Page 80 of The Wedding Hoax

I found a familiar phrase echoing in my mind, even though I knew she’d probably be heading for the door any moment now. She didn’t seem exceptionally tired, which meant that she’d have enough energy to get up and go back to her own bed for the night.

“How much would it cost to put in bookshelves?”

“What?” Her question caught me off guard.

“In my bedroom,” she explained. “There are already bookshelves in there, but I meant the ones that are actually built into the wall? I was watching a video online with a woman who had them and they looked so chic.”

“Are you thinking about making some adjustments to your room?”

“Nothing that would bring down your home’s valuation.” She chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll also make sure it’s stuff you can take out without too much trouble.”

“I don’t care if you bring down my home’s valuation. I don’t care if you decide to paint your entire room lime green.”

“Be careful what you wish for.” Simone chuckled again. “Because I’m pretty sure lime green is literally always on sale at the paint store.”

Simone looked up at me and kissed me on the chin. Then she settled back down next to me, letting out a small sigh.

“I could get used to this,” she murmured.

“Me too,” I murmured back, hoping against hope that we were talking about the same thing. I gingerly ran a hand through her hair as sleep slowly crept in, my eyes soon closing as I let myself sink off to sleep.

But as I nodded off, all I could think about was how good it felt to hold Simone in my arms like this.

And how much it was going to hurt when I couldn’t hold her anymore.

31

SIMONE

I woke up in Harry’s arms.

I smiled to myself at the realization, his breath coming slow and steady as he still slept beside me—

“Crap!” I suddenly yelled after my brain fully came back online. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, and I had no idea what time it was. I’d set an alarm in my room last night, but since I hadn’t slept in my room, that alarm might as well have been in another country.

I frantically hopped out of bed, running toward Harry’s bedroom door.

“Simone? Are you okay? Where are you going?” Harry called out after me.

“Doctor’s appointment! I’m late!”

“Why are you going to the doctor?” he asked, but I was already too far away to answer without screaming back at him. I stumbled into my bedroom, heading right for the closet. I hastily put together an outfit, pulling different tops and pants off their hangers. When I was satisfied with a black-and-white dress, I pulled it over my head and shook out my hair.

Wait.

Should I take a shower?

I pulled my dress off as I hurried into the bathroom to take a quick shower. It didn’t take me long to dry off and get back into the dress, my heart pounding against my chest with my every move. It felt like I was playing a dangerous game, running late for an OB/GYN appointment when me being pregnant in the first place was pretty much a miracle.

Mom.

Crap!

I ran to Mom’s rehab room, making sure she was in for her session today. My mom didn’t even notice that I’d come into the room as she worked with one of the nurses Harry had hired to help her do her rehab at home.

“There you go, Miss Eileen. Just like that.” The nurse was smiling down at her. “We’re going to start off slow, okay? We don’t need to rush through this. It’s more important that you’re all the way healed. That’s the most important thing, okay?”

I offered them a quick wave, but neither of them seemed to notice that I existed.

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