Wild Heart (Viper's Heart Duet Book 2) (20 page)

“If you say so.” I lay back against the table.

“You seem extra pissy today. What gives?” he asked after a couple minutes.

I stared up at the ceiling and shrugged. “Nothing.”

I glanced over at him as he arched one eyebrow at me. “We may have only had two sessions so far, but I’m dialed in to you. What gives?”

“I just did something I shouldn’t have done yesterday, and it’s on my mind.”

“Ah,” Sherman said with a small nod. “I’m not gonna ask you to tell me what it is, but I will say this . . . no man ever lay on his death bed pissed off that he apologized too many times throughout his life, but plenty wish they’d apologized more.”

I swallowed hard and looked back up at the white ceiling tiles. “Look at you, Sherman. You’re like a walking, talking fortune cookie.”

“That’s what they tell me!” he boasted loudly as he threw his arms in the air and walked away.

What he said played over and over and over in my mind. The way I’d acted was horrible and I needed to apologize about that, but I still wasn’t sure that I wanted kids of my own . . . now, or ever.

After therapy, I was starving and knew exactly where I needed to go, even if it meant that I might see Kat. I drove straight to Gam’s.

When I pulled up, the same car from the other day was in the driveway, but I did my best to ignore it.

“Hey!” I called out as I pulled the door open and walked into the house.

Gam looked up from her book and her face broke into a huge grin. “There’s my boy!” She got up from her favorite chair in the family room and gave me a big hug. “I haven’t seen you in almost a week. How are you feeling?”

“I’m hanging in there.” I shrugged. “Still a little sore but getting better.”

She frowned as she looked past me. “Where’s everybody else?”

“Uh . . . home.”

She straightened and looked at me. “How come?”

I gave her another shrug and slid past her to sit on the couch. “I just came from physical therapy, so they weren’t with me.”

Not a total lie.

She followed me with narrowed eyes. “Should you be driving already?”

“I don’t know, but I am.”

“Does it hurt?” she asked as she sat back down on her couch slowly.

“To drive? No, it’s my left leg. It just kinda sits off to the side anyway. Now can we stop the interrogation, please? I’m starving to death.” I pointed to the kitchen with my thumb.

“Oh, I can tell,” she said sarcastically as she dragged her eyes down my body and back up again. “Come on.”

I followed her into the kitchen and immediately tensed when I saw Kat standing at the sink with her back to us.

“What are you in the mood for?” Gam asked, making her way over to the fridge. Kat turned around and glanced at me before quickly going back to whatever she was doing.

I shrugged and pulled a kitchen chair out. “I’m not picky.”

She lowered her head and peeked at all the shelves. “I have leftover spaghetti, grilled chicken, stuffed peppers . . . anything sound exciting yet?”

“All of the above,” I said, half kidding, half not.

“Better in your belly than in the garbage.” She leaned against the counter with one hand and started taking containers out of the fridge with the other.

Kat hurried over and took the food out of her hand. “Let me do that for you.”

“No, I got it,” Gam said stubbornly.

Kat tilted her head to the side and glared at Gam, who retreated like a little kid.

“How’s therapy going?” she asked as she sat down next to me.

“Good. Really good, actually.” I tore the corner off an envelope that was sitting on the table and rolled it in between my fingers. “My therapist is a dude named Sherman. I thought I was gonna hate him, but something about him is just . . . different.”

“Different good?” Gam took a sip of the iced tea that she’d brought with her from the family room. At least I thought it was iced tea, but with Gam you never knew.

“Yeah. For sure. He’s a fun guy.”

“Fun is good.”

“Fun
is
good,” I agreed. “As long as he’s kicking my ass back into shape so I can go be fun on the ice, that’s all I care about.”

“You’ll be back out there in no time.”

The microwave beeped, and Kat took out the hot plate and set it in front of me.

“Thanks,” I mumbled without looking up at her.

“Want some root beer, too?” she asked nonchalantly.

Gam’s head swooped up to Kat with a frown. “How did you know he likes root beer?”

Kat froze as her mouth dropped, her eyes darting back and forth between Gam and me. “Um . . . I . . .”

“She was in the kitchen the other day when I got one out of the fridge,” I answered for her.

Idiot. Why did you do that? That was your chance to let the cat out of the bag so Kat could walk out the door.

“I see.” Gam nodded, content with that answer. “I keep it in my fridge all the time for him. Nobody loves root beer like my Lawrence.” She reached over and playfully pinched my cheek as I shoveled a forkful of spaghetti into my mouth.

As I chewed, my eyes followed Kat, who hurried to the fridge and returned with a bottle of cold root beer. She gave me a small smile and a quick wink as she set it down.

“I’m gonna go change your sheets,” she said as she rested her hand on Gam’s shoulder. “Unless you want me to do something else instead?”

“Nope. That’s wonderful. Thank you!” Gam rested her hand on Kat’s and beamed up at her.

I waited until Kat was out of earshot. “How are things going? With
her?
”

“With Kat? Oh, they’re
so
great.” There was a softness, a contentment, in her voice that I didn’t hear often. “When I found out that you’d hired a nurse, I was irritated and so hesitant about this whole thing, but she’s more than a nurse. She helps me pick up, she takes me places, she keeps me company. I’m so glad she’s here, Lawrence.”

As bad as I wanted Kat gone, it was obvious how happy Gam was to have her around, and Gam’s happiness was the most important thing. That meant Kat was there to stay.

It had been three days and not a word from Viper. I picked up my phone to text him at least a hundred times, but every time I pulled his name up, I got mad all over again and put my phone away.

I’d been to my first doctor appointment, and while it was too early to
hear
the heartbeat, I did
see
it on the ultrasound. Even though it was a tiny, grainy white blob, my baby’s first picture hung proudly on the fridge. Thankfully Matthew hadn’t noticed and asked about it yet, and I had no idea what I was going to tell him when he did, but I needed to figure it out fast. The one thing he had noticed was that Viper was gone.

“Momma, did Viper go on a plane to play hockey?” he asked as I sat on the couch folding tiny pairs of
Thomas the Tank Engine
underwear.

“No, buddy. Viper went to his house for a few days,” I answered as nonspecifically as I could.

“Oh.” His eyes dropped to the coffee table and thought about what I’d said. I braced myself for more questions but was grateful when he decided to run off to the playroom down the hall instead.

“Shhhh! Maura’s taking her afternoon nap,” I called after him.

Kacie had called a couple of times over the last few days, but I’d avoided her. I’d been avoiding everyone, really. I didn’t know what to say or what to think, but as she called again, I knew I couldn’t avoid her anymore.

“Hello?”

“Hey! What’s going on? Where have you been?”

“Hey. I’ve been here, just busy. How about you?” Every nerve in my body was on high alert. I had no idea if Viper had talked to Brody and told him anything, but if Brody knew, Kacie knew.

“We’ve been busy, too, but we’re hanging in there. How’s Viper?”

Kacie wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. If she knew something was up, she wouldn’t have asked how he was.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” I answered with a big sigh as I sat back against the couch.

“What does that mean?” she asked, her tone turning serious.

I turned and peeked over the couch to make sure Matthew wasn’t anywhere near me. “We had a fight—a big fight—a couple days ago, and he left.”

“Wait. He left? Left where?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked since.”

“Holy shit! What did you fight about?”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, knowing I needed to just let it out. “I found out I’m pregnant, and the news didn’t go over so well on his end.”

“You’re pregnant?” she asked softly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t tell anyone. I’ve been so preoccupied with Gam, then Viper, and everything just kinda ran together, and it was never a good time.”

“Well . . . congratulations. I’m happy for you!” I could tell she was grinning by the tone in her voice. Kacie was a true friend who would always have my back, no matter what. “I can’t wait to squeeze that little nugget. When are you due?”

“Not till June. I’m only eight weeks.”

“So what happened when you told him?”

“Well, I didn’t really tell him.” I lifted my feet onto the coffee table and crossed my ankles. “I was running errands and forgot my phone. He intercepted the appointment reminder call from the doctor’s office.”

“Oh, shit,” she said in a low tone.

“Yep. And when I got home, everything just kind of exploded.” I spent the next several minutes filling her in on our fight and the last couple of days of radio silence.

“Michelle, you should have called me. I would have gone to the doctor with you.”

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal,” I said, half lying. The appointment really wasn’t a big deal, but I would have loved for someone to be at the ultrasound with me, sharing in my excitement—and my tears as I drove home alone.

“What can I do for you? You have to let me do something.”

“Nothing. Really. I’m fine.”

“When is your next doctor appointment?”

“In a month.”

“Will you at least let me go with you to that?” she asked as if she had read my mind. “I don’t want you going to your doctor appointments alone.”

“Fine,” I agreed. “But you have to promise to turn around during my weigh-ins.”

She let out a loud chuckle. “Girl, you’re talking to someone who delivered two five-pound babies at once. You don’t even want to know how much weight I gained with that pregnancy.”

We chatted for a few more minutes until Matthew came running back into the room. “Moooooom, you said we would go to the park today.”

“Oh, crap,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“I totally forgot that I told Matthew I’d take him to the park today. Think he’d go for a nap instead?”

“Good luck with that one. They never forget anything.” She laughed again. “Call me later.”

We hung up and I stared at Matthew, who had his hands clasped together and was giving me puppy dog eyes.

“The park, huh?” I sighed, already exhausted just thinking about it.

He nodded excitedly.

“Okay, let’s go see if Maura is awake, and if she is, we’ll go for a little while.”

He threw his hands in the air in celebration and sprinted up the stairs.

“Good morning, Mrs. Klein!” Matthew waved to our neighbor as we made our way down the driveway. I gave her a wave, too, silently begging her not to come over. She was a wonderful lady, but her husband worked out of town during the week, and once she started chatting with you, any plans you had for the next hour would be canceled. I gave her a quick wave and hustled down the sidewalk toward the park.

A moving van was parked across the street, and Matthew’s eyes lit up when he saw Gavin bouncing a basketball on the front porch.

“Mom! Can we go say hi?” he asked as he bounced up and down.

“Sure.” I nodded.

He wrapped his hand around the edge of the stroller like he was supposed to and we crossed the street.

“Hi, Gavin!” he yelled before we even hit the driveway.

Gavin looked up and waved excitedly, running over to meet us. “Hi! We’re moving in today. Wanna see my new room?”