“What?” I say.
“I want you to know this is one of those things that I’d prefer to not tell you, but I don’t do that anymore, so please remember I’m telling you this despite knowing it’s going to make today worse.”
I swallow. “Maybe we can scrap thatno secretsrule for today?”
Laney grips my hand. “We’ve got your back, whatever it is. You can handle it.”
“You know I’m supposed to be taking care ofyou tworight now, right?” I ask. “I’m ruining your first pregnancy glows and stealing the attention you should be getting. That’s not fair.”
“Pregnancy sucks with a side of barf. You can have it.” Sabrina winces. “Dammit. I didn’t mean specifically thatyoucan have it. But now I’m thinking about youbeing pregnant again, and I need to—you know what? Please tell my brain to stop going down rabbit holes and my mouth to stop spitting them out.”
“Just tell us what you know,” Laney replies.
“He likes you,” Sabrina whispers.
It takes a full minute to register whoheis and whoyouis, even though it shouldn’t.
Probably denial.
Full-up, willful denial.
“He doesnot.” My whispered retort is at a decibel level that should only be audible to dogs. I’m honestly surprised Jitter and Duke aren’t howling outside right now.
“I know he’s an actor and he can fake things, but Em, I haveneverseen that look on his face before in all of the Razzle Dazzle movies I’ve watched.He likes you. And he was trying to hide it andhe couldn’t.”
“He just wants to know Bash.”
Sheharumphs. “He was watching you like you were a seven-course meal at the fanciest restaurant he’s ever eaten at.BeforeBash came out.AfterBash came out, he stared at you like you’re a superhero, which he damn well better, because you fuckingare.”
“Are you sick?” I put a hand to her forehead. “Hallucinating? Do I need to call Grey?”
“When the least romantic of the three of us says body language is betraying a man, I’d listen,” Laney murmurs.
Sabrina rubs her belly. It seems bigger today than it was yesterday. “Itoldyou I didn’t want to tell you. And I wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t have at least ninety percent certainty about it. And if I didn’t think you needed to knowallof what you could be facing here.”
She’s right.
I know she’s right.
But the worst part?I felt it too. Not just today either.
Difference is, when it’s just me, I can convince myself he’s acting for the sake of getting to know Bash.
If Sabrina sees it?
Screw this. I donotneed Jonas Rutherford in my life. I’monlydoing this because I think it’s the right thing to do. For Bash first, and then for Jonas. “We need to get the food and get back outside.”
Sabrina hugs me, and since she’s given up heels for the duration of her pregnancy, her head rests between my boobs. “You can do this, Em. And we’re here for whatever help you want along the way.”
Laney wraps her arms around both of us. “Always.”
We gather the food and head back outside, my brain a jumbled mess in a way it hasn’t been since right before I met Jonas the first time.
I shoot a look at the grill as I hear Theo ask, “So, you pay your taxes?”
Oh my god, he did not.
Sabrina makes a strangled noise.
