When I madeit to Ryann’s place later that night, she had all of Mocha’s stuff packed up and sitting in the foyer.
“Hey,” I said when she opened the front door and stepped back to let me walk into her place.
She was wearing pajama pants, a tee shirt that accentuated her little round stomach, and a robe that was open. I reached out, palming her bump like it was a miniature basketball. I would miss being able to do that once she gave birth.
“Hey,” she told me before making her way back over to the disheveled sofa.
I took in the mess. It wasn’t like Ryann. Even when she was in the throes of morning sickness, she still tried to keep her place presentable. “You cool?”
“Don’t judge, Brix. I’m not in a good space.”
I crossed the room and took a seat next to her on the sofa, despite all of the blankets, pillows, plates, and empty food packages. “I don’t like hearing that, Ry. Anything I can do to make things flow better for you?”
“Why’d you pull away from me, Brix? Why’d you stop spending time over here and laying down with me at night? Why’d you stop giving me massages? Why’d you stop?”
I didn’t know how to tell her that I overheard the conversation she had with her father all those weeks earlier. The one where he insinuated that she should try to keep a wall between us because what we had was a business arrangement. I didn’t agree with him. Having the baby with Ryann was more than a business arrangement. She was special to me. She was somebody that I could see myself falling for. Hell, I was already falling for her.
I could see where her dad was coming from. He was trying to save her from getting caught up in a messy entanglement with me. Where the lines were too blurred and feelings were hurt. Where new suitors would come in and not understand the dynamic. He had a point. I needed to honor the fact that Ryann wasn’t mine. I needed to stop crossing boundaries.
If Ryann was regular, non-pregnant, reasonable Ryann, I would tell her straight up what the deal was, but I had to handle pregnant Ryann with care because her emotions were all over the place.
“I felt like I was crowding you, lil mama.” I semi-lied. “I felt like I was doing too much and I wanted to make sure you felt like you had your space.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that. I didn’t wantmy space.”
I didn’t have a response for that, so I stayed quiet.
She rolled her eyes at me. “Mocha! Mocha!”
A little dark ball of fur rounded the corner and skidded to a stop in front of the sofa. “She’s ready to go.” Ryann dismissed me.
I took the cue and stood. Shit. There wasn’t really anything else for me to do. She was inviting me to leave. “Yo, way back when, we talked about you getting my house together for me. We’re at the halfway mark with this pregnancy and our daughter will be here before we know it.” I had to take a pause at the thought of having a daughter. The idea of that caused my heart to do weird shit in my chest. “I want my house to be a home before she comes. And I especially want her room to be ready. Would you still be willing to do that for me? You could come by and get the pictures you talked about, and you mentioned something about boards?—”
“Vision boards.” She gave me the genuine smile she used to give me so easily. It had been a long time since I’d received one of those from her.
“Yeah, vision boards. We could go shopping, or you could go shopping. Anyway, we only have about four to five months, give or take. I?—”
“I wanna do it. When can I come by?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Perfect. That’ll give me something to look forward to.” She picked Mocha up and cuddled her. “Okay, please take her now before I start to cry.”
The next day, I gathered Mocha into her carrying case and drove over to Cozy Canine Connections so she could be reunited with her owners.
Tiffany practically met me at the door. “Mr. Cole,” she began.
“Brixton.”
“Brixton, I was about to reach out to you. I just got off the phone with the Wallertons.”
From the look on her face, I knew it wasn’t good.
“Due to personal reasons beyond their control, they can’t make it into town today to claim Mocha. I informed them that we had an agreement. Cozy Canine Connections finds homes for dogs in two ways—we find temporary placement due to relocation or some other unforeseen circumstances, and we find forever homes for displaced dogs. I had a feeling about them all along. They just presented to me as owners who were going to breech their contract. But even with the feeling in my gut, I hoped that they would prove me wrong. I told them so. I told them that they weren’t on the ‘forever home’ track. They need to reclaim their dog. Do you know what they said to me?”
I tried not to chuckle. She was pissed off, and I could already see where it was going. Ryann’s house was about to become Mocha’s forever home. “Nah. What’d they say?”
“They said I should put her on the forever track because they didn’t know when they’ll be able to pick her up, if ever. They don’t plan on picking her up, Brixton.”
