Chapter 50
The next afternoon McKenna answered her phone to hear Bobbi say, “I knew you were making babies with Nate in Tennessee.”
She shouldn’t have answered.
McKenna peered at the ceiling, grateful Nate was taking a shower so she could put her phone on speaker without him hearing ridiculous statements like I knew you were making babies with Nate in Tennessee.
“So you got my text then,” McKenna said, grabbing a clean glass out of the dishwasher.
“I did. Just give it to me straight. How far along are you, and if it’s a girl will you at least name her after me?”
“Stop. All I said was that you should stop by for a visit just like you said you wanted to.”
“Uh-huh. What happened to you being back in Nebraska by the time I got home from Italy? What are you still doing in Tennessee?”
“Not making babies, I can tell you that much.” McKenna eyed the bowl of oranges sitting out on the kitchen island, yesterday’s conversation with Nate refusing to leave her thoughts any more than the determined little fruit fly hovering above the oranges.
So are you, McKenna. Has anyone ever told you that?
The way he’d leaned into her, the way his hazel eyes crinkled with tenderness, the way his long legs slid around hers like a perfect jigsaw puzzle.
No, they weren’t making babies, but the warmth pooling in her lower belly suggested they were on their way to making something together. And that something could very well explode and ruin everything if McKenna didn’t figure out a way to rein it all in until after Bobbi’s proposal.
First priority—Bobbi. Always Bobbi. Once Bobbi got engaged, then maybe McKenna could explore making somethings with Nate. Until then, Bobbi Bobbi Bobbi.
“So you’ll come to Tennessee?” McKenna put the last bowl away in the cabinet, then dragged out all the clean silverware from the dishwasher.
“What’s going on, McKenna? Really?”
Good grief. When McKenna had texted Bobbi about visiting, she expected a thumbs-up, maybe an excited emoji, not an interrogation.
She emptied the silverware into a drawer, searching for the right words that wouldn’t be false, but also wouldn’t spoil the proposal.
“I miss you. Is that so hard to imagine?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how Nate plays into all of this.”
Funny. So was McKenna.
She set the silverware holder back in the dishwasher and closed the door. “I like Nate. It’s as simple as that.” Ha! If only it was as simple as that.
McKenna cleared her throat. “Truth is I’m not sure what will happen between us, but I think it’d be nice if you got to meet him again. Preferably when people aren’t falling off bridges and screaming at each other.”
Okay, that was the truth, wasn’t it? Mostly? For now?
“He’s become really important to you, hasn’t he?” said Bobbi after a lengthy pause. “I can tell by your voice.”
McKenna didn’t even know what to say to that. Because somehow these past few weeks he had become really important to her. What she struggled to believe was that she’d somehow become really important to him. “So will you do it? Will you visit?”
Bobbi sighed. “Of course I will. If only so I can drag you onto a plane back to Nebraska. I don’t care how wonderful Nate is, I’m not letting you stay in Tennessee.”
Fair enough. Especially since McKenna didn’t want to stay in Tennessee either. But instead of dreaming about sunny LA, McKenna found herself thinking about the possibility of a different future. On the other side of the country. In a little place called Buffalo, New York.
So much for reining it all in.