Page 82 of My One

“Cheese,” I said again.

Avery walked in through the back door. “Cheese?” My gaze cut to him because I wasn’t sure if he’d heard my revelation. He scrunched his eyebrows as I stood still. “Nic? Where’s the cheese?” I handed him the slices that were still mostly in their wrappers. “American?” I nodded, my heart going crazy in my chest, my stomach queasy. He shrugged and, without another word, turned and walked back outside where Easton was.

“Nic …?” Brooke questioned as soon as Avery closed the door. “What the hell? You’re acting like you saw the face of Jesus in the cheese.”

“Cheese,” I whispered again. We stared at each other. The words were on the tip of my tongue to answer, but I couldn’t.Could it be?

Brooke sucked in a breath. “Cheese!”

I nodded, and she slid off the stool. “Holy shit. Cheese!” I nodded again. “When?”

“Right now.”

“You had no idea?”

I shook my head. “Nope, just like last time.”

“Let’s go get a test.”

“No!” I shouted.

“Why not?”

I leaned against the counter. “Because we’re leaving next week for the Bahamas.”

“Nic.” She smiled. “That’s not going to change the fact that you may be pregnant.”

“I know, but I don’t want to say anything to Avery until I know for sure.”

“Then let’s go get a home pregnancy test,” Brooke suggested again.

“No, I’ll do it tomorrow at work.”

“You better tell me as soon as you know.”

I sighed and then smiled, thinking about having a baby. “I will.”

The guys came inside when the burgers were cooked. I had them prepare each one with the spread I made, plus lettuce, tomato, and onion—just like In-N-Out. While we ate our cheeseburgers, I forced myself to eat one because once the guys realized they tasted like their favorite burger, I had to pretend everything was okay. I had to pretend it was the best burger I’d ever had. I had to pretend that I was happy when, in fact, I was freaking out.

What if I lost this baby too?

Nic had been acting weird for the past few days.

When I would ask her what was wrong, she would smile and tell me that she was just stressed at work and getting ready for our week-long vacation. Luckily, she had three weeks of vacation time from work, and Edna’s gift wasn’t going to waste since she’d booked the dates herself.

I had to admit that after everything was said and done with my parents’ estate, I felt better. I was no longer feeling as though the world was going to crash around me. It more or less had, but Nicole and I got through it. But now it was my wife who seemed worried about something.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” I asked as we waited for the ferry on the main island of the Bahamas to take us to the island we were staying on.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Nic …” I sighed.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Nothing’s wrong. We’re in the Bahamas. We’re no longer in the snow, and I’m going to get a tan this week.”

I stared at her, looking into her blue eyes for any sign that she was lying. She was definitely hiding something. “Okay. What do you say that after we check in, we check out that bar Edna told us to have a drink at?” Something was definitely wrong, and if anyone would tell me, it would be drunk Nicole.

Her smile faltered for a split second. “Sounds like a plan.”