Page 31 of Tangled Up With You

The frustrated huff she let out would have probably been cute if I didn’t feel like we’d both been put through the wringer. “That’s really not necessary, Connor. I’m not an invalid. I’m just p-pregnant.” She stuttered out the last word.

“I’m aware, butterfly. But you’ve also passed out twice today and had to have a hospital administer fluids because you weren’t able to do it yourself.”

Her eyelids narrowed into a glare, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something wrong with me, because seeing that fire return to her eyes for the first time today sent a wave of relief through me and turned me on at the same damn time. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. You don’t need to stick around. I’m fine on my own.”

I hit the locking button before she could throw the door open, keeping her from escaping. “Ivy, I’m not leavin’. You heard what the doctor told you. You shouldn’t be alone right now. I’m stayin’ to make sure you’re all right.”

The fight drained out of her as quickly as it appeared. One moment she was sitting across from me, glaring daggers, and the next she was heaving out a sigh so heavy it made her shoulders droop and massaging her temples. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her look so tired.

“Connor, I really can’t do this right now, okay? I’m exhausted and... stressed, and I only want to lie down and go to sleep for the next two days. I appreciate you wanting to look after me, but I need some space right now, okay? I need some time to think.”

I swallowed to try and ease the desert-like conditions in my throat. I wanted to push, to ask her what she needed to think about. Did she need to think about us? About me? About whether or not she wanted to keep the baby? I wanted to crack her head open and find out what was going on inside. But this hill I had to climb to get back to her was already steep enough, and the events of today only made it more treacherous.

“Okay,” I finally relented on a whisper, every single molecule in my body rebelling at the thought of leaving her alone. “I get it. But can you just promise me one thing?”

“What’s that?”

“Once you’re feeling better, promise you’ll talk to me? You aren’t alone in this, Ivy.” I wanted so badly to reach across the center console and touch her; skim my knuckles over her cheek or brush her hair back. Anything to feel connected. “We’re in this together, okay? Just... promise you won’t cut me out. Not with this.”

She sniffled, her blue eyes growing glassy as she gave me a single nod. Then she climbed out of my truck.

I gave myself a few moments to collect my thoughts before throwing the driver side door open and climbing out just to climb back into the back seat. I was a pro when it came to sleeping in my truck. Lord knows I’d done it enough while traveling from rodeo to rodeo—I even kept a pillow and blanket back there to make things more comfortable. I stretched out as best I could and shifted around to make myself more comfortable.

I promised her I would give her some space, but I also said I’d look after her, and if I had to do that by sleeping in my truckoutside her house, so be it. I was taking care of that woman if it was the last thing I did.

Chapter Seventeen

Ivy

Ididn’t sleep for almost two days, but it was damn close.

When I finally did wake up, so much time had passed that I wasn’t sure what time it was. Or even what day it was. The bone-deep exhaustion that had been clinging to me like a needy koala for weeks had finally lightened up, and once I’d showered, going through my whole skin and haircare routine, and put on fresh clothes, I felt like a brand-new person.

I’d decided to call off work for another day to make sure I didn’t backslide, and spent that time curled up on my couch in front of the television and talking to Rae and Lennix to assure them I really was all right.

“So he’s still there?”

At Rae’s question I crunched into a piece of buttered toast as I stood at the window that overlooked my driveway. Apparently, while I’d been catatonic, Connor had taken it upon himself to camp out in my driveway—his compromise on giving me space—so he wasn’t in my face, but close enough to help if I needed it.

“Yep.” I crunched the bite and swallowed it down as I stared at the shadowy figure curled up in the back seat of Connor’s truck. How a man his size could sleep comfortably in such a tiny space was beyond me. “I feel a little bad,” I admitted, my hand drifting down to rest on my stomach for the millionth time that day. It was like now that I knew there was a teeny tiny living thing inside there, I couldn’t stop touching it. “He has to be miserable, right? Squeezed in there like that?”

“If he didn’t need a chiropractic adjustment before, I’m sure he needs one now,” Rae said, making me feel even worse for leaving him out there all this time instead of letting him in. I would have been lying if I said I hadn’t melted just a little when I found out he’d been sleeping in my driveway, refusing to leave in case I needed him. It was that side of him that he’d shown me when we were first getting to know each other. The side that caused me to start falling for him. With how things had ended, it had been easy to forget all the good things I learned about him over those months. Now I was starting to remember, and it made my resolve to keep him out of my life for good that much weaker.

I’d taken the time I’d been awake to really think about this pregnancy and what it meant for my life, and while there was a part of me that was terrified of what was to come, there was also a larger part that was excited.

Sure, the path to having my own family had been a lot different when I pictured it in my head, but the outcome was still the same. I was going to have a baby. And the more I reminded myself of that, the more connected I felt to the little bean growing inside of me.

Heaving out a breath, I let go the wooden blinds and let them fall back into place before stepping away from the window. “You’re right. I’ll let you go. It’s probably time I talk to him anyway. He’s been out there for two days.”

“Okay, sweetie. Call me if you need anything. I’m here for you. We all are.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the stress from the past couple days or the pregnancy hormones that suddenly had me feeling weepy. “Thanks, honey. Love you.”

“Love you back.”

I disconnected the call and pulled in a fortifying breath, trying to summon the courage to talk to Connor. I made him that promise a couple days earlier, and I intended to keep it. The sun had already started to dip behind the mountains along the horizon, casting the sky in beautiful shades of purple that started off as a soft lavender before deepening into indigo the lower it got. My slippers scuffed along the concrete of my driveway as I trudged out my back door to Connor’s truck, pulling my cardigan tighter around me to ward off the chill in the air that came with the darkening sky.

Through his tinted windows I could see his large form folded up in the back seat in a position that looked uncomfortable. His legs were wedged between the two front seats and stretching almost all the way to the dash. One arm was thrown over his eyes, and the other was flopped off the bench seat beneath him and resting on the floor. He looked miserable, and I felt like an asshole.

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