Be with Me (Return to Haven 2)

Jade snorted. “White and off-white don’t count as paint colors.”

“You two act like siblings. Can we call a truce?” Livie asked. “Good grief. You’re both irritating when we’re all together.”

“Speaking of being all together, where’s Tanner?” Cash asked around a mouthful of chips.

“No idea.” Jax ran his hand up and down Livie’s denim-clad thigh. “He said he’d be by, but then I haven’t heard from him.”

Well, at least he wasn’t just not communicating with her and dodging her because of the baby. Clearly he’d had more important things to do tonight. Melanie still wondered what was so important that he would just disappear. This was not the first time he’d missed a gathering without saying a word.

Jax and Cash seemed to imply this was just normal behavior. How reliable could Tanner be if he said one thing and did another? He worked for the force during the day. Did he have a second job he was ashamed about? Something took him away in the evenings, but he wasn’t readily opening up about it.

“He works too hard,” Cash growled. “He’s been looking into something at the gym for me on top of his regular shift, and whatever the hell he does in the evenings that he refuses to clue us in on.”

“You can’t say bad words,” Piper chanted. “Livie smacks dad’s hand when he says those words in front of me.”

“Well, Livie won’t smack me,” Cash retorted. “I’m bigger than her.”

The marshmallow at the end of Piper’s stick caught fire and she pulled it back, but Cash leaped out of his chair and took the stick from her, blowing out the flame.

He shook his head and extended the crispy treat. “Your dessert is done.”

With a laugh, Melanie tapped the charred, gooey mess with the pad of her finger to test the temperature.

“I’m sorry.” Piper frowned and glanced down at her feet. “I just wanted to get it closer to the fire to get it black for you.”

“I promise, it’s perfect,” Melanie assured her as she took a bite. “See? My favorite, and crispy just like you promised.”

Piper clapped her hands. “Do you want another?”

Melanie laughed and tried to lick the sticky mess from her fingers. “I’m good, but thank you.”

“Hey, baby, I think it’s time we take you in to get ready for b

ed.”

Livie stood up and reached her hand out to Piper.

“But Uncle Cash just got here and I haven’t seen Uncle Tanner yet,” Piper protested.

Even though the guys were all cousins and best friends, Piper called them uncle. Melanie’s heart clenched. What would her baby call Cash and Jax? The guys had no idea about the pregnancy, and Melanie didn’t know if she should let Tanner tell them or if she should make an announcement. Or should they do it together?

As far as she knew, Tanner hadn’t said anything about their night together, so when the announcement came about the baby and the two of them . . . Melanie didn’t even want to know the reaction that would come from so many different personalities.

Melanie was just anxious to get to her appointment and make sure everything looked as it should. She’d researched online to see what to expect during the first visit. The baby’s heartbeat was definitely something she wanted to hear. She hoped for an ultrasound, but apparently those weren’t done this early unless there were complications or a question on when the baby was conceived.

Yeah, no question here. One night, with a condom, and boom. Granted, she’d gone off her birth control after her divorce. She’d not planned on getting involved with someone else and she didn’t like putting pills in her body when it wasn’t necessary. Then time moved on and she hadn’t given it another thought. When Tanner had mentioned a condom, she made the naïve assumption all would be fine.

“I should get home, too.” Melanie came to her feet and pushed her hair behind her ears. “I’m pretty tired.”

“Are you alright?” Livie asked, her brows drawn in.

Melanie didn’t want to give Cash or Jax any reason to question her leaving. “I’m fine. Just sleepy. I was up late last night reading over the next week of blog posts. Then I couldn’t sleep, so I started searching . . . um, recipes.”

Actually, she’d been looking at baby names. She couldn’t help it. Even though this entire situation was a complete and total shock, the more she got used to the idea, the more excited she became.

The simple search for baby names rolled into nursery styles, then that turned into researching the best furniture by reviews and price. The time suck of the internet had kept her up most of the night.

Just because she was having her family in a different way than she’d always envisioned, didn’t mean she couldn’t have just as much fun planning. She seriously needed to catch up on the sleep, though. She’d had no idea how tiring pregnancy could be. The baby was only the size of a pea at this point, according to her newly downloaded app. How could something so tiny cause so many changes to her body?