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She cocks her head at me. “You promised you would stop throwing that at me.”
“I didn’t promise. The word promise was never used.”
She’s going to slap me any minute.
“Are you going to tell anyone else about the baby shit?” I say to change the subject, sort of.
“No.” She pulls her lip between her teeth. “I don’t think so. Not anytime soon.”
“No one has to know until we adopt in a few years. I’m sure there are loads of damn babies waiting for parents to buy them. We will be fine.”
I know she hasn’t accepted my offer of marriage, or even being in a relationship with me, but I hope she doesn’t use this opportunity to remind me of that.
She laughs softly. “Damn babies? Please tell me you don’t think there is a store somewhere downtown where you walk in and purchase a baby?” She lifts her hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing at me.
“There isn’t?” I joke. “What’s Babies ‘R’ Us, then?”
“Oh my goodness!” She tilts her head back in laughter.
I reach across the small space between us and grab hold of her hand. “If that damn store isn’t full of babies, lined up, ready for purchase, than I’m suing for false advertisement.”
I pull my best smirk out at her, and she sighs, relieved to be laughing. I know this somehow. I know exactly what she’s thinking.
“You need help.” She pulls her hand out of mine and stands.
“Yeah.” I watch her smile fade. “Yeah, I do.”
Chapter fifty-nine
HARDIN
You two travel across the state of Washington more than anyone else I know,” Landon says, looking up from the couch in my father’s living room.
After our laughter broke back down into silence, I’d convinced Tessa that we should come back east and hang out with Landon before he leaves for good. I had thought she would immediately be ready for that—she loves hanging out with Landon, after all—but she sat quietly for a few uncomfortable moments before agreeing. I waited on her bed while, for some reason, she packed up basically everything she had, and then I waited in the car as she engaged in far too long of a goodbye to Kimberly and Vance.
I give Landon a flat-eyed stare. “You don’t know many people, so I don’t know how relevant that is,” I tease.
He glances at his mum, sitting on the chair, and I know he wants to say some smart-ass comment to me, and if she weren’t sitting there, he sure as hell would. He’s gotten better at the comebacks lately.
Instead he just rolls his eyes, says, “Ha-ha,” and goes back to the book on his lap.
“I’m glad you guys made it safe. The rain is heavy and only supposed to get worse by the end of the night.” Karen’s voice is soft as she smiles at me, causing me to look away. “Dinner is already in the oven; it will be ready soon.”
“I’m going to change,” Tessa says from behind me. “Thank you for letting me stay here again.” She disappears up the stairs.
I stand at the bottom of the staircase for a few seconds before following her like a puppy. When I enter her room, she’s dressed in only a bra and panties.
“Good timing, self,” I mumble when she looks up at me in the doorway.
She uses her hands to cover her chest, then moves them down to her hips, and I can’t help but smile. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”
“Hush,” she scolds me, and pulls a dry shirt down over her rain-damp hair.
“You know hushing isn’t my strong point.”
“And what is, exactly?” she taunts me, shaking her hips as she pulls a pair of pants up to her stomach. Those pants.
“You haven’t worn those yoga things in a while . . .” I rub the stubble on my jaw and stare at the tight, black material that she seems to be poured into.
“Do not start on these pants.” She waves a sassy finger at me. “You hid them from me; that’s why I haven’t worn them.” She smiles but seems surprised by her easy humor with me. She hardens her stare at me and straightens her back.
“Did not,” I lie, wondering when she found them in our closet at that damn apartment. Looking at her ass in them, I remember why I hid them. “They were in the closet.”
As soon as I say that, images of Tessa scrambling through that closet looking for her pants make me laugh, until I remember something else in there that I didn’t want her to find.
I look at her, searching her face for any indication that my mention of the closet reminds her that she found that damn box.
“What?” she asks, pushing her feet into a pair of pink socks. Hideous, fuzzy things with polka dots covering the top of her feet.
“Nothing,” I lie, shrugging my paranoia off.
“Okay . . .” She wanders off.
I follow her downstairs, again like a puppy, and sit next to her at the massive dining-room table. That S-girl is here again, staring at Landon like he’s some kind of brilliant jewel or something. This clearly qualifies her as a weirdo.
Tessa beams at the woman. “Hey, Sophia.”
Sophia takes her eyes away from Landon only long enough to smile back at Tessa and wave to me.
“Sophia helped with the ham,” Karen exclaims proudly. The large dining table is set with a massive feast, with lit candles and flower arrangements. We make small talk while we wait for Karen and Sophia to cut the ham.
“Mhm, it’s so good. The sauce is really good,” Tessa moans around her fork.
These women and their damn food. “You would think you guys are talking about porn,” I say, much too loud.