Page 128 of Unexpected Forever
He smiles. “I don’t know, but it always feels like a storm’s brewing when they’re in the same room.”
“She was just watching him like she wanted to jump his bones.”
“Really? I’ve never noticed her watching him, but I have caught him checking her out more than once.”
It’s just a couple of sentences, but I feel closer to Nate talking about Ian and Darcy than I have in days.
Nate’s phone pings from his pocket, and I catch the name on the screen when he pulls it out.
Lou.
A text from Lou can only mean one thing at this point.
I ease back from him, the band back around my chest once more.
As he reads the screen, his eyes go blank.
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” he says, shoving it back into his pocket.
A knot forms in my belly and tightens into a painful ball.
He’s lying.
I see it in the set of his broad shoulders and the flat line of his mouth. Even Nugget knows he’s lying and gives me a solid kick in the bladder.
Before the conversation can continue, I shove the plate into his hands. “I’ll be right back.”
I move as quickly as an eight-months-pregnant woman can move and lock myself in the downstairs bathroom. I wash my hands and stare in the mirror.
“Charley, you knew what was going to happen. Why did you bother thinking otherwise?” I ask my reflection, who has no answers for me.
Anger starts to build in my veins. I’m angry for letting myself fall for a man I knew would leave. Women raise babies by themselves all the time, and I have a huge family who will help me. I don’t need Nate Gentry.
But I want him. I want forever with him.
The way he’s shut down on me after sharing so much with me tells me everything I need to know.
He loves the baby, but he doesn’t love me.
Hot tears slide down my cheeks, and I wipe them away with the back of my hand.
Pull it together, girl. Don’t cry over him.
My heart aches with the knowledge of what I need to do.
It’s a road I know like the back of my hand. It’s littered with the men I’ve loved but always left me. My dad died when I needed him. My brothers left when I needed them.
Even Brian, my high school sweetheart, left me behind after graduation as though our four years together meant nothing.
It’s time for me to get back to what I know. And what I know is I can take care of myself and my baby.
I clean up my face and take a deep inhale and exhale, rubbing a hand over my baby belly. “We’re going to be okay, Nugget. Just me and you. I promise.”
I take one last look in the mirror and, satisfied I don’t look any worse for wear, turn off the light and open the door.
Only to run into a wall of muscle. I look up into the hazel eyes that strip me bare every time.
