Rowyn’s hand lands on my arm. “I’m so happy for you.”
Relief floods through me so fast it almost makes me dizzy. “It’s just…a lot,” I admit, exhaling a shaky laugh. “I’m excited, but I’m also kind of terrified. And the boys, and work, and?—”
Gina is grinning.
“What?” I ask, immediately suspicious again.
She leans back, crossing her arms, looking entirely too pleased with herself. “You told Tuck.”
It’s not a question. It’s a statement…that speaks volumes.
“Yeah,” I say slowly. “I mean…he saw my books when he drove the kids home from family skate, and I have to study when I’m at his place, so?—”
“So—” Gina tilts her head, eyes sparkling with that oh I know something you don’t want me to say out loud but I absolutely will anyway energy. “It’s not my business,” she says. “But…how long have you two been sleeping together?”
“Oh my God.” I nearly choke on my coffee, the cup rattling against the table as I slam it down a little too hard. Hot liquid sloshes over the edge, and Rowyn is instantly in motion, grabbing napkins and mopping it up before it can drip into my lap.
“Gina,” she warns, not even looking up. “It’s not our business.”
“I know,” Gina says easily, completely unbothered as she leans forward, elbows on the table, eyes locked on me. “I opened with that.”
Which…she did. Technically.
“But,” she continues, lowering her voice like this is somehow more subtle, “I knew something was up when I saw you staring at him with your vagina.”
Rowyn loses it. Like, full, head-back, can’t-breathe, pregnant-lady-laughing-so-hard-it’s-a-risk kind of loses it.
“Where do you come up with this stuff?” she gasps between laughs.
I drop my face into my hands, shoulders shaking, not entirely from embarrassment. Okay, mostly from embarrassment. “She came up with it because she saw it with her own eyes,” I mumble through my fingers, but there’s a reluctant smile pulling at my mouth. And honestly, there’s also a weird sense of relief. Because it’s out now. And maybe…maybe I need this.
Them.
Rowyn gently tugs my hands down, forcing me to look at her. Her expression softens, her laughter fading. “Are you two a thing?”
I hesitate, my brain immediately trying to come up with an explanation. “It’s temporary,” I say finally. “We like each other, but it’s not…it’s not long-term. I don’t even really know that much about Tuck.”
My mind flashes to the quiet moments. The way he shuts down sometimes. The things he doesn’t say. The pieces he keeps locked up.
Rowyn’s eyes suddenly go wide. “Oh no.”
My stomach drops. “What?”
“I just set you up on a double date,” she blurts. “And you’re…with Tuck.”
“I’m not with Tuck,” I say quickly, shaking my head. “We just—” I wince. “We’ve slept together. A couple of times.”
“Whoo hoo!” Gina pumps her fist, looking entirely too pleased with herself. “I knew it.”
“Okay, but…” I lean forward, my voice more serious now. “I do want something real again. Eventually. Love. Marriage…” My gaze drifts to Rowyn’s belly, my chest tightening just a little. “Maybe even another baby.”
That part still feels a little out of reach and a whole lot scary.
“But that’s not what Tuck wants,” I add quietly. “I can’t ignore that. I have the boys to think about. Whoever I bring into their lives…it has to be someone who wants that too. Who wants them.”
They both nod immediately, no hesitation, no argument. Something about that makes me pause. Because it feels like they agreed a little too easily. Like maybe…they know something I don’t.
“Don’t get me wrong,” I go on, trying to lighten it, even if my chest feels tight. “He’s great for a hook-up. Like, really great?—”
