“Baby, only when they’re trying to give me advice. They were giving me a huge pile of shit on the way to the airport. I couldn’t take anymore.” I take her hands in mine, wondering if it’s too late to start over.
Her beautiful exotic eyes brim with tears. “I tried so hard to tell you how sorry I was for the way things ended and I couldn’t find you. I even went to your apartment but by the time I arrived, Kyle said you’d left for good.”
I pat her hand, almost ready to cry, myself. “I got a job in DC.” I don’t tell her how I couldn’t bear the thought of bumping into her, seeing her in the arms of another man.
Both her palms cup my cheeks as her tear-soaked eyes search mine. “You’ve moved? Permanently?”
“At least until Christmas. After that, I’m not sure.” I squeeze her fingers. “It isn’t so far away, not really.”
“No. Not so far.” A slight smile crosses her face and about a hundred pounds lifts off my chest.
I suck at small talk but damn, to keep those earbuds out, I’ll try anything. “How have you been?”
“Okay.” Her smile slips and I know she’s lying.
“You?”
“I’m guarding a Senator. The Secret Service isn’t happy about sharing the responsibility but we’re working it out. How’s your job?”
“I got a lot of new clients, most of them ex-cult members.” She wipes her eyes and I hand her a tissue so she doesn’t reuse the wad in her fist.
“That’s good, right?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Have you been taking care of yourself?” I capture her violet eyes, willing the truth from her but they flick down as she fidgets with the headphone wires.
“My stomach hasn’t been feeling so good, lately.” She’s got a book open on her phone, the chapter titled, ‘Nursing Your Baby.’ It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to put two and two together.
For a split second, I’m furious she didn’t tell me, then I recall how inaccessible I’ve become. “I am a complete and total ass. You’re pregnant.”
Her eyes get all worried as she searches my face but all I can do is grin as I picture a blond toddler with purple-sapphire eyes. “Wow. That’s awesome.”
“Really? You’re happy?” Her brows arch and a slow smile slides across her face, growing wider by the second.
“Hell yeah. I’ve always wanted a kid.”Of course, I was hoping to be married first, settled down with a white picket fence but we got plenty of time to sort that out.
“Well shit.” She stares at me for the longest time, crosses her arms, and just about beams. “Yours is not the reaction I expected.”
“What? I told you I would support you.” I feign to be hurt but the joy in my chest is just about bursting out of me. I want to jump out of my seat and hand out cigars.
“But you were so pissed when I didn’t take the pill.”
“I know. I was upset.” The sorrow of the last few weeks comes back to haunt me but I push the thoughts away. Blake never left me, not really.
She giggles. “Upset is not an emotion.”
“Right.” Laughing, I grasp her hand, unbuckle my seat belt, and lean over to kiss her.
At first, it’s gentle but when her fingers dig into the back of my head, I almost lose it. We break free with our eyes glued to one another as the plane taxis on the runway.
“So now what?” My hands slip to her cheeks, her neck, and under her chin.
“I guess we get an amicable divorce. Then, who knows?” She nibbles on the side of my finger and I wish to hell we were alone.
Then, for the rest of the flight, it’s like we never broke up. I tell her about my new job and she fills me in on her life. Before we know it, we’ve landed in Salt Lake City.
“Want to share a cab to the courthouse?” I grab her purse, thinking she probably shouldn’t be carrying anything so heavy.
