Nellie smirked and gently slapped my chest. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I know,” I told her, nuzzling into the side of her neck. She’d already explained her intimacy issues, and I was expecting this to take a lot longer than it had. I was happy it hadn’t, because holding her felt right. “How do you feel about going out for breakfast?”
I felt guilty for locking Nellie up all weekend, keeping her to myself, and wanted to take her out for a few hours.
“Oh, that would be good! I’ve been craving eggs benedict,” Nellie exclaimed.
Once we were dressed and ready for the day, we went for breakfast at The Hungry Hub. It was always busy on Sunday mornings, but we were able to walk in and find a recently vacated table.
The server, Emily, brought over menus and took our drink order. I ordered a coffee and Nellie, a tea. Emily returned a few moments later with a silver pot of tea and a coffee pot, and she filled up our mugs while she took our breakfast orders.
I ordered a Hungry Man breakfast while Nellie ordered the eggs benedict with sausage and a side of asparagus. We chatted for a few minutes, and then we were interrupted by a familiar voice.
“Ah! You guys had the same idea!” I turned my head, catching sight of Sage as she slid into the booth beside Nellie. “Mind if we joined you? There are no other tables available and I’m starving!” she added, looking at me hopefully.
Nix was with her, shooting me an apologetic look.
“Yeah, that’s no problem,” I said, moving closer to the wall to make room for Nix.
“I told her we could order and head home, but—”
“We rarely get a kid-free morning. Auntie Em and Uncle Ed have Daphne until this afternoon, and I wanted to go out for breakfast, not stay in,” Sage explained, pouting a little.
“It’s not a bother.” Nellie smiled at her friend. Catching sight of the new arrivals to our table, Emily came back to grab their orders and pour more coffee.
“So, how’s your weekend been?” Sage asked, turning her attention back to Nellie and me. “Get up to anything interesting?”
“We mostly hung out at Noah’s,” Nellie replied, glancing at me.
“Sounds like a good time,” Nix grinned. “Did you go hot tubbing?”
“Actually, no,” I replied. “I need to replace the motor in mine, it burnt out last fall.”
“You have a hot tub, too?” Nellie asked, bewildered. “Where?”
“Off the back deck. It’s currently empty of water, and buried under snow,” I answered. “It’s been on my to-do list to fix, but I didn’t get around to it before winter hit.” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“Well, that’s neat,” Nellie said thoughtfully. “Can you even go in a hot tub while pregnant?”
“You can, but you have to keep the temperature below a hundred and one degrees and you can’t stay in longer than ten minutes,” Sage replied. “What! I looked into it, this winter has been brutally cold, and my body aches. This pregnancy has been kicking my ass.”
I furrowed my brow, confused.
“Oh! Right, I forgot to tell you. Sage and Nix are expecting, too,” Nellie explained. “We’re actually due around the same time.”
“No kidding!” I exclaimed. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, we’re pretty stoked,” Nix said, his gaze going to Sage.
“Our babies are going to be built-in best friends,” Sage declared, squeezing Nellie’s hand. “We’re finding out Monday if we’re having a boy or a girl.”
“We don’t care which, but Daphne really wants to know. She’s helping design the baby’s room at the new house.”
“That’s awesome.”
“And congratulations to you, too,” Sage said to me, smiling warmly. “I heard the official news.”
Nellie was glancing around, looking a little uncomfortable. I followed her gaze, noticing a few of the patrons were watching us and listening in with a little too much eagerness. She averted her gaze, her smile frozen in place.
