Page 18 of Teach Me
“Hm? Oh…yeah, not so much.”
This from the woman who ate like the proverbial horse. And was looking everywhere but at Jess. Jess wasn’t the only one who knew how to prevaricate. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Cris folded her hands in front of her. “Just a bit nauseated. It comes and goes. That happens when you’re pregnant.”
Jess froze. Pregnant? “What?”
A sweet, dreamy smile curved Cris’s lips. She actually blushed. “I’m pregnant.”
“Cris…wha— I can’t… You’re pregnant?” Jess slid from the booth and swung to the other side to gather her friend into a fierce hug. “That’s wonderful!”
Cris hugged her back. “It is.”
Something about Cris’s tone started a warning niggling at the back of Jess’s brain. She leaned away to get a good look at her friend’s face. “Is everything okay? Have you seen a doctor? What’s going on?”
“Whoa!” Cris chuckled at the onslaught of questions. “You’re the first person aside from my doctor to know. Let me enjoy it a minute.”
So there was something wrong. Jess returned to her seat, darting a glance at the table as if she could see through it to Cris’s stomach.
Once Jess was settled, Cris cleared her throat, then spoke, her tone soft but firm. “We’re okay right now. We found out a couple of weeks ago—”
“A couple of weeks!”
“Yes.” She sighed. “A couple of weeks. I’d done a test, but I was spotting… We didn’t know for sure what would happen.” She shrugged, but Jess could see the hint of worry in Cris’s blue eyes. “The doctor’s been keeping a close eye out. We got the call yesterday that things look good. Hopefully we’re out of the woods.”
Jess reached across the table, securing Cris’s hand in a tight grip. “Okay…okay. What does he say?”
“That we obviously needed to use a different birth-control method.” A grin played across Cris’s lips and drew a mirroring one from Jess. “We were talking about it but still being careful, but obviously this little one didn’t want to wait any longer. My hormone levels are going up steadily, just like they should. We’re both fine—if you discount the way he or she is jerking around my appetite. I’m like a yo-yo, hungry one minute, barfing the next.”
Jess struggled to smile through her worry. “How far along?”
“About six weeks. It’s early days still. We wanted to tell you, but—”
Yeah, but.Things hadn’t exactly been normal for her the past six weeks. She understood why Cris wouldn’t want to give her something else to worry about.
She shoved that aside to focus on Cris. “That puts you due in…”
“April. No sultry Southern summer for this pregnancy, at least at the end.” She patted her still-flat tummy, ducking her chin to direct her words downward. “You sure timed that right, baby.”
Jess listened for the next hour to baby plans and baby names, anything baby-related that filtered into Cris’s stream of consciousness. It was as if holding back the news had bottled up a dam, and now the dam had broken and everything behind it just gushed out.
And if a little envy mixed in with Jess’s worry for her friend, she ignored it. And the pictures that flashed through her mind of exactly what she would have to do to get pregnant. With Conlan. It was never going to happen. She had to get a grip on that reality before she went down a path that would only lead to heartache.
Cris finally swung from nauseated to hungry, and they talked a bit longer while she ate. Not until they were walking out to their cars did she return to the subject of Conlan.
Keys jingling, Cris shaded her eyes from the glaring sun. Her voice went low and serious. “Listen, Jess…don’t wait, okay? If you want this guy, go get him.” She pulled Jess into a hug, whispering in her ear. “Don’t let Brit steal any more than he already has. You’ve started living your life again. Now you have to fight for what you want. ‘No’ isn’t such a tough price to pay for taking a chance.”
Jess watched Cris get into her car before walking toward her own, thoughts of Tuesday night spinning in her head. It had hurt, having Conlan tell her no. But not like having her ribs broken or her head bashed against the floor. She was tired of being afraid, and even more tired of being alone. Conlan was strong, safe, sexy. Perfect. And he made things tingle that had never tingled before. Her body begged to just share his airspace.
She didn’t know what he meant when he said he was unavailable. Could she take one more chance if it led to the possibility of having him in her bed, for even one night? Maybe Cris was right—maybe he would be up for sex as long as commitment didn’t come into it. It wasn’t her ideal, but she’d take it with Conlan.
One more chance. As she slid into the heated interior of her car, she caught sight of herself in the rearview mirror and stared straight into her own eyes.
One more chance.
You never know. Maybe he’ll say yes.
Chapter Eight
