Page 46 of Still The One

‘He’s in your bed?’

‘Look at him,’ I motion, watching him give her his best pouty face. ‘How could I make a guy this injured sleep on a fifty-year-old couch?’

‘By remembering how it felt when he love bombed you, married you, moved you across the country to be his housewife, then went right back to his career and left you behind?’

‘I didn’t love bomb her,’ Foster says, defending himself. ‘I loved her, it just?—’

‘—wasn’t enough,’ I finish his sentence but the way he scrunches his face says he might not agree.

Jess narrows her eyes at him. ‘You are a heartbreaking asshole.’

I shoot her a warning look before turning to Foster. ‘Ignore her. She’s hormonal and protective because she’s due any day now. It also seems that she’s forgotten I’m a full-grown adult who does not need the supervision or approval of my big sister.’

Jess frowns, moving her hands to her hips. ‘You don’t want my approval?’

‘I’d like it, but if it’s not possible, it’s not going to sway me from making my own decisions.’

‘What kind of decisions?’

‘The hypothetical kind…’

She looks between us. ‘There’s been no romance here? No stolen kisses? No “I miss yous” or “what ifs”?’

Foster’s and my gaze meet and I immediately know what he’s thinking.Keep it to yourself.If there’s anything I know, it’sthat getting family ‘overly involved’ can be bad too. We can only protect our own hearts.

‘I’d say the romance weather meter is reading in the negatives nowadays,’ Foster says.

Not a word of that was a lie. No mention of the ‘miss you’ conversation. You can’t explain what you don’t understand yourself.

Jess cocks her head, her dark hair pulled into a messy bun.

‘I suppose I can respect that. You’ve grown a lot over the last few years, Eve. I just worry, ya know?’ Her tone softens and of course I forgive her – she’s my sister.

‘Totally understand. But fret not, dear sister, Mr Foster here is only a temporary presence until he’s healed enough to get back to his first love, his motorcycle.’

‘That’s probably best because with me getting ready to deliver a baby, I’m not going to have time to drag you out of a heart-shattering, earth-moving personal crisis like last time.’

Without even thinking about it, Foster and I glance at each other. He looks confused, clearing his throat awkwardly. ‘Heart-shattering? Earth-moving?’ he repeats.

Why would she go and say that?! Never once have I muttered the words ‘you broke my heart’ to this man. He didn’t deserve to know what he did to me, at least not in my head at the time. Now she’s let them loose and even with medication clouding his head, he’s heard them, and nearly choked on them.

Finally my insides settle like confetti, allowing me to speak. ‘Listen, Foster and I aren’t reliving the past. Are there things we probably need to talk about? Absolutely. Am I interested in doing it right now? Not even a little bit. We’re going to keep that mess on the back burner and focus on becoming friends again while he allows me to nurse him back to health from a horrific injury. He’s my patient, not my lover.’

‘And that is not a Prince song,’ he says, making me laugh.

Jess cracks a smile, shaking her head and motioning two fingers between her eyes and Foster. ‘I’m watching you, pretty boy. You won’t break her twice.’

‘Not even a thought in my mind. Currently I’m trying to figure out how to repay her for what she’s doing. How many zeros do you think it’ll take?’

There is no way I’m allowing him to pay me for this, and if he knows me at all, he knows that. But he’s making himself the bad guy for my sake so Jess can calm her hormonal ass down.

‘At least five,’ she says, nodding my way.

‘Five zeros it is,’ he says.

‘I’m done,’ I say, tossing the bidet directions onto the bathroom floor. ‘Bidet installed,’ I announce, standing and giving it a test – pushing the different buttons and seeing what this thing can do. ‘Want to try it out?’ I ask, knowing Jess will definitely have to pee, considering the baby is probably smashing her bladder.

She confirms the bidet works just as intended but it takes a snack and a small rest on my couch, watching the latest episode ofLove is Blind,before she decides to go home and follow the doctor’s orders.

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