Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
“Mom? Can I talk to you a minute?” Bohdi was at his folks’ house doing an after-Christmas gift exchange. That was weird because it was almost Valentine’s Day, but he really hadn’t had time to get to their place before now.
“Sure, baby, what’s going on?” His mom, a bright-eyed otter shifter in her early middle age, pushed her hair back off her face, the gray strands right around her temples showing off really beautiful and silver.
“I think I’m pregnant.”
When he’d started throwing up a couple of days before this, he’d gone and gotten a pregnancy test at the drugstore. He hadn’t been running a fever, he hadn’t eaten anything bad, and the only thing he could think which would make him so instantly nauseated was the big P-word.
His mom’s eyes widened to where he thought they might pop out of her head, and she stared at him. “Sweetie? Are you going to be the next virgin birth?”
He rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, Mom. I’m not a virgin, obviously, and I haven’t been for a long time.”
She pursed her lips, her hands on her hips. “Yes, but you’ve always chosen to be with humans who couldn’t get you pregnant. Before now, when did you meet someone who could?”
“Over Christmas, I stayed at a lodge in Oregon and I met a giant otter named River.”
Now she blinked rapidly. “You never mentioned you’d met somebody.”
His cheeks heated painfully, the flush so hard he felt like he might burst into flames. “It’s not the kind of thing you tell your mom if you don’t intend to bring him home to her. He’s a shifter, Mom. His favorite thing is to go to the water and turn into an otter and swim around. I can’t do that.”
Sympathy clouded her gaze, and he was glad at least to see it wasn’t pity. “Oh, son,” she said. “Did you give him an opportunity to tell you he couldn’t accept that, or did you just assume?”
“I snuck out.” He ducked his head when she made a sharp exclamation, wordless as it was. “I know. I suck. I should have at least told him I was going, but after the time we spent together and how wonderful it was, I didn’t want to ruin it by having to do a weird goodbye.”
“Son.” She flapped a hand in the air. “That’s not okay. Do you even know how to get a hold of him?”
Miserable, he hunched his shoulder, his hands in his pockets.
Nausea was coiling in his belly again, and he knew he was going to have to bolt for it and puke his guts up any minute.
“I really don’t. I mean, I know his whole name, and I’m pretty sure I know where he’s from.
His dad’s Brazilian and grew up on a vineyard.
But no, I really don’t know anything else. ”
Except the feel of River’s hands on him, the golden-dark brown mix of River’s eyes, and that wicked little smile River would get on his face just before he pounced on Bohdi. Those things he knew so deep, and he hated that he had just walked away and given them up.
His mom chewed on her lip for a moment. Then she glared at him. “Well, maybe you ought to try to find a way to get a hold of him. Maybe through the lodge. I know they probably won’t give out personal information, but they might call him for you and give him your number.”
“I suppose I could do that.” That was actually a good idea. It was one thing to leave River behind when it was just a holiday love affair.
But now there was a baby. At least the plus sign on the test said so.
“Yes, I think you should.” She tapped her foot, then grimaced when he gagged. “Oh, sweetie, are you very queasy?”
“Yeah. I really don’t feel good at all.”
“Let me get you some Sprite and some crackers, okay?” She went to the kitchen, and he ran for the bathroom because he really had to throw up bad.
When he was done, he rinsed his mouth, washed his hands, and flushed.
Then he headed back to the kitchen where he met his mom.
Luckily, there were no smells in there from any kind of food cooking.
She had a sleeve of saltines and a Sprite in her hands.
“Here you go, sweetie.”
He blew out a breath that he hoped didn’t smell terrible. “Thanks, Mom. I just really wasn’t ready for that, even though I kinda suspected. That’s why I got the test.”
“Did you get two tests?”
“What?” He had no idea what she meant by that, but his brain wasn’t working great.
“Sometimes false positives and false negatives happen. I always suggest that people take two tests, just in case.”
“No, I didn’t think to—”
Waving one hand while she pulled her phone out with the other, she tapped a few things into her phone and then grinned at him.
“I just ordered one from the store. I ordered some more Sprite and some crackers too, because this is all I had left. That way, since you’re going to be here for a couple of days, you have a supply. ”
She seemed so cheerful, but then again, she’d been after him for years to get married and have babies. Or at least get mated and have babies, even if he didn’t get married.
“What if he doesn’t want to hear from me, Mom? Then what do I do?”
“Then you sit down with your family, and we decide what to do. But first, you have to give him a chance.” Mom put her phone back in her pocket and walked over to him to place a hand on his cheek, her thumb rubbing against his cheekbone. “I love you dearly, sweetie, but you can’t hide from this.”
Bohdi just nodded because she was right.
Not only did River deserve to know why he had just up and left without a word after such a wonderful experience, but River deserved to know about the baby too.
So he would get a hold of the lodge and threaten that Branson kid with certain death if he didn’t pass on his phone number to River.
He figured he got to do that because of how awfully the guy had hidden from them.
“I’ll call the lodge today, I promise.”
“Do you want me to stick around for moral support, or do you want to do this by yourself?”
“I think I need to do it by myself. You know how I am when somebody is watching me when I’m on the phone.”
She rolled her eyes. “Such a millennial. All right sweetie, you go do your thing. I’ll wait here for the Sprite and the second pregnancy test.”
He gave his mom a wave and shuffled off to his bedroom so he could call the lodge.
He hated feeling like he needed to apologize to anybody, but he really did want to apologize to River for all of this.
One way or the other, he wanted to at least make River aware of what was going on, even if nothing came of it.
But of course, in his heart of hearts, he hoped something did.
The email came in just about the time River was done with his workout. He had been swimming laps in the pool, and his phone was sitting on top of a little side table where it wouldn’t get wet, he could hear it if it dinged.
River would have ignored it except three or four more emails in quick succession came in right after it. Ding ding, ding ding ding.
Frowning, he pulled himself up out of the pool right next to the little table and sat on the cold concrete, shaking the water off of his hand so he could reach for his phone.
There were five emails from Branson at the lodge he’d stayed at during Christmas, and he had to admit he was pretty curious to see what the guy wanted since he’d never gotten even an apology or anything about how the guy had double-booked him with Bohdi for Christmas.
He opened the first one, which just had a subject line of “I’m sorry for bothering you.”
His eyebrows flew up because in the body of the email Branson explained that Bohdi had called the lodge and asked for him to pass Bohdi’s phone number on to River.
In subsequent emails, Branson explained that this was not something they normally did due to privacy obligations blah blah blah.
But since they had been double-booked, and he was worried that perhaps Bohdi had returned home with something belonging to River, blah blah blah.
.. In other words, it was a load of crap, but he had something that was worth its weight in gold; he had Bohdi’s phone number.
River stared at that phone number for long minutes before he made a decision.
He had to admit the fact that Bohdi had snuck out of their warm New Year’s Day bed and left without a word had pissed him right off.
But at the same time, he was well aware that he and Bohdi were mates, and he was missing the guy something fierce.
In fact, he really kind of felt sick with it a lot of the time.
So finally, his desperation to know what Bohdi wanted with him overrode his good sense, and he plugged the number into his phone, with Bohdi’s name as a contact, and then dialed it.
“H-Hello?” When Bohdi answered, told him that the man knew exactly who was on the phone and that he was worried about what River might say.
“I got your email. Well, Branson’s email. What is it you want, Bodhi?”
“I needed to talk to you about two things. Do you have a minute?”
The sound of Bohdi’s voice sent a wave of longing through him.
But it also relaxed every muscle in his body, and he realized how long it had been since they’d actually spoken to each other.
Mates shouldn’t go that long without hearing from each other, and he was pissed off all over again but also so happy to hear Bohdi on the line.
Putting the phone on speaker and setting it down on the side table, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself because it was cold. Even in the heated pool area. “Yeah, I’m okay. I can hear you out. What’s going on?”
“I wanted to apologize for the way I left. I was scared. You were so amazing, and it freaked me out. I can’t shift, River. I’m a shifter who can’t shift, and that makes me an oddity. I was terrified that you wouldn’t want to see me again after our time together.”
He blew out a breath because he’d known Bohdi was really self-conscious and worried about shifting, but he had no idea how bad it was.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, Bohdi.
Like I wouldn’t want to see you again. You made me incredibly happy while we were together, and I don’t think I hid how I felt about that. ”
There was a wry laugh on the other end of the line, and Bohdi just soldiered on. “It wasn’t you, it was me. And I know that’s one of those things everyone says, but it’s true. The other reason I wanted to call you was because there’s something I really need you to know.”
He wondered what it could be wildly for a moment.
Was Bohdi going to tell him that he was in love with him?
Was he going to tell him he had some kind of venereal disease?
Which was kind of difficult for shifters, but he supposed it could happen.
Was it that he had left a million dollars in Bohdi’s suitcase? What?
His mouth dropped open, and his stomach dropped into his feet, though, when Bohdi said, “I’m pregnant.”
“Holy shit, are you kidding?” Probably not the reaction Bohdi wanted to hear from him, but it was what came out.
“I took a test, and my mom says I should take another test just in case. That’s something she tells people, but it was a pretty strong plus mark.” Panic was starting to make Bohdi’s voice rise, and he didn’t want that, so he made shushing noises.
“Hey, it’s okay, just breathe, all right? Where are you right now?”
“I’m at my mom’s place in Colorado. I’m here for the Christmas gift exchange, believe it or not. I’ve kind of been avoiding everybody since the actual holiday.”
“How you feel? I haven’t talked to my folks in person since then either. I know my mom would take one look at me and know something was up that I didn’t want to talk about.” River stood up and grabbed his phone, so he could go to the dressing room and get some warm clothes on.
Thankfully, the pool was deserted today.
“Where are you?” Bohdi asked.
“I had a conference in Oregon, so believe it or not, I’m back in the same state, anyway.”
“Do you think you could meet me at the lodge?”
He almost snapped out an immediate negative, but the cautious hope in Bohdi’s voice told him maybe that would be a terrible idea.
So he breathed in and then out and then stopped before he got to the dressing room door because depending on how this went, he might want to do some more laps.
“Yeah, I think I could do that if you could get a flight up here.”
“I totally can. I’ve got the time off anyway, and it’s not like I haven’t exchanged presents with Mom and Dad. So I could come up for a couple days.”
“I’ll get a hold of Branson then at the lodge and get him to give us a room or a cabin or whatever.”
Bohdi’s little laugh warmed his heart. “You should get cabin number thirteen. It’s right next to the stream, after all.”
“I think I might have known that.” He chuckled too. While this was a clusterfuck, somehow or another he felt way more optimistic than he had even an hour ago. “See you, what, tomorrow?”
“I’ll be there. Thanks for this.”
“Don’t thank me yet, I still might kick your ass for running off on me.”
“I don’t think you’d kick a pregnant guy.” Bohdi laughed again. The sound was kind of a nervous trill, and then he hung up, leaving River staring at his phone.
River headed back to the pool, dropping his towel and his phone back where they’d been before. He really wished this wasn’t a public hotel pool room so he could shift and swim as an otter, but he would make do.
Tomorrow he would go meet with Bohdi, and then, if he had to, he would kidnap the guy and take him home. No way was his pregnant mate going to leave him sleeping again and run off.
That just wasn’t going to be a thing.