8. Strawberry
Strawberry
I n person was best. It was not stalling, it was waiting for the right moment.
“How’s my best girl?” A deep voice said before Zoe was grabbed from behind.
She yelped as a rough beard nuzzled her neck and a body enveloped her and squished her middle. “Oo, careful,” she hissed, the pressure too much over her sensitive belly.
“You okay?” Raphe asked, spinning her in his arms so she faced him.
Zoe steadied herself as her stomach debated between vomiting and laughing. “I’m good,” she answered quickly.
Foothills was coming alive with summer tourists. Not even the construction next door seemed to reduce the crowd to get a spot at Black Op Brewing. Zoe had already been waiting for a table for fifteen minutes.
“Did I keep you waiting long?” Raphe asked.
“All good.”
He leaned in and covered her lips and swished a heavy dose of tongue, and Zoe dove in to keep up.
“Wow, you’re in a good mood,” she said, laughing and blinking off the shock of the very public, very vigorous kiss.
“I am, I—”
Before he could finish, Grady Mallory, swung open the door and stopped fast when he saw them. “Hey, Zoe,” he said, and startled and quieted when he landed on Raphe.
“Hey, Grady. Crazy busy here tonight,” she said, marveling over the crowd and grinning at him.
Raphe slipped his arms around her possessively and clung to her belly… having no idea what his hands were over.
Grady glanced down at Raphe’s hands and tilted a confused look, and looked back up and sent a wordless question to Zoe with a lift of his eyebrow.
She bit her lips together and shook her head in warning. “Have you talked to Ryder lately?” she asked with an oversized smile and hoped to hell he didn’t give anything away.
“Yeah, yeah, he, um, stayed with us last weekend. We talked a lot. He’s… I’m really excited for him. He’s over the moon… about… stuff.”
Raphe dove into the conversation with a friendly laugh and asked, “How is Ryder doing? I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Good,” Grady said, nodding and looking back and forth between them. “He’s really good. Surprisingly, good. And how are you , Zoe?”
“Surprisingly okay,” Zoe repeated, nodding and trying to peel out of Raphe’s arms before dropping a big one on him as soon as they got a table. “We should catch up later. Are you coming to the baby shower?”
“Definitely. I mean, assuming Haley doesn’t go into labor first. Cutting it a bit close.”
“Right? Things don’t always go according to plan, no matter how much you think you’re prepared, sometimes things… slip through anyway.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what Ryder was saying, when we talked about these things.
Surprising as hell,” Grady said, nodding meaningfully, and Zoe was glad to hear that Ryder had told his brother right away.
“My mother will be over the moon, about everything. I’m so excited to be an uncle.
So, so excited. Twice as excited as I expected to be. ”
She finally laughed and shook her head at his attempts to share his enthusiasm without giving anything away.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you guys to… catch up,” he said, cringing and seeming to understand exactly what was about to happen.
“Thanks,” Zoe said, cringing back and forcing a pained smile.
As Grady dashed out toward the sidewalk and up the hill, Raphe still hadn’t taken his arms off Zoe and nuzzled close. “He’s a weird guy. They’re all weird, the Mallorys.”
The host called her name, and thankfully, they were led to a table in the corner, a tall propane heater fired up next to them, and Zoe huddled into her jacket. Raphe ordered a beer, and Zoe asked for water, claiming her stomach was off.
“You were friends with Ryder back in school, weren’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah, we were friends. As much as anyone was friends with Ryder.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know.”
“I really don’t.”
“He’s all charm and not much under the surface,” Raphe said, as if everyone knew that.
Zoe tipped a look and studied his expression.
Their drinks arrived, and Zoe couldn’t stomach the idea of food, so Raphe ordered a pizza for them to share.
“Do you want to know why I’m in such a good mood?” he asked, and bit his bottom lip and waggled his eyebrows.
“Of course. What’s up?”
“It’s been a month since we’ve been back together.”
“Has it been a month already? Wow, I hadn’t realized. A lot’s happened in the last month.”
His expression dropped halfway, and he shook his head in frustration. “We agreed to take it slow, and that sex was going to wait at least a month. Well, it’s been a month.”
“You’re in this good of a mood over sex?”
“I’m a little offended,” he said, pretending to be kidding with a teasing smile, but his eyes were squinty with doubt. “Seriously, I think we’re going much better than last time.”
Fuck. She ought to just blurt it out. Her lips twitched in a partial smile, but she couldn’t seem to hold it. “Out of curiosity… did you date much, after we broke up?”
“A little, but I didn’t sleep with anyone else, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Words flitted in her mind, and not one of them would ease the blow. “I did,” she said softly.
“Oh,” he said quickly, looked away, and his skin pinked as he held his breath. “Oh,” he said again. “I guess, I mean, we were broken up. Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
The restaurant buzzed with activity. Traffic flooded the main drag through town. At least the construction next door had stopped for the evening, but the chain link fencing and dug out foundations added to the chaos.
“Because it didn’t matter. But…” Fuck, she didn’t know how to say it. Announcing a pregnancy always seemed like such a lovely thing. So far, she hadn’t enjoyed telling anyone. “But it does now, because… I’m pregnant.”
“You… you… what?” He stuttered and squinted and stared at her like she had to be joking.
“I’m pregnant,” she repeated slowly, aching over how devastated he must be right now. “I didn’t know the best way to tell you. I…”
“So you told me in a crowded restaurant in the middle of town? So I won’t freak out?”
“No,” she growled. Yes. That’s exactly why she chose the crowded restaurant. “I’m exhausted in my first damn trimester and taking naps all the damn time and I didn’t feel like cooking.”
He puffed out his cheeks and leaned in, and reached across the table and took both of her hands in his. “You’re positive it’s not mine?” he asked, almost glaring now.
“I’m sure.”
He kept staring.
“Raphe, we haven’t slept together since last January. Trust me, it was… I was with someone, um… the night of Finn’s wedding.”
“Seriously?” he asked, blinking and shaking his head more in a twitch than any sort of actual gesture. He slipped back and folded his hands over his chest and shook his head. “You did the horny bridesmaid thing?”
“Hey. Watch it.”
“Were you seeing this guy, or was it just that night?”
“It was just that night, but that doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole about it.”
“You had a one-nighter with some random, but you and I have a solid foundation, and you’re making me wait?”
“Yes. We’re talking about completely different circumstances.” She choked on a sharp exhale and tried to remember why she’d agreed to get back together in the first place.
Raphe pushed to stand, and for a moment, Zoe thought he was going to walk away.
Whatever foolish instinct that kept drawing her back to him thrust into her and she said, “Wait.”
Dark eyebrows low over his eyes, he tugged back the chair next to her and dropped in. “At least that’s something, that you still want me around.”
“I wanted to finish our conversation.”
“I was moving closer so I didn’t have to shout across the table.” He rested his palm on her cheek and said softly, “Look, Zoe, I care about you. Weddings are lonely and everyone gets romantic, so I get it. We all make mistakes—”
She took his hand and lowered it back to the table, and wrapped her fingers over his. “It wasn’t a mistake. I mean, the condom failing wasn’t ideal, but the night wasn’t a mistake. I don’t regret any of it.”
His chest puffed and cheeks inflated, and his eyes burned red.
“I’m not saying that to hurt you, I just want to be completely honest with you.
I hope to hell you’ve had special moments in your life, memorable intimate moments in your life, with people who aren’t me.
I’m really sorry that the timing of all of this is so…
weird. I mean, we are doing much better this time around, and I know this throws a wrench in things—”
“A wrench? I’ll say.” He exhaled a lung full of air, nearly a growl of it. “Who was it? Who’s baby’s in your belly.”
“Whoa. This is the shit that made me dread telling you,” she fired back.
“The second you get upset, you think it’s fine to start talking like…
that . Like you don’t have to treat me with respect when you’re angry.
” Foothills was a classy, artsy and active sort of mountain getaway town, but some of its residents acted like this was the old west.
“I’m upset as hell and my girl is pregnant with someone else’s kid. Of course I want to know who you slept with. What are you hiding?”
“Have a little patience and understanding. I’m not hiding anything. And for fuck’s sake,” Zoe growled and looked around at the increasing heads turning their direction. She dropped her voice to a whisper and hissed, “Woman. I am a woman, stop calling me your girl—”
“If I called you ‘my woman’ that would sound—”
“I’m not finished,” she growled. “Ryder Mallory. I slept with him one time. Once. As he doesn’t even live in town—”
“You’re fucking kidding—”
“I’m not fucking kidding.” Her shoulders lifted and fell, her teeth gritted painfully tight.
“I’m trying to be open and honest with you.
I slept with him once, and one of his little swimmers got past the condom, and I’m pregnant.
I was hoping you and I could have an adult conversation about this.
I know this is a lot, and there’s already a lot of pressure on this relationship—”
“You were lonely enough to fuck Ryder Mallory? At least that’s something, that you were miserable enough without me to fall for his bullshit.”
“It’s none of your damn business who I slept with when we were apart and it had nothing to do with you.”
“It is now that my girlfriend is having the asshole’s baby.”
She growled and felt her voice rising. “Ugh, you are impossible. I haven’t even finished explaining everything, and you’re judging me for the choices I made when you weren’t even a part of my life.
” Zoe pushed to stand and felt a sea of pitying eyes witnessing yet another public argument with Raphe.
“Zoe, wait,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Let’s talk.”
“I just tried that.” She stuffed her hands unreachably into her pockets and looked down her nose at him. “My mother raised me to respect myself, and to dump a guy who didn’t think the world of me, in every way. Goodbye Raphe.”
As she stalked away, she heard him mumble something about her having as inflated of an ego as Ryder Mallory.