“Kids? You’re a little young to be thinking about that aren’t you? You need to see the world, spread your wings a little. A place like this is only fit for old people like your uncle Cade here.”
What the fuck! I glared at the old crone who just ignored me.
“Nah that’s not for me. I’ve always just wanted to be a wife and mom. Ever since I was a little girl I never really had any interest in anything else.”
Although her words were said to Betty I knew they were aimed at me. There was something in them I was sure, a message that I just wasn’t getting.
I stared at her but she kept her eyes on Betty who finally turned and walked away. I guess her nosy ass had got what she’d been after.
22
All through dinner I kept playing her words through my head trying to figure out what it was that I was missing, but by the time we were ready to leave I still hadn’t come up with an answer.
I drove with her head on my shoulder and she was curiously quiet. A quick look showed that she was asleep. I guess she’d tired herself out being a pain in my ass.
She didn’t wake up when we reached home so I carried her in and put her to bed. She must’ve been really beat because she didn’t wake up, not even when I undressed her and pulled the covers up over her.
I stayed there with her, watching over her, imagining a time when she was no longer here. Trying to imagine what that would feel like.
She’d been here for a little over six weeks and already I couldn’t imagine her not being here. I couldn’t envision what my days would be like without her here to pester me.
The damn girl had torn the place apart looking for the keys to the ATV. Now that I suspect that she’s carrying my child the thought of her finding them scares me half to death.
My child! Funnily enough the thought doesn’t scare me as much as it once did. She’s the first woman in a very long time that I’d taken to bed without protection.
Maybe subconsciously I’d wanted this to happen, I don’t know. I can’t say that I was thinking along these lines the first time I took her to bed. But how did we get from there to here?
How did we go from her teasing to me wanting to see her face next to mine for the rest of my life? How had she achieved what so many had failed to do?
Was it because we were alone here so much; was that it? Just a matter of proximity? Somehow when I look at her face I don’t think so.
When I think that my child might indeed be growing inside her, I don’t feel panic, or stifled the way I did the one and only time someone had tried to trap me with the lie of pregnancy.
I feel hope, excited, like a new chapter of my life was beginning. I placed my hand over her flat stomach and my heart jumped in my chest.
Right now a part of me could be growing inside her. Was it a little boy or a girl like her mother? Heaven help my ass if it is.
I left my hand there while she slept, letting my mind drift to what could be, and what I needed to do to make it so.
I got so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even realize that she was awake. I felt the warmth of her hand cover mine and looked at her face to find her staring at me.
She smiled, I leaned in for a kiss and she pushed me back and bolted. I held her hair back again as she threw up her lunch.
“Enough of this shit.” I cleaned her up and put her back to bed. “Stay there, I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the damn pharmacy where else?”
“Oh good, bring me back some peach ice cream.” Little twit. I could swear I heard her laughing on my way out the door. She’s one strange female but I shouldn’t be surprised. They’re all bent in some way or the other.
It took half an hour to get there and back. She was sitting in the living room in front of the TV when I got back.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay in bed? Were you sick again after I left?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t as bad that time. Did you get my ice cream?”
“Do this first.” I dropped the pregnancy test next to her on the couch and she looked at it and looked away. “What do I need that for?”
“Sydney, don’t be a pain in my ass. Go pee on the stick and put me out of my misery.” Could she be normal for one damn second?