“Your sister?”
He pauses and nods. “She’s my assistant. Anything I need, Annalise can get it done for me. You’ll meet her once you move?—”
“I’m not moving,” I insist, blowing out a breath. “We haven’t even received the results of the test yet. Let’s wait until we get those back.”
“You’re just prolonging the inevitable.”
He says this with such confidence that I’m just here to do his bidding. All of the warm and fuzzy feelings that’d engulfed me in Dr. Slosher’s office completely fizzle out.
“You’ll be singing a different tune once you get confirmation,” I say.
I’m sure of it. The man who stood in a circle of people just last night and told them that he was most certainly not interested in anything that looked like dating seriously or a future with children, cannot be the same man that’s standing in front of me.
It’s not like he’s proposing a relationship.
The reminder from my inner voice makes my stomach drop. It shouldn’t, however. It’s not like I was expecting to see this man ever again.
Yet you were ready to raise his kid all on your own.
“Listen, if you prefer, we’ll wait until the results come back to get things started,” he states, as if that’s some sort of compromise. “The last thing I want is to put any stress on you or the baby.” His gaze drops to my belly, softening.
At the same time, something in my chest softens as well. That emotion in his eyes isn’t forced or a lie.
I turn away from him for a beat, needing to allow my brain to clear.
“I need to find a job.”
“The last thing you should worry about right now is money or the stress of finding a new job. You’re growing a life inside of you. That’s all you should be focused on right now.”
“Women have had babies for millennia and worked while doing so. I’m no different than any of them.”
“The difference is,” he counters, “that you’re carryingmychild. If there’s no need for you to stress yourself out about money, a new job, or anything else, why would you?”
I snort derisively. “Do you have an idea how barbaric that sounds?” I do my best to control my rising temperature. Yet, heat starts to creep up the back of my neck.
“We barely know each other, and while you’ve been great the past twelve hours, I’mnotabout to stake my entire livelihood on the words of a guy I’ve spent the entirety of less than twenty-four hours with.”
Travis presses his lips together, his jaw working overtime. It’s at this moment, that I’m certain he’s a guy that’s not used to not getting things his way.
Good.
I’ll be damned if I don’t get a damn say in how I live my own life. We can come to terms on how to be responsible co-parents, but agreeing to moving across the ocean with him, where he controls and calls the shots, is counter to every ounce of independence I’ve earned since the car accident that changed the course of my life forever.
Travis remains silent for a long while. A plethora of emotions pass through his eyes, too quickly for me to name most of them. Frustration, which is a mutual feeling, is the one I see the most.
I almost tell him everything that passes through my mind. The way I’ve moved from one city to another over the past eight years since I’ve left my uncles’ home in Maryland. How I don’t feel particularly connected to this city or any other I’ve lived in. But it was always my choice to leave. Whether it was for a new job or I simply wanted a new view, the decision was mine.
I could go into detail on how I need the decision on where I live to be mine because so much of my life has been out of my control. Ever since that night when two reckless drivers slammed into my parents’ car killing them and crushing more than just my shoulder.
Instead of confessing all of that, however, I dig in my proverbial heels, fold my arms across my chest, and stare at Travis.
“I’m not moving,” I express in no uncertain terms.
His response is a slow, languid perusal over the length of my body before responding, “You need to get home to rest.”
The one response I wasn’t ready for. While I was poised to fight, the word rest reminds me that after a night of restlessness and worry, I am tired.
I allow him to take me by the elbow and lead me into the car, because he seems to have finally gotten it.
