Page 117 of Trustfall

“Move.” His command is simple but direct.

Nate looks up in challenge, but then he turns to me, and his eyes soften.

“Fine,” he sighs as he stands and moves over to the empty seat across from me, next to Allie. I’m not sure if Nate will ever be completely okay with my relationship with Luke, but he is trying. I think he’s possessive over both of us and doesn’t like that we now have each other. Which is why I keep encouraging Luke to go out with him and hit up bars. Trust me, the last place I want Luke is in a bar. I was secretly happy when he lost his bartending job. I know how gorgeous my man is. I know how ladies literally fall at his feet. But I’m hoping he can find Nate a girlfriend so we can get him off our backs for a little while.

Ashton has been helpful. He and Nate have gotten close since working together, and I think Luke secretly likes him, though he won’t admit it to his face. The four of us even hang out sometimes, though Allie never joins. She’s been busy with her own shit lately and always seems to have an excuse when we all get together.

Luke grabs a plate and starts loading it up with food. He’s putting a ton on the plate, so I assume it’s for him, but then he puts it in front of me and places a napkin on my lap.

“What the hell, Luke?” I laugh. “I can’t eat all that.”

He looks mildly irritated as he brings his mouth down to speak close to my ear. His hot breath sends a tingle down my spine, like it always does. “Baby, you have barely been eating lately.”

“I’m just stressed,” I lie. Well, it is partially true. I’ve been studying for my trauma certification, along with working my regular shifts at the hospital and helping my dad with the Diana Caldwell Foundation. I decided I wanted to do more than just show up to a fancy gala once a year, so I have been helping to plan other events to raise awareness about blood clots and money for research.

But that’s not the only reason I haven’t been eating. Or why I’ve been so tired that I’ve been routinely napping in the on-call room during my lunch break…

I give Luke a pleading look to let him know I don’t want to talk about it right now. He lets out a frustrated sigh, but, thankfully, he drops it.

I push some food around on my plate, but as I do, a wave of nausea overtakes me. I drop the fork, and it takes everything in me to will it away.Not now. Please, not now.

I look to Luke, and luckily, he’s distracted by something Nate is saying. They’re in what looks like a heated debate, probably about football. Anna looks over at me and gives me a knowing smile.

“Does he know, sweetheart?” she whispers gently.

“Know w-what?” I stutter, completely taken aback.

She glances down at my belly.

I try to answer her, but when I do, the nausea returns, and I can’t seem to get the words out. So I just shake my head.

“I’ll be right back,” she says with a wink.

When she returns, she’s carrying a glass of bubbly liquid, as well as a pack of saltine crackers. Like the kind that comes with soup at a diner. She places the drink in front of me and discreetly hands me the crackers under the table.

“Ginger Ale and crackers always did the trick for me,” she says quietly so no one else hears. Luckily, everyone seems to be engaged in their own conversations anyway. Except for Allie, who is eyeing me suspiciously. But I’ll deal with that later.

“Thank you,” I mouth to her, accepting the crackers under the table. Anna looks around to make sure no one is watching and then takes the burger and potato salad off my plate, placing them on her own. She winks at me again, and I smile back at her. I take a sip of the ginger ale, and my stomach finally begins to settle.

I’m almost eight weeks along, so I’m at the height of my nausea era. I only found out that I’m pregnant a few days ago. I had been feeling off these past couple of weeks but wrote it off as stress with everything I’ve been taking on. Then I realized my period was late—really late. I was so busy, I didn’t even notice that I had gone through my sugar pills and started a new pack of birth control without seeing a drop of blood.

When it finally dawned on me, I wasn’t even going to take a test. I mean, I’m on birth control. What are the odds? But I guess, other than abstinence, no method is one hundred percent effective. When I threw up the first time, I finally broke down and took a test. But even as those two pink lines stared up at me, I didn’t believe it. I rushed to work that morning and called in a favor with an old co-worker who now works in OB. She gave me an ultrasound, and sure enough, there was a blueberry-sized gummy bear hanging out in my uterus.

That was Wednesday. It’s now Saturday and I still haven’t worked up the courage to tell Luke. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous to tell him. I know in my heart he will be happy about it. I just feel like everything happened so fast with us. There hasn’t been much time to breathe and be in a normal relationship. I officially moved into his cottage about a month after the day we got engaged. Allie was cool about it, although she did insist on having her own key to our house made. In case of an emergency, she said. Honestly, I think she might be happy to have her own place. She’s never had a space all to herself.

We didn’t rush into getting married right away, as much as Luke wanted to. With everything we both have going on, I convinced him it would be best to wait at least six months until his business is more stable and I’m not studying around the clock. Now, who knows…

“Babe,” Luke says loudly, and I realize he’s probably been trying to get my attention for the last few minutes I’ve been stuck in my head.

“Yeah?”

He eyes me suspiciously. Luke is annoyingly attuned to my emotions. He always knows when something is up. It’s probably why he has been extra clingy these past few days.

He leans in close, hovering over my ear. “Do you want to go home?” he whispers.

“No, I’m fine.” He doesn’t seem convinced, but he looks down at my plate and sees that some of my food has been “eaten,” which placates him for the moment.

Between the ginger ale and the crackers that I’ve been sneaking nibbles of every so often, I’m starting to feel a lot better and am able to enjoy the rest of the evening. By the time most of the food is gone and Allie has drunk the entire bottle of wine she brought to “share,” I’m feeling like myself again. I’m not a big drinker in general, so no one really notices that I haven’t had any alcohol.

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