"No," I whispered.
He nodded as he released me and backed away. He looked disappointed.
"I’m overwhelmed," I said. "I’ve been waiting for you to come home, and I wanted to tell you about the baby myself."
"Why didn’t you?" He ran his hands through his hair and exhaled loudly.
"I didn’t want to tell you over the phone," I said. "And I didn’t want you to give up your internship."
"That wasn’t your call to make," he said, more harshly than I expected.
But I understood his reaction. I'd kept important information from him, decided on my own he didn't need to know, and then I wasn't the one who told him. If I had to do it all again, I definitely would've gone about it another way. But I couldn't change the past, and now we were going to have to move forward from there.
"I’m sorry."He spoke more softly. "I guess I’m overwhelmed too."
"Let’s sit down." I motioned for him to sit next to me. "You probably have plenty of questions for me."
"When did you find out?"
"A couple of weeks after you left," I told him. "I kept getting sick, but I thought it was because you were gone."
"Do you still get sick?"
"Yes." I laughed.
His smile put me at ease and made an awkward situation a little easier to face.
"I’m not nauseous anymore, but I still throw up. The doctor said most women stop that after the first trimester, but I didn’t fall under that category."
"Sorry about that."
"It’s not your fault."
He looked at me and shrugged. I knew what he meant.
"I’m extremely sensitive to smells, and that’s usually what triggers it."
"When I kissed you just now, you looked like you might be ill. Do I make you sick?"
"No." I shook my head. "I was just anxious when I saw you, and then I . . ."
I stopped. Whatever he did before he came here was none of my business.
"What?"
"I could smell perfume on you, and it upset my stomach, that's all."
"Jocelyn, it isn’t what you think."
"Alex, you don’t have to explain anything to me. It’s none of my business what you’re doing with Julia."
"How did you know it was Julia?"
A suffered a wave of disappointment to discover I wasn’t wrong.
"She told me she came to visit you, and it was pretty obvious you’re more than just friends," I said. "I don’t blame you; I did stop calling you."
"I’m not back with Julia." He made a face that indicated he thought the very idea was insane. "She came to visit me with Ry and Brenna. We went to dinner, but that was it. And tonight she was at my parent’s house, and she kissed me hello."
