Oh God.“Did I leave that part out?”
I plop Stevie onto the snow-covered grass. She looks up at me with pure disdain but squats anyway. Aspen is by my side, one hand on her protruding belly and the other clutching my arm, tugging on it as she pleads. “Tell me immediately why you saw him in a swimsuit in a snowstorm and do not leave out a single detail.”
“It’s not as sexy as it sounds,” I warn and point to the stitches on my forehead. “I was bloody and gross and was too concussed to shower alone.”
“You showered with him!” Aspen’s mouth is open so wide I’m kind of shocked her chin isn’t in the snow bank.
“Inswimsuits,” I say and pick up both my dogs.
Aspen raises her hands in the air. “I don’t care! Do you know how intimate it is to shower with someone? Dear sweet baby Jesus, girlfriend, you and Logan have started something. I could see it in the way his face changed when he saw you. I’ve known that boy my whole life, seen him mack on more girls than I can count, and even with his ex he didn’t look at her the way he looked at you just now. It was like—boom—fireworks. And now I know why. There was intimacy.”
“Slow down there, kitten,” I warn. “This isn’t anything except a guy taking sympathy on a klutz with medical bills.”
“That’s your concussion talking,” Aspen advises me as she follows me up the stairs. She really is waddling, but I would never say it aloud. She looks fabulous pregnant. Yeah she’s swollen, but she looks radiant anyway. “You’re confused, clearly. Maybe I should tell him to give you a full exam.”
She laughs and I roll my eyes as we step into the house, and I put the dogs down as she shrugs out of her coat. Boss growls at her. Stevie gives her a bark and trots off. Aspen scowls at both of them and pulls a bag of donuts from her oversized purse. “Dessert! Which I will not share with you even though I feel bad for you with that nasty gash on your head if you don’t admit that you and Logan could have a thing.”
“We can’t have a thing,” I reply as we walk into the kitchen. I check the oven, which was preheating, and see it’s ready, so I open the door and reach for the pizza, but Aspen is stealing cheese from it, so I swat at her.
“Why can’t you have a thing?” Aspen questions as I replace the cheese she stole. “Because you’re his landlord? Who cares?”
I carry the pizza to the oven and slide it onto the rack, then close the door and set the timer. “Because of that, yes, and also because now it’s all weird.”
Aspen thinks about that, twirling a ringlet around a finger, and grins. “But not because you don’t find him attractive?”
I feel my cheeks pink and smile sheepishly. “I find him attractive. And really nice. And he’s probably the most charming man I’ve ever met. But it’snotgoing to happen.”
“Why the hell not?” Aspen is genuinely frustrated. “Look, like I’ve said, I know Logan. This random, awkward way you guys met and ended up showering together, it’s probably the only way he would actually start something with someone. And I know I’ve only known you a few months, but it feels like you’re the same, sister. Avoiding relationships and feelings at all costs unless you collide with them head-on by accident.”
I turn to face her and open my mouth to explain to her how wrong she is, but nothing comes out. Aspen crosses her arms over her ample chest and gives me a smug smirk. “I’m waiting.”
I sigh. “You mentioned earlier watching him mack on a million girls.”
“Nice change of subject,” she replies and waddles over to my fridge and grabs the pitcher of filtered water from inside. “I didn’t say a million. I said more than I can count. Anyway, that’s when we were all young and stupid, and he was drunk as a skunk most of the time.”
“He says he’s sober now.”
“He is,” Aspen nods and places the pitcher and two glasses on the island in front of her before climbing up on one of my stools. She sighs as soon as she’s sitting and rubs her belly through the long sweater she’s sporting. “And so are you, which makes another reason why you should be together. I’m an idiot for not actually setting you guys up on purpose. I blame baby brain.”
I laugh. “You’re way too aggressive about this.”
“You’re not aggressive enough,” she counters and fills both glasses with water. “I haven’t had sex since I got pregnant. I mean, not with another human, and I’m desperate. Meanwhile you haven’t had sex in five years, and you’re not willing to pursue a man who is your knight in shining armor and looks at you like you’re Cinderella at the ball even after you puked onhisshoes.”
Aspen is looking at me like I’m insane.
“Well, when you say it that way, not only doIsound crazy, but you do too,” I laugh. “So, tell me where we are with baby names.”
She frowns because I’m changing the subject again but for the next fifteen minutes while the pizza bakes, she tells me about the never ending list of potential names. She hasn’t found out the sex because she said since this whole thing has been a surprise, she might as well keep that trend going. So she’s got about fifty names on her list and as she tells me the most recent additions, she opens up like never before. “Billy is my favorite for a boy or a girl, but I don’t have the balls to use it. It has a family tie to the sperm donor.”
She has never, in our six month friendship, mentioned the father. She’s been very clear it was an accidental pregnancy and he’s not involved but that’s it. “Anyway, sometimes I get stupid sentimental and think I should include something to do with him, but then the hormone wave passes.”
If you’d asked me ten years ago if I would have a friend as wild and bold as Aspen Barlowe, I would have told you no way. But she’s amazing and I couldn’t imagine my life without her despite the fact that everything about us is completely opposite. “What did he say when you told him you were pregnant?”
“I didn’t tell him,” Aspen replies calmly and pops off the stool to make her way to the fridge. “It’s Ocean Pines, I didn’t have to. He knows I’m pregnant, and he knows we screwed so…”
“Aspy I don’t want to tell you what to do because I don’t know what I would do in your situation, but I think you should have a direct conversation with him,” I advise, even though I shouldn’t because what do I know? Never been pregnant and likely never will be now. “Blunt and direct so there is no question in his mind.”
“I do blunt in all aspects of life, except this one,” Aspen admits as she stares at her water glass. “I can’t bring myself to throw it right in his face and have him still pick…notpick this kid. I just can’t right now. Maybe after it’s born when I’m postpartum and sleep deprived. Maybe.”
