“Yup, it was weird even for me. I had Sunday roast, but then I added cashews with a topping of caramel sauce.”
He stared at her; his jaw dropped. Ro expected his stomach to revolt as it has the last time, but that actually sounded good.
Rowan managed to get through the appointment without upchucking again, but his luck didn’t hold longer than that. The moment he left Sydney, he was back in the bathroom stall. When he was finished, Ro had rinsed his mouth and splashed water on his face yet again, he stared at himself in the mirror.
“I should move my office in here,” he muttered to his reflection in the mirror.
But even as exhausted and miserable as he felt, Rowan realised he was also happy. He placed a hand on his still-flat stomach and couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. And when the thought floated into his mind that Mikhail was at home—or rather, the hotel—waiting for him, his smile widened further.
Okay, so life was actually way decent right now.
* * *
Rowan leftthe bathroom returning to the front desk. He took a seat and began going through some files on the computer when another midwife, Shelley, came up and sat down two seats away from him.
He smiled in her direction and got one in return, then focused back on his screen.
The next thing he knew, a smell had his barely settled stomach gurgling again. He looked in her direction and found that Robin had opened a sandwich. He took a breath. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was egg and mayo.
Rowan swallowed and tried not to breathe too much. He’d already switched his shifts so he worked early from about 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., which was usually when he got the worst of it he’d found, but today seemed worse than usual.
He had about four hours left on his shift, but Ro wasn’t confident that he’d be able to work for too much longer.
He felt tears shimmer in his eyes and used the back of his hands to wipe them away. That was another one that had come along. His emotions had gone haywire. Rowan usually prided himself in being pretty even-tempered, but that didn’t seem to be the case much of late.
He wasn’t used to it at all. He was usually that guy who could control how he was feeling. He’d worked hard at it, but now he felt like he could burst into tears at any given moment.
Not only that, but his horny factor was at, like, an all-time high.
Rowan realised taking shallow breaths was the way to go, so he moved his seat further away from Shelley and breathed through his mouth as he made a quick note in Sydney’s file amongst the others already there.
He’d just got done with his task when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Rowan got it out, looking around to make sure he was alone.
He was. Apparently, he’d been focusing so hard on breathing that he hadn’t heard Shelley leave.
When he looked at his phone, it was to find a message from Mikhail.
He didn’t even have to open it since he could read it on his lock screen.
M: Thinking about you. Miss you.
Rowan’s lips stretched as he read the message. He used the face recognition to open his phone and replied to Mikhail immediately.
R: Miss you too. Can I come home already? xx
The reply was instantaneous.
M: I vote yes.
Rowan chuckled.
R: Lol! Of course you do.
The more he thought about, the more he felt, why not? He didn’t have any more appointments, and the head nurse had asked him if he wanted to leave after his third or so time dashing to the bathroom. He might as well take her up on her offer.
Twenty-Five
Mikhail
