Caleb’s eyes go wide as an owl’s. “Are you cheating on my brother already?”
“What? No! This is Gage. You heard him.” I smile as I look back at my screen, where Gage stares intently back at me.
“There is no way my brother just used that tone and called someonebaby.He’s been replaced by aliens, I’m certain.”
I join Caleb at my desk, holding the phone in front of our faces.
“Morning, brother. Don’t let my girl work too hard.” Gage winks at me.
“And what a morning it is. Just wait until the family finds out about this. Mum and Grams are going to be beside themselves with joy. You might be in trouble with Beth for not telling her the news first, though.”
“Don’t be too sure of that,” Gage says, shifting his phone to show Beth standing beside him with a shocked expression of her own.
I hope she’s not mad at me for keeping what was happening between me and Gage a secret. It’s only because I was unsure of where we stood. I didn’t want to read into anything, and Gage struck me as someone who didn’t easily share details of his personal life, even with his family.
“Hey, Beth. Thanks for your help last night.”
“I’m so happy it all worked out.” She smiles before side-eyeing Gage. “You best keep it working.”
“Don’t worry,” he says to her, then looks back at the screen. “I will.”
I hold up a fist, showing him my pinky and reminding him of the promise we shared last night. Only the two of us know the full extent of our secret. He does the same, holding up a tattooed hand with a pinky stretched.
“I’ll see you later for dinner, baby. I love you.”
I don’t think Gage hears my words back over Beth’s squeals, but he smiles anyway before hanging up.
I put my phone on the desk, then look at my boss. One of my best friends.
“What was your question again? Oh, yes, am I dating your brother?” I chuckle, but Caleb doesn’t reciprocate. Instead, he looks at me in disbelief.
“Izzy. You made my brother fall in love. I didn’t think he’d ever experience that.”
“The same could have been said about you a few months ago, if it weren’t for the future Mrs,” Riley says, speaking of Lex.
Caleb clears his throat, squirming in my seat as he crosses one leg over the other.
“I wasn’t opposed to one day meeting someone, though. I just didn’t expect to meet them so soon. I certainly didn’t expect the feelings to hit me like a freight train. But with Gage, I thought he was determined to be alone forever, vehemently so.”
“I guess forever had other plans for him.”
Just wait until they find out about the baby.
Chapter thirty-five
My leg bounces nervously as I wait. This is the weirdest experience of my life. I’m sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting for them to show me the first signs of life for a baby I created with the most perfect woman to walk the Earth. I don’t know how I got here, but I take a deep breath and instead try to think of what a beautifully unexpected moment this is.
I never gave much thought to my life past the next day. Bite-sized pieces were all my mind would allow me without feeling like I was drowning in the noise.
I reach out, taking Isabelle’s hand in mine, thankful for all the curveballs life has given me, that she was one of them. She smiles at me, those dimples popping, and she becomes my reason to keep doing better. To keep working on myself, and to stop letting the little moments pass me by without appreciating them. I almost regret the things I might have missed over the last decade when I was hiding behind redemption, but if I had done anything differently, I might not be here right now.
“We’re going to do a transvaginal scan for today’s appointment. You mentioned over the phone you were in a car accident recently, so this will give us a clearer picture of bubs,” says our doctor as she pulls on some latex gloves.
Isabelle’s hand squeezes tighter around mine as my eyes shift to the screen behind Doctor Reeves. What I’m not expectingis the doctor to pick up a dildo that almost makes me question my manhood.Almost.
“You know we’re here to see our baby, right?” I ask, eyeing Isabelle to see if she’s also slightly concerned.
Doctor Reeves lets out an amused chuckle. “We use a wand transducer earlier in a pregnancy or if there are any areas of concern.”
