More than Friends

Feeling guilty, I turn my head to the side and bite my lip. “Yes.”

“When did you find out?” He clamps his hands on my shoulders. “Please don’t lie to me again.”

“I knew when I went for the gluten allergy results.”

He takes a step back from me, and his mouth opens wide. “You cried in my arms and lied to my face? Do you even have a gluten allergy?”

“No, I never had one. I kept getting sick because I was pregnant with Noah.”

“You could have told me that day, and you chose to wait until now?” Dean walks away from me and toward the bedroom.

“I already said I was sorry, Dean. What do you want me to do? There’s nothing I can say or do to make this better.”

“You’re right. No apology in the world can make up for all the secrets you kept from me. You lied right to my fucking face, Kat. You had an entire week over the summer with me. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was scared,” I manage to choke out. “I didn’t want to worry you until I knew for sure I was having the baby.”

He narrows his eyes at me, giving me a look of disgust. “You were thinking of giving up our son without telling me?”

“No, of course not.” As the tears stream down my face, I wipe them away with my hand. “I wanted to make sure he was healthy and that nothing would happen to him before I told you. I thought I should be sure before I said anything to anyone.”

“Still, you could have told me. There’s no reason for lying to me.”

“Technically, I never lied about being pregnant.”

“No, you lied about your fake gluten

allergy. That’s so much better,” Dean deadpans, rolling his eyes at me. “We never had any secrets before. I tried to tell you before we hooked up that it would ruin our friendship, and you still wanted to go through with it.”

“What are you saying? That you regret being with me.”

He sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe. We should have stayed friends.”

I touch his arm. “We are friends, Dean.”

“No, we’re not. Our situation is too complicated to go back to being friends.”

“So, where does that leave us?”

He shrugs. “We’re the parents of a baby boy.”

“What about us?”

“I can’t even trust you, Kat.”

“Yes, you can. I am still the same person.”

“The old Kat would never lie to me. You told me everything. We had no secrets. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“Things will get better for us after I move in with you,” I say, hopeful.

“Maybe. We’ll see how it goes. My priority is Noah and your health.”

“Mine, too.”

“At least we’re on the same page.” He grabs a pillow from the bed and walks past me. “You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Are you going to sleep in a towel?”