I’m so shocked, I don’t think I could move if I wanted to.
“Rocky?” I whisper. “What are you doing here?” The necessary logistics hit me like a wave, and I panic. “How did you get here? Jesus.” She’s so close to her due date and I know she shouldn’t be flying and I’m just about to ask her all of those very things, but her sweet, quiet voice fills the space between us.
“Can I come inside?” she says simply. My head nods before she even finishes asking.
I walk her into the kitchen, and she takes it upon herself to sit down in one of the chairs at the table. I stay standing in front of her.
It’s worth noting, the formerly boisterous, uninvited party guests are quieter than church mice now.
“Okay…can I first start by saying how good it is to see you?” Her voice breaks at the end of the question, and my heart squeezes. “I wasn’t sure I would again, and…” She pauses as threatening tears choke off her voice temporarily. “I’m sorry,” she says, embarrassed, and then raises her shoulders in a shrug. “I missed you.”
I can’t take it anymore. I have to touch her. Swiftly, I pick her weight up off of the chair and pull her into my arms. She comes willingly, wrapping her arms around me so fiercely, I think she might be clinging to me harder than I’m clinging to her. We’re as close and tight as two people can be when there’s a pregnant belly between them.
And her whisper is quiet but unmistakable from our tight hug. “I love you, Harrison. I’m hormonal and tired and confused about a lot of things, but I know without a shadow of a doubt, you are the man I’m meant to be with.”
My chest expands like a balloon. Oh, thank fuck.
I hear a manly sniffle behind me, and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s coming from Thatch. But I have absolutely no interest in the other people in the room right now. The only thing that matters at this moment—the only thing that’s mattered from the moment we reconnected that night in August—is Rocky and me.
“I love you too, Rock. Probably always have. There’s never been anyone like you.”
I take her head in my hands and pull her back just enough to wipe away fallen tears with the sweep of my thumb. And then, I seal our lips in a kiss.
When we finally pull away, the peanut gallery is cheering and clapping so loud, I’m pretty sure my neighbors will be filing a complaint with the co-op board.
And I don’t care at all.
Keeping an arm around Rocky, I turn to face the group and find Cap’s eyes immediately. He’s smiling like a smug bastard, and the answers start to come together.
“You knew she was coming.”
He shrugs. And then winks.
“I can’t believe you flew here,” I say to her. “Why didn’t you just call? I would have gotten on a plane to you. It would have been so much safer.”
She looks from me to Cap and back again, and when I look over at the group, they’re all doing a real shit job of acting innocent again.
“All right, what’s going on?”
Rocky turns me around and sits me down in the chair she vacated, and immediately, I know what I’m about to hear isn’t going to be good.
I’m a pragmatic guy. Not prone to anger. And she knows that. Which means what she’s about to tell me is bad. I try to steady myself in preparation. The last thing she needs is me flying off the handle and stressing her out.
“Okay. Well. First of all, I paid Dr. Simpson to fly here with me, so you don’t have to worry. I went about it safely, and I was never in any danger.”
“Second of all?”
“Second of all…I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday. Every time I try, it tells me your number is disconnected.”
My eyebrows draw together. “How can that be?”
She licks her lips and grabs my hand to hold on to it. “I’m not sure. I just know that when I texted Cap to yell at him, he told me your number was the same.”
“Why didn’t you answer my calls or texts, then?”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “I didn’t get any. And I know my phone is working because Heidi has been calling me nonstop for the last seven hours since I snuck away.”
“And what about when I was at your apartment last night and you were locked in your bedroom, outright refusing to talk to me?” I ask, and she tilts her head to the side in confusion.
“Locked in my bedroom? What are you talking about?”
“I was at your apartment last night, Rock. You told me to go away.”
“Uh…I did no such thing,” she says, and her eyes are about to bug out of her head. “I didn’t get back from set until, like, two in the morning, and the first place I went was your apartment, but you weren’t there.”