Page 67 of Ghosted By Texas

“That would be cool, but then you’d have to put up with me living on your couch because no way would I want to miss those check-ins.”

“Austin,” I whispered his voice. “How are we going to do this with the baby when he’s here?” He’d just brought up a good point. Neither of us was going to want to miss out on the milestones when the other had the baby.

“We’ll work it all out, Becs.” He patted my hand, and I missed the warmth of his touch when he let go. “Will you do me the honor of having lunch with me this time?”

“Can we go to that one place?”

He grinned, so I felt like he already knew what I was talking about, but he asked anyway. “Which place is that?”

“The one with the animal themed foods?”

“You’re dying for their potato soup again, huh?”

“How did you know?”

He grinned but didn’t answer as he put his truck in gear and backed out of the parking spot. “Seems like the perfect place to celebrate finding out we’re having a boy!”

“It really does,” I admitted. “I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

“About that,” Austin started to say, and then he looked at me before taking off in the direction of the highway. “Do you think we could hold off until the weekend and maybe go to my family’s Sunday dinner, so we can tell everyone at once?”

“Um, I haven’t exactly met all of your family.”

“No, but it would be a good time to do it, so that there aren’t any strangers to you in our son’s life when he gets here. No matter what, I want you comfortable with everything that happens, including who he’s around.” I nodded because that had been a legitimate worry of mine.

“Okay, we can do that. Clea’s going to kill me, since she knows my appointment was today.”

“I’ll handle her.”

I laughed at that. “Okay, buddy. I’ll be sure to tell her you thought you could handle her.”

“Well, I’ll handle her adjacent. I happen to know her boyfriend and I think he can keep her off your back and busy on hers instead for a few days.”

“Oh my God! You did not just say it like that.”

“Oh, come on, everyone knows all they do is eat, sleep, work, and fuck.”

“That’s actually pretty accurate.”

Our lighthearted banter kept up all the way to the restaurant and until we were seated at a table. Once we ordered, Austin took my hand across the table. Flashbacks of our first date there hit me like a freight train and I immediately pulled back from him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I just…”

“Remembered last time we were here?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it so bad to remember that?” He asked and it was evident he wanted a sincere answer.

“Austin, nothing was ever bad when we were dating, it was the fact that it ended so abruptly, without any discussion, that makes it hard to remember the good times. It’s like they didn’t matter or count for anything.”

“They mattered, Becs. Every damn minute I got to spend with you mattered.”

“Just not enough.”

“You once asked me to put myself in your shoes with that whole Clarence nonsense.” I nodded in agreement. “Well, I’m asking the same of you now.” He explained how his conversation with Jordan that night had gone down.

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