Page 81 of Meraux Mafia: No Ordinary Love

“Noted. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m just tired,” she replied, using the broad term so she wouldn’t have to discuss her relationship with Trent or all the feelings that surfaced from seeing him. Kissing her forehead, I let her know I’d be downstairs in my office if she needed anything.

I finished my tasks earlier in my office and took a shower break before returning to work. It was hard to focus, knowing my wife was upstairs suffering. Trying to force Hailo to do anything would only cause more damage, so I didn’t.

“Are you busy?” Hailo asked after standing in the hallway for the last ten minutes battling whether she wanted to knock on the door. I thought about putting her out of her misery, but she had to learn how to communicate her needs.

Hailo hated to feel like a burden to anybody, no matter how small it was, like waking me up because she couldn’t sleep. Maybe nobody except Sadie made her feel important, so she didn’t trust her thoughts and feelings with anybody but her.

“Never too busy for you.”

“If that isn’t the cheesiest thing I’ve heard all day.”

“Keep running your smart-ass mouth.”

She smiled, taking a seat on the couch next to me. I was previously at my desk, but after my shower, I decided to finish working from the couch because it was more comfortable.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Hailo rimmed the gold frames and smiled.

“Sometimes.”

She carefully removed them from my face and looked through the lenses.

“It seems like you need to wear them more than some time. I hope this baby doesn’t get your vision.”

“Did you come down just to be a pain in my ass?”

“No, I can’t sleep.”

“Why not?”

She fumbled with her fingers shrugging her shoulders. Hailo knew why but wouldn’t allow the words to leave her mouth. She was stubborn like that. Forcing her to talk about something she wasn’t ready for would send us five steps backward.

She grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and made herself comfortable while I finished working.

“I’ve been having weird dreams about the baby. It was hard to go back to sleep,” Hailo revealed.

“What kind of dreams?”

“The last one, we were at the hospital, and they pulled her out, but it wasn’t a baby. It was an alien, and then all her alien friends took over the hospital.”

“That is weird as fuck, but it’s normal.”

“Did you read that in one of your baby books?” Hailo asked, and despite her petty question, she enjoyed the gentle sparring as much as I did.

“Yeah, I did, and stop going through my shit.”

“I didn’t go through anything. You left it on the counter, but I think it’s cute. You’re excited.”

“Why wouldn’t I be excited?”

“I’m not Kyerra.”

“Believe me. I know.”

“You had a life before you ran into me that day. Plans for your future that didn’t include us,” Hailo’s eyes dropped to her stomach.

“I did, but this,” I smirked, palming her belly, “this doesn’t seem too bad.”

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