18. Theo
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THEO
I watch the door close and then brace my hand on the doorframe above my head. I should take a couple of minutes before I speak to my parents, but I don’t know how long she is going to be in there. When she comes out, I want to be here waiting for her.
I step briefly back into the living room. “Are you guys kidding me right now?” I whisper-hiss. “I just told you that I’m having a baby.”
“I’m sorry”—my mother puts her hand to her cheek—“I was not expecting that.”
“It’s a surprise for both of us,” my father declares. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“She was already nervous to come here and talk to you guys, and you made it a hundred times worse.” The anger rages through me at how my parents sat there looking at her.
The whole time, she hung her head. If I knew it wouldn’t make her feel even worse, I would have jumped off the couch and told them to get the fuck out.
“Now, she’s going to come out of that bathroom, and you guys are going to be on your best behavior. ”
“Wait just a second,” my father retorts, “we were not rude. It just caught us off guard. I mean, we didn’t even—” He stops talking when he hears the toilet flush.
I give them one more look before I rush back. The sink water is running. I put my hands on my hips and try to calm myself.
When the door opens, she’s surprised I’m still there. “Theo.” Her eyes are rimmed red and the fury runs through me yet again.
My hand comes up to touch her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I know she’s lying because she avoids looking at me. “Okay, fine, I’m a little . . .” My eyebrows go up, and she smiles a bit and releases a little laugh. “Okay, no.”
“I’m sorry.” I kiss her lips. “That—”
“It’s fine,” she brushes it off, and I have to wonder how many times she has done this.
How many times has someone made her feel like this, and she just brushed it off?
I have to stop myself from wondering because again the anger surfaces, and I recall her voice from the car: I’m not the girl you bring home to your parents.
“We should get out there. Your parents are going to think I’m rude. ”
I shake my head. “You need to stop fucking thinking about everyone else and think about yourself,” I mumble, but I walk out with her.
My parents stand up. “Collins,” my mother starts, “we are so sorry.” I can see the tears in her eyes. “That was . . .” She puts her hand to her chest. “That was not the best first impression of me.”
“It’s okay. I know this is a big thing”—Collins puts her shoulders back—“and the last person you expected was someone like . . .” Her voice quivers. She can’t even finish the sentence.
“Oh, honey,” my mother murmurs, coming to her and hugging her, “it’s not you. Of course it isn’t you.” She rubs her back. “Of course he would want to be with you. Look at you, you’re a bombshell.”
“She’s more than just pretty, Mom,” I snap at my mother.
“I know that,” my mother hisses at me. “I’m just saying that she’s beautiful, so it’s no surprise you would go for her.
” I look at my father, who is just watching everything.
“I know what it feels like to go to meet the parents of the man you love.” She lets her go, holding on to her arms, rubbing up and down.
Collins swallows, and I wonder if she wanted to correct my mother.
“The first time I met Blake’s parents was because my ex-in-laws were suing me for custody.
” Collins gasps, and her hand immediately goes to her stomach.
My mother’s eyes go soft. “You’re going to be a great mother, Collins.
” She smiles at her. “And I can’t wait to spoil him or her. ”
“As long as the baby is healthy,” Collins responds, “that’s all I wish for.”
My mother’s smile broadens, and she looks at my father. “We have to set up a family dinner and get everyone over so they can meet Collins.”
“We should,” Dad says. “When are you guys leaving?”
“She has work on Monday at three, so we should leave here Monday morning, but it depends. We might leave Sunday.” I shrug. “We’ll see how she feels.”
“I’ll be okay if we leave Monday. I can sleep on the way home,” Collins offers, not wanting to be a bother.
“Either way, I think we can set it up for tomorrow night. It’ll be a treat having everyone over.” Mom drops her hands off Collins. “We’ll get out of your hair now so you can relax, but tomorrow night, dinner at our place.”
“That sounds nice,” Collins replies to her, her voice shaking a bit. “Thank you both so much for welcoming me.”
“Thank you for being forgiving.” My mother hugs her again, and then my father comes forward and kisses her cheek.
“You let us know if you need anything,” he says to her, and then looks at me. “I’ll be around.”
“Will do,” I reply, and my father holds out his hand to let my mother walk in front of him as they both leave.
The door shuts behind them, and Collins sinks to the floor.
Her hands go to her face, and she sighs.
“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.
” I squat beside her. “I’m a fucking liar.
I lied straight to their faces.” She puts her hand on her lips.
“I’m exactly who I said I was never going to be.
I’m no better than—” She springs up. “I think I’m going to be sick.
” She runs to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her, but it doesn’t close, and I hear her throwing up.
I push open the door, grabbing one of the facecloths and wetting it.
She’s on her knees, hair in one hand as she spits in the toilet. “Sorry, the door was open,” I tell her softly, squatting next to her and handing her the cloth.
“It’s okay.” She takes the cloth from me. “I bet you’re thinking to yourself, What the fuck have I gotten myself into?”
“Actually, I was thinking, How can I get this girl to agree to go out with me?” Her gray eyes stare at me. “I would love to discuss this with you, but I need you to rest.”
“Theo,” she says my name with the same softness she did that day everything changed.
“I’ll get your bag. I’ll be right back.” I hold out my hand to help her up.
She gets up, and I kiss her neck before going to the truck and grabbing her bag. I walk back inside and find her in the kitchen drinking some water near the sink.
“Do you want a tour?” She nods. “Follow me.” I motion with my head toward the stairs on the side. Now that we’re here, I’m hoping she’ll share my bed with me, but I’m not going to press her.
I walk to the left, where the primary bedroom is.
“This is . . .” I stop before I say my bedroom because, knowing her, she might refuse to even stay in here.
“. . . where you’ll be staying.” I dump her little bag on the king-size bed.
“The bathroom is right through there. Do you want to nap a bit?” I ask her. “It’s okay if you do.”
“I didn’t, but then I saw the bed, and it was calling my name,” she says, making me laugh, “but show me the other rooms first.”
She follows me to the other side of the house, where there are two more bedrooms. One is completely empty, the other has a queen-size bed. “Wait a second,” she steps into the room with the queen-size bed, “which room is yours?”
“This one,” I lie.
She lifts her eyebrows. “This one is your bedroom.” I don’t know if she’s asking me. “So if I go back to that room”—she points to the hall—“and I go into the closet, your clothes won’t be in there?”
“It’s my house, of course, my clothes are here,” I reply, folding my arms over my chest. She walks toward the closet, and I stop her by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to me. “Let it go.” She looks over her shoulder at me.
“No, I’m not taking your bedroom from you.”
“I mean, we can always share the bed,” I suggest softly. Her eyes flicker. “I thought you wanted a nap.”
“Do you want to nap too?” she asks me, and I tilt my head to the side.
“I could nap,” I say, telling the truth. She puts her hand on mine at her stomach.
“Then let’s go nap,” she urges softly, turning and heading to my bedroom.
I feel the bed move beside me and open my eyes to see Collins sliding out from under the covers.
She walks toward the bathroom. My eyes watch how her ass swings side to side, the gray lounge pants she slipped on before bed falling perfectly.
She has no idea how fucking sexy she is.
I listen to her flush the toilet and hear the water run before she walks out on her tippy-toes.
“Did I wake you?” she asks softly. “I tried to hold it in as long as I could, but I was about to burst.” She puts one of her knees on the bed.
“It’s time for us to get up anyway.” I sit up, turning so my feet hit the hardwood floor. “You hungry?”
She nods. “I swear, before I got pregnant, I could go with one meal a day.” She laughs. “Now, if I’m not sleeping, I have to have food in my mouth every couple of hours.”
“Well then, let me get you fed,” I state, wanting to hold her hand on the way downstairs. “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?”
She looks down as she tucks her hair behind her ear. “I’m good with whatever.”
I stop at the top of the stairs. “What do you want to eat, Collins?” She is, hands down, the most selfless person I’ve ever met.
“Well, what are the options?”
I shrug. “Not a clue. Let’s go see what my parents brought us.” I slip my hand in hers as we walk down to the kitchen.
“This is the nicest kitchen I’ve ever seen in my life.” She rubs her finger over the counter as she follows me to the fridge. I’m not about to tell her the kitchen I have back in Montgavin puts this one to shame.
I check out what my parents brought. “I have good news and bad news. I have things to make a salad, but there is nothing for the main course.”
“Do you have frozen pizza?”
I pull open the freezer door. “I do, but I don’t know when this is from.” I toss the box in the garbage. “I’m going to order a pizza but make the salad.”
“That sounds good. Can I help?”
I pick up the phone and make the call, then I put my hands on her hips, pick her up as she shrieks, and put her on the counter. “You sit there, and we’ll talk.”
“Okay.” She looks around. “But I can sit on the stool.”
“Yeah. But then I can’t kiss you when I walk by.”
She looks down at me and smiles, but tries to hide it. “Theo, you know you’re too good to be true, right?” She opens her legs, and I step in between them.
“See? I was thinking the exact same thing about you.” I hold her cheek.
“I know this is going to sound really, really stupid,” I start nervously, “especially since you’re having our baby and all that.
” Her eyes turn a light gray. “But I want to give us a chance.” I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous before.
“I don’t know what this thing is between us.
But it’s something . . .” I trail off and put my hands on her thighs.
“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” She leans back on her hands, her eyes alight.
“Sort of. I guess so.” I let out an awkward chuckle. “I like you and I want to really get to know you. So what do you say, Collins, want to be my girlfriend?”