Page 152 of Never Forever

She pushed the blankets off revealing the tank top and underwear she slept in. I had to look away. Was there anything sexier than this woman in a tank top so see through I could see the shadows of her nipples?

No. The answer was no.

“Come on. Today is the big day,” I reminded her.

“That’s right!” she smiled. “It’s opening night forChildren of the Corn.”

The play had been pushed off a week because of the storm so the set could dry out.

“It is,” I conceded. “But you know damn well that’s not what I’m talking about. Now move your ass or we’re going to be late.”

She shot me a disgruntled look and then vanished into the bathroom. I heard the shower and walked out to the kitchen. The morning sickness was easing off and she was able to hold down some toast in the mornings. The weird cravings though, were only getting weirder. I was calling into Pappas’ every day to find out the Pregnancy Platter.

This was my life and I couldn’t be happier.

She came out of that closet of hers in no time. A pair of black leggings and a black flannel shirt of mine. No make-up.

“What?” she said, as she came down the hallway toward me.

Marry me.

That’s what I wanted to say. It’s what I wanted to say to her every day since she’d been here. Every minute. But I was in the business of not pushing. Slow and steady. No big moments. No production.

“When do you think you’ll start showing?” I asked her.

“I don’t know? Month five?” she said, stepping into a pair of boots.

She had a little curve to her belly now. I wasn’t sure if it was pregnancy or just proper nutrition, but when she was asleep, I put my hand over that curve and thought about our baby.

“Here,” I said, and handed her a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Plus her thermos of decaf coffee.

“Oh, thank you babe,” she said and opened the front door, letting in the bright sunlight and cool breeze of a perfect Fall day.

I was trying not to react to thebabesshe tossed around like they were nothing.

I was not reacting to the way she kissed me when I came home at lunch. I was not reacting to the way she put her feet in my lap at the end of the day as she played Wordle and I read a book.

But all these little moments and small things in my mind equaled a relationship.

We were in a relationship. I just wasn’t going to point that out to her.

It was excruciating.

It was bliss.

“Opening night,” she said as I got on the highway.

“What about it?”

“I think we should rent those space heaters they have on restaurant patios to line the center aisle.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s October now. That’s different than September. It’s going to be freezing.”

“It’s the first week of October and that’s what coats are for.”

“Matt,” she shot me that look. That look like I was being ridiculous. It made me want to turn this truck around and take her back to bed.

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