Page 13 of You Otter Know
Except the feel of River’s hands on him, the golden-dark brown mix of River’s eyes, and that wicked little smile River would get on his face just before he pounced on Bohdi. Thosethings he knew so deep, and he hated that he had just walked away and given them up.
His mom chewed on her lip for a moment. Then she glared at him. “Well, maybe you ought to try to find a way to get a hold of him. Maybe through the lodge. I know they probably won’t give out personal information, but they might call him for you and give him your number.”
“I suppose I could do that.” That was actually a good idea. It was one thing to leave River behind when it was just a holiday love affair.
But now there was a baby. At least the plus sign on the test said so.
“Yes, I think you should.” She tapped her foot, then grimaced when he gagged. “Oh, sweetie, are you very queasy?”
“Yeah. I really don’t feel good at all.”
“Let me get you some Sprite and some crackers, okay?” She went to the kitchen, and he ran for the bathroom because he really had to throw up bad. When he was done, he rinsed his mouth, washed his hands, and flushed. Then he headed back to the kitchen where he met his mom. Luckily, there were no smells in there from any kind of food cooking. She had a sleeve of saltines and a Sprite in her hands.
“Here you go, sweetie.”
He blew out a breath that he hoped didn’t smell terrible. “Thanks, Mom. I just really wasn’t ready for that, even though I kinda suspected. That’s why I got the test.”
“Did you get two tests?”
“What?” He had no idea what she meant by that, but his brain wasn’t working great.
“Sometimes false positives and false negatives happen. I always suggest that people take two tests, just in case.”
“No, I didn’t think to?—”
Waving one hand while she pulled her phone out with the other, she tapped a few things into her phone and then grinned at him. “I just ordered one from the store. I ordered some more Sprite and some crackers too, because this is all I had left. That way, since you’re going to be here for a couple of days, you have a supply.”
She seemed so cheerful, but then again, she’d been after him for years to get married and have babies. Or at least get mated and have babies, even if he didn’t get married.
“What if he doesn’t want to hear from me, Mom? Then what do I do?”
“Then you sit down with your family, and we decide what to do. But first, you have to give him a chance.” Mom put her phone back in her pocket and walked over to him to place a hand on his cheek, her thumb rubbing against his cheekbone. “I love you dearly, sweetie, but you can’t hide from this.”
Bohdi just nodded because she was right. Not only did River deserve to know why he had just up and left without a word after such a wonderful experience, but River deserved to know about the baby too. So he would get a hold of the lodge and threaten that Branson kid with certain death if he didn’t pass on his phone number to River. He figured he got to do that because of how awfully the guy had hidden from them.
“I’ll call the lodge today, I promise.”
“Do you want me to stick around for moral support, or do you want to do this by yourself?”
“I think I need to do it by myself. You know how I am when somebody is watching me when I’m on the phone.”
She rolled her eyes. “Such a millennial. All right sweetie, you go do your thing. I’ll wait here for the Sprite and the second pregnancy test.”
He gave his mom a wave and shuffled off to his bedroom so he could call the lodge. He hated feeling like he needed toapologize to anybody, but he really did want to apologize to River for all of this. One way or the other, he wanted to at least make River aware of what was going on, even if nothing came of it.
But of course, in his heart of hearts, he hoped something did.
The email camein just about the time River was done with his workout. He had been swimming laps in the pool, and his phone was sitting on top of a little side table where it wouldn’t get wet, he could hear it if it dinged.
River would have ignored it except three or four more emails in quick succession came in right after it. Ding ding, ding ding ding.
Frowning, he pulled himself up out of the pool right next to the little table and sat on the cold concrete, shaking the water off of his hand so he could reach for his phone. There were five emails from Branson at the lodge he’d stayed at during Christmas, and he had to admit he was pretty curious to see what the guy wanted since he’d never gotten even an apology or anything about how the guy had double-booked him with Bohdi for Christmas.
He opened the first one, which just had a subject line of “I’m sorry for bothering you.”
His eyebrows flew up because in the body of the email Branson explained that Bohdi had called the lodge and asked for him to pass Bohdi’s phone number on to River. In subsequent emails, Branson explained that this was not something they normally did due to privacy obligations blah blah blah. But since they had been double-booked, and he was worried that perhaps Bohdi had returned home with something belonging to River,blah blah blah... In other words, it was a load of crap, but he had something that was worth its weight in gold; he had Bohdi’s phone number.
River stared at that phone number for long minutes before he made a decision. He had to admit the fact that Bohdi had snuck out of their warm New Year’s Day bed and left without a word had pissed him right off. But at the same time, he was well aware that he and Bohdi were mates, and he was missing the guy something fierce. In fact, he really kind of felt sick with it a lot of the time.
