One Moment Please (Wait With Me #3)(79)

“Heart rate is good. I’m just going to check your cervix now,” she says, handing me a towel to wipe off the gel.

“Oh good, the fun part,” I drone as I get into position.

This is the most action I’ve had in a month because my baby daddy decided to offer to put a ring on it. Except…there was no ring. Yet another reason my proposal will go down in the record books as the most pathetic.

Dr. Lizzy finishes examining me and then helps me sit up. “Have you guys discussed your birth plan?”

I shake my head. “Not yet but I did find a daycare center inside my boss’s wellness center building.” I smile because Dr. Gunthrie and I have been getting along so well that she’s offered me a more permanent position in her clinic after I get back from maternity leave. Despite everything going on between Josh and me, that’s one positive that I’m holding tight to.

Dr. Lizzy smiles. “That’s wonderful and don’t worry about the birth plan. You have a little time to figure it out, but don’t wait too long. You’re thirty-four weeks, fifty percent effaced, and dilated to a one already. I wouldn’t be surprised if this little one comes a touch early due to limited square footage.”

“How early do you think the baby could come?” Josh asks, his tone not the least bit casual.

Dr. Lizzy holds her hands up. “Many women stay dilated at a one all the way up until full term, so try not to worry.”

“If she delivered now, that would mean NICU time for sure, right? Does she need to go on bed rest? She can quit her job.”

My jaw drops. “Excuse me,” I snap and turn to level Josh with a warning. “Don’t speak for me right now.”

Josh’s eyes narrow. “Lynsey, if you’re dilating already, you should be on bed rest. This isn’t the time for you—”

“Hey, please calm down. A lot of my patients dilate to a one this early on, and their cervix doesn’t budge until the very end. I even have to induce some of them.”

“We do not want an induction,” Josh snaps, and I turn to gape at him again. His eyes flare defensively. “Have you read up on inductions? They have a lot of risks.”

“So do baby daddies who act like dicks,” I growl, immediately mortified because Dr. Lizzy is witnessing our domestic disfunction. I turn my attention to her. “I’m so sorry.”

She shakes her head. “These arguments happen all the time. You guys are doing great. Baby is good, and I’m not worried about your cervix, but we’ll check it next week to confirm. Just try to do some talking this week so you both can get on the same page. Okay?”

Dr. Lizzy says her goodbyes, and Josh stands to help me off the table. I yank my hand away from him and slip off the table. “I don’t need your help, okay?”

Josh growls under his breath. “Can we just talk about this already, Jones? You’ve been quiet for weeks, and you look at me like I’m a fucking monster.”

I cross my arms over my chest like a shield. “I do not.”

“You do too.” There’s a glimpse of pain in his eyes that he rarely shows. He crouches slightly so he’s eye level with me. “I’m not a monster. I’m just a man who wants to be with you and raise this child together. What’s so fucking bad about that?”

“You’re a man who doesn’t love me,” I force myself to say the words out loud for him but mostly for myself. My eyes well with tears.

He straightens, his face hard. “It’s just how I’m built, Lynsey.”

“I don’t think you used to be that way,” I argue, taking a step closer to him and touching his cheek. “And I know you aren’t this way at the core. I can see you, Josh. I can see your heart. Maybe if you just talked to someone about what’s going on with you, we could be something more.”

“What do I need to talk to anyone about?”

My eyes flare. “Um…for starters, what’s in that letter I found in your desk? That seemed to trigger you.”

He steps back, his entire body going ramrod straight. “I’m not going there. I don’t want you to push me on that, Jones.”

I slice my hands through my hair in complete frustration. “Well, then don’t push me on your proposal. If I’m going to sign up for a loveless marriage, then I need to be sure I’ve given this mess of a situation plenty of thought.”

I stride past him and slam the bathroom door, needing to stop looking into his smoldering, hurt-filled eyes that I miss gazing into every day. Which is completely insane because the man is detached, and he’s broken, yet…I miss him. I miss being what we were together, even if it wasn’t true, undying love.

I swallow the knot in my throat.

Well, crap.

It may very well be for all of those reasons that I actually say yes.





“I’m losing my fucking mind, Max.” I take another sip of whiskey, staring at my friend. He sits at the bar next to me, day drinking with me like a champ. “I need her to say yes. I can’t lose her.”

Max pinches the bridge of his nose. “You should have thought that proposal through then, Josh. Fuck. Why didn’t you talk to me first?”

I grind my teeth. “I didn’t need to talk to you, and I stand by what I did. I’m not going to give her a hearts-and-flowers proposal when this isn’t a hearts-and-flowers relationship.”