Page 88 of One-Star Romance

“That’s a quote from Apartment 2F.”

“Is it?” he said mildly. “I just know that it’s stuck with me over the years.”

“You hated Apartment 2F.” She pushed his chest, and he collapsed over her with a laugh, taking her in his arms and rolling over so they lay on their sides, faces turned to each other.

“Sure. But I also thought I’d never read a writer with more promise,” he said before leaning in to kiss her.

•••

The next night, Natalie sat beside Gabby’s bed, a slim paperback in her hand. She’d started reading to Gabby for half an hour or so each day as Gabby dozed. But today, Gabby was restless, pulling her blanket from side to side. Natalie put the book down just in time to see a tear beginning to trickle down Gabby’s cheek.

Nat reached out and wiped it aside, and Gabby met her eyes.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t you dare apologize. What’s going on? Just…all of it?”

“Yeah.” Gabby spoke slowly, her voice dull. “I want to feel better now. I want to be who I was before. Am I going to spend the rest of my life with this anxiety hanging over my head, worried that it’ll come back and I won’t be so lucky? And it seems silly to even be upset about this, given how well things went, but…” Her eyes scrunched up, and she put her hands over them. “I wanted more biological children.”

“That’s not silly. You’re having to reorient, which is really tough.”

“It is. Christina would be such a great big sister.”

“Would she? Or would she try to murder the baby for taking attention away from her?”

Gabby huffed out a laugh. “Excuse me, that’s my daughter you’re talking about. But you’re right. Still, I want so badly to give her siblings. More of a team to get through life with, you know?”

Natalie nodded.

“Oh,” Gabby continued, “speaking of, I didn’t tell you. Melinda sent me a gift. I guess she has been thinking about me after all.”

“What is it?”

“A piece of jewelry from her line. You know how she makes those pendants and carves the name of your enemy into them?” Gabby paused. “She sent me a pendant engraved with the word ‘Cancer.’ ”

Natalie tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a laugh. “Just what you need.”

“Still, at least she’s trying. Anyway, I know there are other ways to have a bigger family. And I guess it could be nice to have another child without feeling so sick that I have to stick my head in a toilet for two months straight.”

Natalie reached out for Gabby’s hand. “No matter what you decide to do, I’ll be here.”

“Thank God. Remember how we didn’t talk to each other for a year?”

“What the hell were we thinking?”

Gabby shook her head and took a slow breath in and out. “On another note, Angus told me he found Rob coming out of your room yesterday morning.” Natalie sputtered, and Gabby gave her a thin smile. “What’s going on there? A hookup of convenience or something more?”

Natalie’s neck flushed red. “I don’t know. It’s, um, amazing. But it’ll go from convenient to inconvenient real fast once we both go home. And it’s not like I’m going to drop everything in my life and move across the country for a man after a week and a half of bliss.”

“Bliss?” Gabby asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I didn’t mean…obviously this time period has not been blissful—”

“It’s fine. I’m happy if something good can come out of all this, especially if it involves you getting your world rocked.”

“Look. It’s been unreal. But throwing yourself into something so impractical is what you do when you’re twenty-three years old, not thirty-two.” At twenty-three, your body was resilient and your heart was too. Now, if Natalie slept at the wrong angle, she couldn’t move her neck for days. So if she threw everything into taking a shot with Rob and it didn’t work out, how the hell was her heart supposed to recover?

“Unless,” Gabby said slowly, “after years of dating and experience, you feel in your bones that this one is different.”

---