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His strong hands still on my arms give me a small squeeze before letting go, a smile spreading back across his lips. I don’t think I’d ever seen Warren dejected before. Sad, afraid, angry, depressed? Sure, plenty when we were kids, and he still lived at home with his parents. But dismayed and hurt like that? Never. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling to know I’d been the one to make him feel that either. After everything he’s been through, he doesn’t deserve that.

I plaster a wide smile to my face and make a mental note to make sure Warren knows about all my future appointments, as well as any other pertinent information about the baby.

“Okay, well let’s get going then.”

I reach out a hand and he gratefully accepts it, twining our fingers together.

Warren’s truck is parked out back in the small parking area for employees, not only ofThe Book Vaultbut to the surrounding stores as well. He opens my door and assists in helping to lift me into the truck. It’s gotten a little more difficult and I need an extra boost to get in.

The drive to the doctor’s office isn’t far, now that I’m going to my local O.B.G.Y.N. instead of the out of town one. I had all my records transferred from my previous doctor who knew I would be going to someone closer for the last few months and the birth.

“Why did you need to go to a doctor in Kenai?” Warren’s unexpected question draws my attention away from the window I was staring out.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why did you have to drive over an hour to go to a doctor in Kenai when there’s a perfectly adequate doctor here in Homer?”

My brow pinches as I stare at him as he drives, his eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead. “I told you, because I wanted to keep the pregnancy private. I didn’t want everyone in town to know.”

“But how would they know? Aren’t doctor’s bound by like, doctor patient confidentiality and all that?”

Oh, I see why he’s confused. He assumes everyone would mind their own business. He never did pay much attention to busy bodies and gossips. He didn’t care what people said about him. The only time it bothered him was when they would talk about his family. Mostly when they would blame him, the “wild child,” for everything going wrong in his family instead of his drunk dad.

“The doctor might not talk about my private medical information, but that doesn’t mean she or her nurses wouldn’t talk about me in general. Nurses talk about patients without divulging confidential information. Not to mention any other patients seeing me coming and going.

“No one would outright reveal anything, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t speculate. Like why else would I be going so frequently, and be buying prenatal vitamins? Through simple conjecture anyone could easily come to the conclusion I was pregnant.

“But by going to a doctor out of town, no one there cares. To them I’m not important. And if they talk about me, it doesn’t matter because they don’t know who I am and neither do their other patients.”

I conclude my explanation just as we’re pulling into the parking lot for the doctor’s office. Warren shifts into park and turns to face me without turning off the engine yet.

“People are really that nosy?” he asks, brow pinching in distaste.

“Yes. I bet you anything by the time we leave today they’ll already be talking about why you came with me. As a matter of fact, they probably are already talking about us since you basically haven’t left my side since you randomly reappeared in town.”

Warren groans and rubs a hand over his face. Now he knows what I’ve been dealing with since he left.

“Can we just…ignore everyone else for once? Just focus on us? And not what people might say? I’m tired of being forced to care so much about other people and take them into consideration on issues in our lives. They are not a part of our life Bambi.” He turns to look at me once again, pleading in his eyes. “We shouldn’t make decisions based off of other people for things that only affect us.”

Wow. I always knew Warren didn’t care what other people said about him, but I never stopped to consider maybe he’s that way for a reason. Not just because he wanted to rebel or be the bad boy, but because he truly believed they shouldn’t haveanything to do with his life decisions. And now I’m beginning to wonder why I care so much about what other people think.

It sure as hell would make my life less stressful, and less stress is good for the baby. And even though I appreciated the lack of people knowing about my pregnancy early on, I shouldn’t have had to go out of town to see a doctor.

If Warren is staying, and we are “together” as he claims, then trying to hide it from people or be concerned about what they think is just stupid. Because he’s right. They aren’t part of our lives. They aren’t affected by our decisions on who to date and if we have kids together. And I shouldn’t care so much about what they think when half the time I don’t even know them. What does it matter if they talk? That’s all it is. Talk.

Determination settling into my spine, I sit a little taller and nod.

“You’re right. They don’t matter, and I shouldn’t let them continue to guide my actions.”

A feral grin spreads across Warren’s lips, and he lunges towards me pulling me in for a seething kiss.

“That’s my feisty Bambi. Now let’s go. I want to see my little demon spawn inside you.”

He’s grinning like the joker as he helps me slide out of the truck, catching me by the waist and remaining close the entire walk into the office.

Inside there are a few men and women sitting in the waiting room. Some glance up at us as we pass, but instead of worrying about what they’re thinking seeing Warren usher me in with a hand on my back and standing far closer than just a friend would, I ignore them and focus on checking in with the receptionist.

Chapter 24: Warren