Baby & Bump (The This & That Series) (15 page)

I opened my mouth to say something witty, but all that came out was a slow rush of air. “Is that so?”

Fletcher’s hand covered mine on the table. “This is really inappropriate.”

My mouth felt dry. “Because you’re my obstetrician?”

“No.” H
e shook his head back and forth slowly, and a lock of his sun-bleached hair dropped across his forehead. “Well, sort of. But mostly because of Marisol.”

Oh. Her.
A clump of cotton balls formed in my throat. “Right.”

“Have you notice
d?” He paused, and his bright eyes scanned the floor while he searched for the right words. After a pregnant pause, pun
intended,
Fletcher finished his sentence by gesturing between us. “Something here?”

My mind whirled.

Every gaze that lasted for a beat too long. Every touch that lingered for a millisecond longer than it should have. Every joke only he and I understood. Every shared smile.

Fletcher felt it, too. It wasn’t just me being overly hormonal and horny like Candace said.
I’d felt
something
. Something deep in my core that rattled my insides and left me reeling. Whenever Fletcher was around, I felt like I’d climbed too high on a ladder, and was on the edge of falling.

It was thrilling.

“Yes.” My voice was hoarse. “I’ve noticed
something
.”

“I thought I was going crazy.”
Fletcher’s eyes dropped to my mouth. “Well, maybe I am crazy, because…” He paused and took a breath. He seemed to grapple with his words. “I want to kiss you.”

At least thirteen million
red flags popped up in my brain. Somewhere deep in my ear canals, I heard an alarm going off.

This just got real.

Fletcher wanted to kiss me. Which, in and of itself, was excellent. But Fletcher was with Marisol. Which, in and of itself, was not good. I loved Marisol. We’d been friends since college, and she’d been there for me through so much. And despite her faults, I’d always known Marisol loved me.

Fletcher’s hand slid up my arm, coming to rest just below my shoulder. I heard the muted sound of a phone ringing
somewhere in the office, and another sound I was pretty sure was my heart galloping inside of me.

“
Lexie, I…”

I felt Fletcher’s breath on my face as he started to close the gap between us.

My hand went up, landing on his chest. “I can’t do this.”

I stopp
ed him just half an inch from connecting with my lips. It pained me to do it. I wanted Fletcher. I wanted him
bad.
But I wasn’t going to stoop to this level.

Not today, anyway.

Chapter Fourteen

             
The place was perfect. It reminded me of a little dollhouse, with its window boxes and matching shutters. The curved front walk was lined with river rock, and the tiny courtyard outside the front door was decorated with a wrought iron bistro table and chairs. The comforting scent of chimney smoke filtered through the air from the neighbor’s chimney, and I could hear kids playing in the leaves down the street.

I
cradled my belly as I gazed up at the ivy-covered chimney, and the baby
thump, thump, thumped
me from within.

“This is gonna be our home, little
one,” I whispered as Corbin approached me from across the yard. His tool belt clinked against his legs as he walked.

             
“Hey, Lex. Come to see the progress?” he called. “What do you think? Wanna buy it?”

             
I bit my lip and forced an innocent smile. I wasn’t ready to share my intentions with my oldest brother. Yet.

             
When I’d gone for my ultrasound a week earlier, I’d been both disappointed and relieved to discover that Fletcher was at the local hospital for a delivery. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him again—on the contrary, I wanted to see him again.
Often
. But now that our attraction to each other was out there floating around in the universe between us, it made being alone in a room with Fletcher that much more difficult.

I wanted him. And knowing he wanted me back was an odd mixture of exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

              After Fletcher’s partner, Dr. Javornik, performed the sonogram, I went into overdrive. Every moment I wasn’t working was now spent shopping for blankets, booties, little tee shirts, and sleepers. (All in varying shades of green and yellow, of course, since my little butterball decided to turn its back to the camera, refusing to reveal its gender.) All of my baby supplies were stacked in the far corner of my living room, partially blocking the doorway to the kitchen, and creating a hoarder-vibe I wasn’t too fond of.

I’d also secretly started filling out loan applications to purchase a home.
Well, not just any home. I wanted the brick bungalow Corbin and Andrea had fixed up. There simply wasn’t enough room in my teensy apartment for a baby. The poor kid would have to learn to swing between the light fixtures in order to get from one end of the place to the other.

             
I looked past my brother’s shoulder at the round stained glass window in the middle of the front door, and my heart squeezed. I was going to buy it. This is where I was going to raise my child.

             
“I don’t know,” I lied, following Corbin towards the front door. “How much do you think you’ll ask for it when it’s done?”

             
“You’ll have to talk to Andrea. She’s the one in charge of numbers.” The vibrating sound of base shook the ground underneath our feet, Corbin and I turned around just in time to see a car roll past. “Oh, phew,” Corbin sighed, running a hand through his copper hair. “I thought it was Darren.”

             
I watched the car turn the corner down at the corner. “Are you avoiding Darren?”

             
He shrugged. “Darren showed up here last week and asked us for a loan.”

             
My mouth dropped. “He actually asked you for money?”

             
Corbin followed my lead, and dropped his voice down to a whisper. “Yeah, Andrea and I both tried to call you afterward. Where have you been lately?”
              “The mall,” I confessed. When Corbin’s eyebrows furrowed, I added, “Been doing a lot of baby shopping.”

             
“Right.” A moment of unhappiness that flashed in his eyes, but he quickly extinguished it. “Well, I think baby brother might have some big news soon.”
              My mouth dropped. “Did he get Panda pregnant?”

             
“No.” Corbin shook his head. “But he’s thinking about proposing to her.”

             
I froze in place, my jaw ajar. Darren was going to ask Panda—er,
Pandi
—to
marry
him? As in for better or worse? As in a lifetime commitment? This from my brother who once admitted that he goes through women like tissues, and breaks up with them at the first sign of the dreaded “L” word. Now he was going to ask this girl to marry him?

             
My mother was going to have a heyday when she found out that my irresponsible baby brother was marrying this
Pandi
chick, while I was purposefully having a child out of wedlock.

             
“You’re kidding.” I followed Corbin through the front door, where we were met by Andrea spackling a wall.

             
“Not kidding. Apparently Darren’s found the one.” My brother smirked.

             
“Hi, Lex.” Andrea put her tools down and smiled at me. “I see Corb here has shared the good news.”

I blew her a kiss from across the room. “Ugh. He can’t be serious. And asking you for ring money? Tacky.”

“Yeah, well, that’s Darren for you.” Corbin lightly touched a patch of drying spackle.

“Be nice.” Andrea elbowed her husband gently, a
nd approached me. “I think it would give your mother something fun to focus on. Wedding planning will be a nice distraction, wouldn’t you say?” She raised her eyebrows at me, and I caught the hint.

It was no secret that my mother was trying to marry me off to the first man who would have me, and quickly running out of time to do it. Maybe the fact that Darren and Pandi would be planning a wedding would help take her
focus off of me.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Maybe you’re on to something. Maybe we should all pitch in to buy Pandi a ring. A big one, so that she’ll be sure to say yes.”

“Are you nuts?” Corbin called across the room. “Darren can barely pay his cell phone bill on time. How can he provide for a wife?”

Andrea put her hands on my belly. “Maybe Pandi makes enough money for both of them.”

“That’s probably why he wants to marry her.” Corbin pointed his hammer at the two of us. “Don’t encourage this.”

“Yes, dear.” Andrea rolled her eyes at me and grinned. “Your belly is beautiful. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t feel like my belly is beautiful, but thanks. I’m feeling really good now that I can eat again.” I dropped my purse on the living room floor—which was covered in gleaming hardwood, by the way—and moved Andrea’s hand. My baby was apparently taking up clogging, and preferred a spot underneath the right side of my ribs.

Andrea’s eyes twinkled. “Any weird cravings? I had a friend who craved anchovies every single day.”

I thought about the last few meals I’d eaten. They’d been interesting, to say the least. Now that my appetite was back with a vengeance, I was eating the most random meals ever. The night before I’d consumed a steak slathered in clam dip. And the night before that, I’d gorged myself on chicken wings dipped in bean dip.

I didn’t want to admit such culinary sins to my sister-in-law, though. She and Corbin were on an ultra healthy, macrobiotic diet because she’d rea
d it helped with fertility.

“Some.”
I gestured to the coved arch that led to the hallway. “So show me around. This place is looking gorgeous. Probably my favorite Baump home yet.”

“Thanks, sis.” Corbin put down his hamme
r, and strode across the room. He grabbed Andrea’s hand as he passed. “Come on, let’s show her our favorite room.”

Andrea
smiled. “You’re gonna love this, Lex.”

We headed down the hallway, and I fingered the newly refinished buil
t-in shelves that would someday house framed pictures of my baby and me. I peeked into the bathroom, where the new tile sparkled in the sunlight pouring through the window, and imagined myself giving the baby a bubble bath in the claw foot tub. The stairs at the end of the hall curved under the pitched ceilings, creating a fairy tale cottage feel as we approached the upstairs bedrooms.

Corbin explained all of the improvements he and Andrea had added to the bungalow over the past few months, but I scarcely heard his voice. I was too busy peeking in doors and envisioning myself rocking my
baby in the corner, or hanging it’s clothes on tiny hangers in the closets. I loved the house more and more with each step we took.

“
And this is our favorite room.”

Corbin’s voice
tugged me out of my thoughts.

Andrea was standing proudly in front of a bay window that overlooked the maple tree filled backyard. It
was adorned with a custom window seat adorned with handmade cushions. The cushions were covered in black and white toile, and on the underside of the seat was enough shelf space for at least two-dozen books. Through the window, you could see the entire Spokane city skyline, and the sound of the small rock fountain they’d built in the backyard trickled in through the open window. It was, in a word,
gorgeous
.

This was my baby’s room.

Unexpected tears filled my eyes. “You guys, I…”

Andrea took hold of my arm. “Are you al
l right?”
              “Damn these hormones.” I laughed and wiped my eyes. “Yes.
Yes.
I’m fine. I’m just pregnant.”

She
slid an arm around my shoulders. “Good. Corbin and I were hoping this room would be a selling point, not make buyers cry.”

“No, I’m ch
ock full of raging hormones.” I used the end of my coat sleeve to dab at my cheeks. “Candace says I’m supposed to be horny all the time, but all I want to do is eat and cry.”

“Okay, that was
more information than I needed.” Corbin put his hands out. “I don’t want to ever hear you talk about being
horny
again, is that clear?”

“Grow up, honey.” Andrea guided me over to the window seat
, and we sat down. “Your body is going through something major, Lex, and you’re doing it all alone. I can only imagine how difficult it is.”

I sighed.
“It really is.”

It felt good to let my guard down. As excited as I was to be planning my life with my baby, there was always a nagging feeling in the back of my mind at all times. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Worry, maybe? Just a tiny tickle in the back of my brain that occasionally reminded me that if the baby got sick in the middle of the night, there would be nobody there to calm me down. If the baby had colic and cried all night, there would be nobody there to relieve me long enough to take a nap. And that didn’t even begin to cover all of the thoughts I’d had about attending school conferences and piano recitals alon
e.

“You know that we’re here for you, right?” Corbin asked me, sitting down on a discarded tool box in the c
orner. “Mom is, too, you know.”

When I shot him an
oh, please
look, he added, “In her own way.”

“Corb and I can’t wait to be an aunt and uncle.” Andrea squeezed my hand. “We want to spend as much time with your baby as possible. Trips to the park, lunches at McDonalds, sleepovers, afternoons at the toy store, babysitting, you name it. We’ll do it all.”

Guilt pushed down on my shoulders. Though Andrea’s words were sweet, the happiness didn’t quite make it to her eyes. “I feel weird talking about how difficult it is to be pregnant alone when you two have been trying to get pregnant for so long. How selfish can I be?”

“No, Lex, n
o.” Andrea’s hands covered mine. “Don’t worry about us.”

“How can I not? You’ve been paying doctors thousands of dollars to do what I managed to do with just a bottle of wine, and—”

Corbin covered his face. “TMI, little sister.”

“Right,” I said quickly. “Sorry.”

“Listen, Lexie,” Andrea said. “We have something to tell you. It’s not common knowledge yet, so don’t say anything.”

“Which means Mom doesn’t know yet,” Corbin explained. “So if you tell her that you knew first, she’ll lose her c
ool.”

“Got it.” I nodded firmly.

They exchanged a glance, and then Corbin cleared his throat. “We’ve decided to adopt.”

Elation filled my chest
, and tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. “Ohmigosh! That’s wonderful! Just incredible!” I jumped off of the window seat, and pulled both of them into a hug. “Details. I want details.”

When
we pulled apart, both my brother and his wife were beaming. For the first time in
,
oh I didn’t know how many years, they actually looked
happy
.

“We don’t know any details yet,” Andrea gushed as Corbin held her tight. “But our application was approved, and we passed our background checks. We decided to adopt from Korea, because I traveled there after college and had such an amazing experience. Right now we’re working on our dossier and getting our passports taken care of.”