Page 53 of Going for Two

I swallow hard. “Ten …” And then my chest heaves as the real sobbing begins. But she doesn’t say anything. She only wraps her arms around me and pulls me up to her chest again, letting me soak her shirt with tears and snot.

“How could I let this happen?” I whisper after a minute.

“Chemistry,” she replies plainly. “Hormones, pheromones, feelings, alcohol—they can all gang up on you during peak fertility.”

I laugh shortly. Leave it to her to have a valid biological explanation for how I managed to get myself pregnant after thirty years of being nearly celibate.

Tenley pulls back and looks me in the eyes. “Just think of the exact circumstances it took for you to conceive this baby the way you did, Lo. That has to mean something.”

I let out another sob, mostly because I’m overcome with relief at hearing her acknowledge my pregnancy aloud. It takes a minute before I can talk again. “You’re right. It’s just hard to think of it that way right now. It’s hard to think about anything when I’m so hungry all the time.”

She chuckles and hands me a napkin. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll make a dash for the car while you grab your cookies. We’ll pick this conversation up once you’ve gotten more carbs in your system, hmm?”

I nod and smile weakly at her, equal parts grateful she figured it out and terrified she’ll realize Blake and I are just faking our relationship.

She takes a deep breath and fills her lungs with disgusting restroom air, making me giggle at the irony, then pushes the door open. Meanwhile, I blow my nose a few times and retrieve my bag of baked sugar before joining her in the car.

I groan as I bite into my third peanut butter cookie. “Why do these tasteso freaking good?”

Tenley laughs at me. “I’m still waiting to get to that part. But I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this a secret from me. The idea of our babies sharing DNA seems too exciting for you to handle alone.”

“I’m sorry. Blake and I promised we wouldn’t tell anyone until after my first doctor’s appointment.”

“I’d probably have figured it out by the time I saw your name on the schedule, anyway.” She smirks. “As well as your conception date.”

“I guess that means we’ll have the same due date too?”

“Hmm,” she begins thoughtfully. “Pretend I’m not asking this about Blake, but how good was it for you that night? I promise it’s relevant.”

I sigh. “It was the bestanythingI’ve ever had … apart from these cookies.”

“And would you say you were just a willing participant? Or more like an eager one?”

“Oh, I was definitely an eager beaver. I still don’t understand how it all happened, if I’m being honest, or why we didn’t use protection.”

She snorts. “Blame it on the hormones,cher. I think it’s safe to assume it was peak day for you. And, since I didn’t ovulate until a few days after the wedding, your Bourgeois baby should be older than mine. Unless you conceived later, during a different session?”

I cringe and stuff another cookie into my mouth. “Nope. I’m absolutely certain it happened that night. It’s kind of amazing how you do that, by the way,” I say, attempting to redirect our conversation before I’m tempted to divulge too much again.

“Do what?”

“Science the crap out of baby-making.”

She chuckles again. “Yeah, well, you can probably manage the relationship part, unlike me.”

“I don’t know, Ten. I think you’re managing pretty well these days.” I wish she were right, because I have no idea what I’m doing with Blake.

“Eh, I just got lucky,” she replies, grinning. “Maybe we both did.”

CHAPTER 16

Blake

“I’ve givenyou a grace period, but it’s time to fess up. I need to know exactly how this thing with Loren started,” my brother begins as soon as he climbs into the passenger seat of my truck.

I sigh, but I knew this was coming. I’ve been brushing over his texts for the past couple of weeks, so it was only a matter of time before he started bothering for details in person.

“We decided to call a truce for yours and Tenley’s sake, and I guess things just developed from there.”

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