37.It’s Gas
THIRTY-SEVEN
OR IT’S GAS
Lach
Later in the week, Eve assured me Jake wouldn’t be home all night. I hate what I did to him. It eats me up inside that he’s mad at me. For the last decade, he’s been my one constant in life. Now I’m the asshole. I can accept that he hates me as long as there isn’t a rift between him and Eve. She needs him more than I do.
Pushing open the back door into Jake’s house unleashes a cacophony of emotions. Some are good, like the ones surrounding Eve. The cruel ones mix well with the bitter taste of betrayal. It’s only been a week since I was last here, but it feels like a lifetime. Eve jogs into the kitchen from the living room, the widest, most beautiful grin on her face. Her growing belly, round and firm, bumps against mine as her arms wrap around my neck. It seems like overnight, the baby decided to grow. Pregnancy is strange.
“I’ve been waiting all day to see you.”
“I’m here now.” I press my lips against hers. We’ve been working opposite shifts, so it’s been hard to see each other. All we get are the late-night phone calls and text messages. “Are you sure Jake won’t be doing any surprise pop-ins?”
“I bought a wireless motion detector alarm, so it will alert me of any movement in the back.”
I laugh. “We could have used that earlier.”
Her hand clasps around mine and leads me toward the living room. “Tell me about the townhome.” She lowers herself to the couch, and I take the cushion next to her. “Did you like it?”
“I did. It has two bedrooms on the second floor. They’re pretty close to each other, so the baby won’t be far. There’s a full bath upstairs and a half bath on the first floor. Both the living room and kitchen have plenty of space.”
“And cupboard space?”
“I think so.” I pull my phone from my pocket and unlock the screen. Opening the photos app, I scroll through all the pictures I took. “There’s even a small yard. I think we’ll be able to put a little sandbox over here and maybe a small swing set on this side of the yard.” I swipe my finger across the screen to show her the next photo.
She tenses, and her face drifts up to meet mine. Her lips press together.
Shit. She hates it. This isn’t what she wanted. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”
A smile takes over her face. “It’s perfect.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’d live in a cardboard box with you if I had to. Not saying I want to, but you get the gist.” She giggles. “Most importantly, you thought about the baby.” She freezes. With a flicker of uncertainty, her eyes shift back and forth, searching for something.
“What’s wrong?” I scan her body for an injury, but she’s been sitting next to me the entire time.
“I think the baby moved, or it’s gas,” she whispers. Her gaze drifts up to mine, a smile curving her lips. She grabs my hand and rests it on the soft cotton shirt covering her stomach. “I don’t know if you can feel it.”
I hold my breath, afraid to move and miss it, but after several seconds pass, nothing happens. “I might feel the baby or your gas?” A giggle escapes her lips, her belly shaking with mirth. I drop my hand.
“It’s still early. Maybe no one else can feel it yet.” Her fingers grip my chin, forcing me to meet her gaze. “I’m taking that as a sign the baby also agrees.”
“Or we’re deciding based on your gas.” I raise an eyebrow.
She playfully backhands my chest. “I’m making the executive decision, and it was the baby.”
I laugh. Fuck. I never expected my life to do a complete one-eighty in the span of two months. Single-handedly, one woman changed the course of my entire life for the better. I don’t want to imagine what my life would be without her. She’s my sunflower. Pointing me toward the sun. Filling me with warmth.
“I’ll call the landlord tomorrow.” I brush my thumb over her cheek. “We’ll move in together.”
“Sounds perfect.” Her soft smile warms me.
“Only one small problem. We can’t move in for two months.”
“It wouldn’t be a Lach-and-Eve relationship without a few bumps.” She places a hand on her stomach and wiggles her eyebrows. “We’ve waited this long. What’s sixty more days?”
Every day, I fall deeper and harder for this woman. Leaning in, I press my lips to hers in a chaste kiss. I pull back, but close enough that our lips still touch. “Can we read your book?”
Eve’s hazel eyes glint in the lamplight. She jumps off the couch and strolls to her bedroom. She emerges with the book in hand. The cushion dips as she takes a seat next to me. I wrap my arm around her shoulder, tucking her against my side. Her finger slides over the pages until she finds the bookmark.
“Do you think she’s going to take the new job?”
Her gaze lifts to mine. “That’s a spoiler. I can’t tell you that.”
“I think if she does, the relationship is over. I want to believe she’ll stay, but he did her dirty by ignoring her at the party. So she has every right to leave.”
Eve chuckles. “You’re really into the story, aren’t you?”
“You told me romance stories have to end in a happily ever after, but I don’t see how this one can. There are too many forces pulling them apart. I need to find out.”
She giggles and snuggles deep against me. “I assure you there’s a happily ever after.” She opens the book, pulls out the bookmark, and passes it to me. “It’s your chapter.”
I grab the book from her and clear my throat. She rests her head on my chest, right over my heart. “Chapter eighteen.”