Thirty-Six | Cole
Thirty-Six
Cole
Lyric and I spent the day coming up with a tentative plan, which surprised me given how shut off she had been at first. We both decided that it would be best not to tell the kids until Lyric was past the first trimester.
Given that we only had sex one night, we were able to narrow down her conception date and figured she was six weeks pregnant.
I made a list of items to get from the store, including prenatal vitamins and some foods Lyric thought she could tolerate.
Each pregnancy had been different for her, with foods she loved and foods she couldn’t stand.
I was surprised that the sausage and eggs had been such a hit and that she’d been able to eat them without throwing up.
Lyric planned to call to schedule a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, when the clinic was open.
I offered to take her to another town if she wasn’t ready for anyone in Willow Falls to know, but she said she was fine going to our clinic.
I was surprised, but I didn’t push her because I wanted Lyric to be comfortable making all the decisions, knowing she had my full support.
It was getting late in the day when my mom called and asked if the kids could stay the night at their house. I agreed since it was the weekend and we didn’t have anything going on. Not only that, I wanted more time with Lyric without having to worry about anything else.
I walked into the bedroom to find Lyric lying on the bed. I was about to turn and leave when she opened her eyes and smiled at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were resting. I just wanted to let you know that the kids are staying the night at my parents—”
Once the words were out of my mouth, I froze because it was in that moment that I realized the huge mistake I had made.
“Shit,” I grumbled. “I’m so sorry, I should have asked you first. I didn’t even think about it when I told my mom that they could stay the night there. I can call back and—”
“Cole, it’s fine. Really. I think they’ll have a great time there, it’ll be fun.”
I let my shoulders fall as I leaned against the doorframe.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind calling and fixing it.”
“It’s totally fine. I’m kind of tired anyway, so I wouldn’t be much fun. They’ll have a better time there.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding in agreement. “Do you need anything?”
“No.” She shook her head and smiled. “But you can come lay with me if you want to.”
I tried to push out the thoughts that immediately flooded my brain, thinking of all the things I wanted to do to her in that bed besides laying with her.
I kicked off my shoes and climbed into bed beside her, laughing as she watched me with something that looked a lot like desire in her eyes.
“I know I was a huge bitch earlier,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take things out on you.”
“It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize. I get it.” I rolled onto my side and studied her face.
“It’s not okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were trying to be there for me, and I treated you like shit. That’s not okay, Cole. You deserve better than that.”
I scooted closer and rested my hand on her hip after she propped herself up on her elbow to look at me.
“Believe it or not, this is what married people do,” I said gently, not wanting to freak her out by reminding her that we were still, in fact, married.
“They fight. They have disagreements. They have times when they can’t stand the other person.
But at the end of the day, they find their way back to that person because that’s where they want to be.
I’m not scared of you, Lyric. Nothing you say or do will be bad enough to push me away.
I know that things are really scary right now, but I’ve got you. I promise.”
“How can you be so calm through all of this?”
I shrugged and pursed my mouth to the side as I considered how to answer that.
“I’ve been through worse,” I answered honestly. “I’ve already lost you once, Lyric, and that was one of the worst things that I’ve ever had happen to me. If I can survive that, I can survive anything.”