had a profound sense that something just wasn't right. The problem of course was that I was in my bed alone while I Anne was in hers alone.
Considering the way that we lived our lives during the day, and even parts of the evening when we were making love, it was odd that she wasn't here in my bed with me. Or at least it was odd to me.
Maybe she went to her own room on purpose.
And that thought once again had me wondering what Anne’s feelings were towards me. She didn't hate me anymore. In fact, I think maybe she liked me, but perhaps only in a friendly way.
When she touched me, I certainly felt more from her, but that was probably a projection of my own feelings onto her because she never gave any indication that she saw me as someone that she could love. She didn't see the way that we were living our lives under this roof was just like a family.
I hated the unknown. I hated it so much that I was the type of man that would do whatever he could to make the world bend my way. It was the trait that had driven Harper away.
But right now, I was doing exactly what Noel suggested I do, giving Anne space. But she wasn't coming any closer.
Every instinct inside of me said I had to do something proactive to make her understand what we could have together. All sorts of crazy ideas came into my head, including getting us trapped in the mountains in a snowstorm or stranded on a deserted island.
But I knew that the action I needed to take was to tell her that I loved her and that I wanted to keep her and the baby and my life. For some reason that prospect still scared the shit out of me.
I turned to my side, punched my pillow in frustration, and closed my eyes, willing sleep to come. On my bedside table, my phone vibrated. I reached over wondering who the hell would be contacting me after midnight.
I'm still pissed at you but I saw something today that made me think of you.
Harper. Holy shit, Harper was texting me.
Her text was followed by an image of a dog wearing a bow tie and looking a bit constipated. I let out a laugh knowing that she thought that the dog looked like me. I sent her a laughing my ass off emoji.
I'm happy to hear that you still think of me. I think of you often, Harper. I miss you.
I waited, and waited, and waited, but she didn't respond. I sighed, sitting my phone on the nightstand. I grabbed on to the fact that she had finally reached out even if just to poke at me.
That was a start, right?
As I waited for sleep to come, I got this crazy idea that perhaps I could have everything I wanted after all. Maybe Harper and I could reconcile and, she, Anne, the baby and me, we could be a family.
Of course, it was a crazy thought because Anne was too concerned about Harper finding out about the surrogacy and our current situation.
As unreasonable as I thought Harper could be, surely she cared about me and Anne enough to want our happiness. Certainly, she could see that our family would grow. It wouldn't just be me and her against the world as it had been the day our parents died.
I knew tomorrow that I would think my idea of a family utopia with Harper and Anne and our baby was idiocy, but tonight I wrapped myself in the idea like a comforting blanket, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.