Page 123 of False Start

“Why don’t you take a nap,” he suggested. “I know this week has been a lot on you. I’ll go pick Sebastian up.”

“This is your one day off.You’rethe one who has training camp and a game this week.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” he promised.

“I’m not even working.”

Kyle sucked his teeth at that, tickling my feet a bit until I was writhing and giggling. But it was true. As if Kyle hadn’t given me enough already — a new home, a safe and healthy relationship, a love like I’d never experienced…

He was also giving metime.

He was making space for me to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life, with my career.

It was so hard for me at first, to relinquish my control and walk away from my job. So much so that for a small moment, I wondered if I actually did like the career I’d started out of necessity. And I suppose a part of medidlike it — I liked helping other women, other moms in trouble trying to make it on their own.

But at the end of the day, real estate wasn’t my passion. It didn’t fuel me. It had just been a way to make ends meet, to dowhat I had to do for me and my son. I was so used to taking care of everything, of everyone…

Now, I had the precious gift of time, space, and security — of a man who loved me and took care of me for once.

“Don’t pull that shit,” Kyle said. “Being a mom is a full-time job in itself. And the only reason you’re not working is because your brute of a fiancé has seen how tired you’ve been lately and is forcing you to let him spoil you for a bit.”

“And because my brute of a fiancé is giving me the first opportunity to think of what I actuallywantto do for a career.”

“My money is still on bestselling author.”

I laughed at that, digging my toes into his ribs. “I’d have to finish a book first.”

“You will,” he said without doubt, and then he lifted my ankle to his lips and kissed it. “And I’ll be first in line for a signed copy.”

I was still swooning over this man who I was absolutely certain had to be a figment of my imagination and wildest fantasies at this point when he stood, grabbing his keys and wallet before bending to press a kiss to my forehead.

“Rest,” he said. “I’ll be back in a bit. Maybe Sebastian and I can stop on the way home and get stuff to make homemade pizza.”

“He would love that.”

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t, too. I know how my girl feels about pizza.”

He winked, heading for the door, and I smiled long after he’d shut it and I heard his car leave the driveway. The strange thing was that I usuallydidlove pizza, but for some reason, the thought of it now made me want to…

I bolted upright on the couch, my heart hammering in my chest.

Puke.

It made me want to puke.

I blinked, breathing more and more erratic the longer I let that fact sink in. Alone, it wouldn’t have been anything. I would have chalked it up to my nerves being a wreck from the week.

But then I realized how exhausted I’d been, how I’d needed a nap almost every day since the engagement.

I tracked through the week, how I hadn’t wanted my tea like usual in the morning, how I had been averse to foods I usually craved.

I thought I was just a mess from everything that had happened — Marshall showing up at the house, Kyle proposing, the offer on the house, going under contract, suddenly not working, my wholelifechanging…

But now, I was blinking rapidly, doing math in my head after a quick glance at my phone to confirm what the date was.

I was late.

Nine days late, to be exact.