Page 38 of Tangled Up With You

Lennix’s laugh brought a smile to my face. I might grumble and put on a show that I wasn’t okay with Connor moving into my carriage house, but the truth was, knowing he’d be close put me at ease. As excited as I was for this little chickpea, I was also scared. I made the mistake of googling pregnancy and had fallen down a rabbit hole of all the things that could possibly gowrong. The pregnancy had started to feel a little isolating after that, especially since I hadn’t told my parents yet, but now that Connor was here I didn’t feel so alone.

I drew the line at him living in the main house with me, however. That would have been like dumping a bag of candy on the floor in front of a group of kids and telling them they could look, but they couldn’t touch or eat any.

It had only been two days since Connor and I had talked, and in that short amount of time it felt like a switch had been flipped inside of me. All of a sudden the exhaustion that had been plaguing me let up. My energy started to return, which I was excited for, but another change that had occurred recently that was more... problematic.

All of a sudden I couldn’t stop thinking about sex.

It started the other night when I was curled up on the couch, watching a movie on Netflix. At one point the couple on the screen started to kiss, and as the scene got steamier, my body got hotter. In the past two days, I’d given my vibrator a workout like it hadn’t seen in months. I felt like a teenage boy, for Christ’s sake. A stiff wind would perk my nipples right up. It was ridiculous.

Connor and I had agreed we would co-parent this baby as friends once it finally arrived, and the last thing I wanted to do was put that in jeopardy because my stupid hormones made me want to latch onto him like a freaking koala.

It certainly didn’t help matters that my new sort-of-roomie had a face and body that looked like they’d been chiseled out of granite. I blamed him. It was his fault he was so freaking gorgeous.

“Well, this is an improvement, right? I mean, at least you guys are getting along, and you aren’t sad or rage-y anymore.”

No, I was stupidly horny. But she didn’t need to know that.

“Right. Exactly. If we can keep getting along for the sake of the baby, maybe this will all work out.”

Lennix moved away from the window and came to sit across from me at the kitchen table. It was another Aunt Sylvia piece I’d kept because it was absolutely beautiful. She’d used broken stoneware and vases to create a colorful mosaic that was as much a work of art as it was a sturdy piece of furniture.

On that thought I realized I was going to be raising the next generation of the Young family in this very house that had seen so much love. It had started with Sylvia, then my mom, then me, and now my little chickpea. I was sure Sylvia was looking down on me, smiling and happy to know the house she had filled with love was going to get a new member soon enough.

My mom would be happy too. Just as soon as I found the guts to tell her. Micah was going to be a different story. He would be happy... eventually. And he would love this baby because he loved me. But I couldn’t be certain that Connor wouldn’t go missing one day and end up as aDatelinespecial or the focus of a true crime podcast.

He’d always had my back growing up, no matter the kind of scrapes I got myself in, and there was a tiny part of me that worried this might be the scrape he couldn’t bring himself to look past.

“Have you scheduled an appointment with an obstetrician yet?”

I nodded and sipped more tea, the sweet, minty flavor warming me from the inside. “Yeah. I got in with one here in town. We go see her on Monday.”

Lennix hiked her eyebrows high on her forehead. “We?”

I gave her a flat look. “Yes,we. I told you, Connor said he wanted to be a part of this. I told him about the appointment and he insisted on being there.”

She reached across the table and took my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “Are you excited?”

“I am.” I blew out a sigh and admitted, “But I’m nervous too. I was really sick for a while. What if that hurt the baby somehow?”

She smiled reassuringly. “Everything’s going to be perfect. You’ll see. You and that little tadpole are doing just fine. And in a matter of months, you’re going to have a little baby,” she finished on a squeak of excitement. “A tiny little wild child bull rider. Honestly, Ivy, this baby might end up being the hottest baby to ever be born in this town.”

I let out a bubble of laughter. “I don’t think you can refer to a baby as hot.”

She waved me off and blew out a raspberry. “Pfft, whatever. You know I’m right. You’re freaking gorgeous, and Connor’s hotter than the flames in hell. It’s like, a scientific fact your baby is going to be beautiful.”

I pointed a finger in her direction. “Or it could go the opposite way,” I said in warning. “You know, like all those beautiful celebrities who have babies that look less like them and more like their third cousin twice removed who got kicked in the head by a mule and has the unfortunate hairline that goes all the way to their unibrow.”

Lennix burst out laughing, and I quickly joined in. “Nah. That won’t happen to you. That’s karma because all those celebrities are secretly terrible people. You’re a good person, so your baby won’t be punished.”

That might have been one of the most ridiculous conversations I’d had in my life, but the laughter was just what I needed, and by the time Lennix left later that evening, I felt a sense of peace that had been missing for a while.

It was amazing what good friends were capable of.

I fidgetedin the passenger seat of Connor’s truck as he guided us through town toward the doctor’s office. I caught him glance my way every couple minutes like he was trying to gage my mood as I stared out the windshield chewing on my thumbnail.

“You know this is all going to be good, right?” He finally spoke up after parking at the clinic and coming around my side of the truck to help me out. “I know you’re nervous, but it’s all going to work out.”

I dropped my hand and wiped my sweaty palms on the thighs of my jeans. “I know,” I said on a gust of air. “I know, you’re right. But I don’t think I’m going to be settled until I see it with my own eyes, you know?”

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