“I’m not. Cool.” He paused. “And I want to pay for everything.”
I tilted my head. “Define everything.”
He began ticking off items on his fingers. “Your medical bills associated with being pregnant. Anything else the baby needs—a crib, stroller, all the crap you always see parents hauling around.” He brightened. “Hey, you know once I can drive again, I should look at getting a minivan. And I want to do some research on the safest car seats.”
I ignored that last part. “Noah, I appreciate your generosity, but I’m perfectly capable of buying the baby whatever it’s going to need—and my medical bills are covered by my insurance. I’m fine.”
“Nope. That’s not how it’s working.” His phone buzzed, and he grimaced. “Damn, that was fast. The car’s here.”
“We can talk about this later,” I suggested. “We have time.”
He looked as though he was about to argue and then stopped. “Okay. Yeah, we can do that.”
I started toward the front door. “Thanks for bringing dinner over, Noah. It was delicious.” I hesitated. “And thanks for talking through everything with me, too. I feel a lot more . . . settled now. Like I can relax a little more.”
“Good.” He paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Can you text me the date and time of your next appointment with the midwife—and where it is?”
“I will,” I promised, wrapping my arms around myself.
“Thanks.” He started to leave and then, turning around again, he bent to kiss my cheek. “I know this isn’t exactly the traditional way to start a family, Alison, but we’re going to be all right. We’re going to make it work. I have a good feeling about it.”
Before I could agree or argue, he was out the door and moving carefully down the steps toward the town car waiting at the curb. I watched as he climbed in and closed the door before the car sped away into the night.
“He has a good feeling about this,” I murmured to myself as I shut my door and turned the deadbolt. “And he wants to be a father. I’m not in this on my own anymore.”
That should have cheered me up, but as I clicked off all the lights and climbed the stairs to my bedroom, for some reason I felt as though I wanted to cry.
4
Noah
“Thanks for meeting me today, Juliet.” I stood up as she approached my table in the quiet little restaurant. “I appreciate it.”
She stepped just close enough for me to take her hand and offered me her cheek. “Well, I always enjoy a good grovel. And the chicken salad in this place is to die for.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I held her chair and then took my own seat. “I know it’s one of your favorite places for lunch.”
“Yes, it is. Convenient to both the stadium and my house.” Unfolding her napkin and smoothing it over her lap, she looked up at me expectantly. “All right. The small talk is over. The groveling can begin right now.”
I took a moment to sip my ice water. “I’m not here to apologize or—as you say—to grovel. I don’t feel as though I have anything to be sorry for. I think I was perfectly within my rights in being angry last week when I found out you’d been lying to me—and lying to Alison, too.”
She raised one eyebrow. “I told you, I thought I was protecting you from someone you didn’t want to see.”
“You thought you were keeping a woman who you perceived as a threat out of my life,” I countered. “You didn’t have my best interest at heart, Juliet. Be honest with me.”
Juliet refused to meet my eyes. “You’re free to think whatever you want about me. You’re going to do it anyway.”
“I don’t want to argue with you. That’s not why I invited you to lunch.”
“Oh? Then why?” She tilted her head. “If it wasn’t to apologize or to yell at me some more, I mean. I assume if you were looking for a hook-up, you’d have had me come to your house.”
I shifted in my chair. “I think we need to be clear about what’s going on between us and what’s happening in my life overall. I don’t want you to be blindsided by anything. When I made a commitment to you the other day and told you then that I wanted us to start over again, I didn’t know about the baby. Now that I do, I’m not sure that us being together would be fair to you.”
A fake smile stretched over her face. “How kind of you. Did you find out about any other babies you’ve fathered unknowingly? Or is it still just the one?”
I chose to ignore her snark. “Alison and I talked the other night. I told her that I want to be involved in her pregnancy, and I plan to be a very involved father, too. She’s agreed to all of that, which is pretty damn gracious considering that I blew her off for months.”
“She’s practically a saint.” Juliet’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “So now that she’s forgiven you, you don’t need me anymore? Is that it?” She leaned toward me, her eyes skewering me. “Or do you plan to make me the booty call, the one you need because your baby mama isn’t putting out anymore?”
