Drew + Fable Forever (One Week Girlfriend #3.5)(21)

“It’s—it’s the heat in the room,” she says, sounding breathless. “I feel light-headed, too.”

I finally move, start to pull out of her, but she reaches around me, keeping me close. “I’m sorry, Drew.”

I’m surprised by her apology. “For what?”

“Overreacting. Springing the idea of a baby on you so quickly and expecting you to just go along with it. It was unfair of me.” She kisses my lips, my chin, then my jaw, her lips soft and warm and full of comfort.

“I overreacted, too,” I say as I slowly pull out of her and then grab her by the waist, tugging her into my lap again. The cooling water sloshes and splashes; the bathroom is a f**king mess, but I could really give a shit. “I’m sorry, baby. From now on, let’s try not to get all caught up in someone else’s life, you know? Sometimes it’s okay to plan, not just trying to randomly procreate and make a baby.”

Her eyes narrow and I worry for a second that I offended her. “You have such a way with words sometimes, Drew Callahan,” she drawls, then scrambles out of my lap so she can stand in the middle of the tub, her gaze locked on the floor. “Holy shit, I think half the bathwater is on the floor.”

We both laugh and help each other out of the tub, then throw down as many towels as we can find on the floor to sop up all the water. She pulls on a white terry-cloth robe provided by the hotel that overwhelms her completely, the collar puffed up around her neck, the hem of the robe dragging on the still damp floor. I dry off and follow her out into the room, where she sheds the robe and crawls into bed. I follow her, pulling her close and holding her to me.

“Well, I know we don’t do it very often, but there is one really good thing about arguing with each other,” she says after a few quiet moments when I’m about to drift off to sleep. Hell, I know it’s not even six o’clock, but a nap sounds damn good right about now.

“What is it?” I ask, my voice a low murmur, my eyes tightly closed.

“Hot make-up sex.” She skims her fingers down my chest, a little laugh escaping her. “That was kind of amazing, Drew.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” I smile. “Let’s sleep on it and then I’ll be ready for round two.”

“Round two? How are you going to top that?”

“Watch me.”

Fable

“Are you okay?” Jen slides into the booth across from me, her dark eyes full of concern as she studies me. I haven’t seen Jen in the long time since I’ve been gone and with everything that’s happened lately, I needed to come home.

So I did. I asked Owen to stay with me for a while even though he has his own place, and we’ve been hanging out. It’s been nice. It feels good, being here.

But I’m also running away from my problems, avoiding them. Avoiding my husband. I need to tell him what’s going on …

Later.

Sniffing loudly, I shake my head, parting my lips to dump the entire story on Jen when the waitress approaches, asking if we want coffee. I asked my closest friend to meet me at a breakfast place none of us ever frequent, clear on the other side of town. I want no one to hear anything we have to say. This secret I’m about to reveal is huge.

And Drew is going to probably kill me when he finds out.

“I’d like some, thanks,” Jen tells the waitress before she chances a glance at me. “Do you?”

Ugh. Just the thought of coffee makes my stomach recoil. And I lived on the stuff up until a few weeks ago. “No, thank you. Maybe some juice, though. I don’t know, orange juice?”

The waitress looks at me, her pen poised on her order pad. “You want it, then? Orange juice?”

Do I? I feel like I can’t make a decision to save my life at the moment. “Yes,” I say firmly with a nod. “Orange juice. And a glass of water, too.”

“Anything else? Something to eat? We have a pumpkin spice French toast special,” she suggests. “It’s delicious.”

My stomach revolts. God, that sounds disgusting. “No thanks,” I say between my teeth, handing her the menus she left at the table when I first got there, just about five minutes before Jen arrived. “I’m good.”

“Me, too,” Jen says. “I already ate.”

The waitress leaves us alone and Jen glances around, then leans across the table, her voice low. “What’s wrong with you? Tell me. I’m in a panic here. When I got your voice mail, you sounded so freaked out you scared me.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s not that big of a deal. Well, it sort of is.” Swallowing hard, I try to come up with the best way to say this. But it’s only Jen. She’s not going to judge. She might think I’m an idiot but she definitely won’t judge. May as well state it plainly. “I’m pregnant.”

A pause as the words sink in and I watch her reaction. It’s rather fascinating, really. Her eyes light up, her lips part, and color blooms in her cheeks. Her excitement is a palpable thing as she looks ready to squeal, then slaps her hand over her mouth at the last moment so all I see are wide, shock-filled brown eyes. “Really?” she asks, her voice muffled against her fingers.

I slowly nod. “Really.”

The waitress arrives at that precise moment, flipping over the coffee cup that sits upside down on the saucer in front of Jen before pouring the steaming brown liquid into the white mug. The bitter scent reaches my nostrils, making me wrinkle my nose, and I rest a hand over my stomach, hoping like crazy I don’t puke right here in the middle of this tiny coffee shop.