Hating how useless she felt, she picked up her phone and dialled Benji. He answered on the first ring. ‘Hi, baby.’
‘Benji …’ She trailed off as her self-pitying tears threatened.
‘What is it, Si?’
She could hear the concern in his voice, and as much as she hated scaring him for nothing, she couldn’t quite moderate the despair in her tone when she replied, ‘I can’t put on my shoes.’
‘Okay. Don’t cry. I’m gonna come home and help you, ’kay?’
‘Stop smiling,’ she sniffled. ‘I can hear it over the phone.’
Benji managed to catch his chuckle, but she could hear the laughter in his voice when he replied, ‘Yes ma’am. Give me a few minutes.’
‘Okay.’
‘Hey, Si?’
‘Yeah?’ she replied glumly.
‘I love you – even if you can’t put your shoes on.’
And because that had a smile threatening to rise when she didn’t want it to, she replied, ‘I love you too – even though you did this to me.’
‘I’d do it over again too. You’re mine for better or worse now, Princess,’ he teased. Mav shouted something in the background, and Benji ended the call with, ‘Be there soon.’
When he entered their bedroom only ten minutes later, Sierra was lying on her back, her legs dangling off the bed, her pregnant stomach protruding. With effort, she pushed up onto her elbows and then held out one hand so that he could pull her into a seated position.
‘I’m living my nightmare,’ she said as he gave her a quick kiss and then knelt on the floor by her feet. ‘I’m seriously considering Crocs.’
Benji quickly tied her laces and then shimmied between her knees until her stomach touched his. His hands came to her hips. ‘What’s wrong with me tying your laces?’
‘You can’t come home every time I need to put on shoes!’
‘Why not?’ Leaning down, he trailed feather-light kisses over her stomach. ‘It’s a five-minute drive.’
‘It’s unreasonable.’ She let her head fall back with a sigh. ‘Why couldn’t I be one of those super fit pregnant ladies? You know the ones who go into labour on the treadmill …’
‘I’m guessing it’s because you’ve never frequented a gym before.’
Sierra rolled her eyes. ‘I never had to before! I’ve always been barn fit.’
‘Barn fit?’
‘It’s a thing,’ Sierra insisted. ‘When you work with horses, you’re constantly lifting things or walking or riding. Just my saddle weighs thirty-five pounds. And it was enough. Before.’ Sierra flopped back onto the bed. ‘And now that I can’t ride, I’m going crazy. I feel like I just sit all day.’
The white ceiling glassed over as tears filled her eyes again, but this time Sierra stubbornly swiped them away. She hated being self-pitying, maybe even more than she hated being bored. ‘I know I only have two months to go, but I really can’t wait for this kid to arrive.’ Her hands instinctually rose to rub her belly.
Benji hauled himself onto the bed beside her. He propped himself up on one elbow and used his other hand to tip her face towards him. ‘Why don’t we go to the lake for the night? Get you girls outside and in the fresh air. We can pack a zillion blankets and’ – he sighed dramatically – ‘we can even takethe pillow.’
Sierra brightened at the idea. ‘After work?’
‘Yeah. We’ll pack some food, head out around six and mosey back tomorrow morning in our own time.’
‘That sounds really nice actually.’ But because they had a business to run, she added, ‘Check Mav doesn’t need you in the morning first.’
He kissed her once, gently, replied, ‘I already did.’
When they arrived at the lake that evening, Benji walked around the hood of the truck so that he could help Sierra down from her seat. She had changed into sweatpants and one of his ancient Wrangler shirts, but the look did nothing to detract from how sexy she was. She’d tied her long hair up into a high ponytail that swung with each step and had left her face bare but for the lip gloss she was addicted to. She raised her arms in the air and stretched like a cat waking up from a long nap.
