Page 5 of Bed of Roses

“It’s not nothing. And neither of us are single parents,” she snapped. “If you’re worried about something pertaining to us, you speak to me. The person it actually involves. The person you’re supposed to confide in.”

Pertaining to us?Great, she was in work mode. Professional, sharp work mode.

“Chill out Haz. Do I care when you speak to Mick about something?” She couldn’t argue with that. She spoke to Mick all the time.

“Name one time I’ve spoken to Mick about something you knew nothing about. And your birthday surprise doesn’t count.”

I froze. I couldn’t think of a damn thing. But that didn’t mean anything. She spoke to him way more than I spoke to Rose. I’d been quiet for too long. She stared at me, waiting for a response.

“Okay, fine. But it doesn’t mean anything. You can speak to Mick if you like. The point is, I wouldn’t care,” I said reasonably.

“The point is,” she snapped, “that I wouldn’t do that to you. And the other point is, Mick is your best friend and I’ve known him for years. You barely know Rose and are having involved conversations with her about your life. Aboutourfinances. It’s completely inappropriate.”

This was exhausting. There was nothing between me and Rose. I was tired of placating Haz on this, but happy wife, happy life, right?

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I offered. “I’ll stop talking about personal things with her. But you have to stop accusing me every secondday. Read through the whole text chain if you want. Nothing is going on. Nothing is inappropriate.”

She put the phone down on the counter. “I already read through it. Whether intimate conversations about your life,our life, count as inappropriate is apparently debatable, seeing as you seem to be able to debate it. But the frequency of your communication is definitely inappropriate. I’m going to bed. Throw my tea down the sink.”

On her way out, she turned and looked over her shoulder.

“Just be careful, Blake,” she said softly, a sad expression on her face.

Be careful of what? Pregnant women with raging hormones? I picked up my phone and responded to Rose. I wouldn’t’ ghost her. None of this was her fault. But I would pull back a bit. If it was upsetting Haz, it wasn’t worth it.

Chapter 5. Blake - Crossing Lines

The weeks dragged by. Work was still piling in, which gave me a much-needed sense of relief. Haz had hit 20 weeks and seemed to be cheerier. Her little belly had definitely popped and was so cute. Unfortunately, Colin had also noticed. We were leaving for a party last week and he was outside ranting at Haz to “be discreet, for God’s sakes woman.” As always, Haz was kind and smiled at him, assuring him everything was okay, before getting into the car. I hope this wasn’t going to become a bigger issue. Haz was busy at work, and she’d become even busier soon as she readied her replacement to take over the reins. The last thing she needed was for our elderly neighbor to aggressively urge her to hide their “affair.” I don’t know who he saw me as. Did he ever wonder who that strange man with “Loretta” was? Surely he’d be relieved another man was there caring for the woman pregnant with his love child. He didn’t ever seem to acknowledge me though, and I knew there was no logic there. Just an unwell old man.

He was going through a particularly bad patch, and Rose was distraught. She’d begun messaging a lot again lately, and I wanted to help her so I lied sometimes when her messages came through and then I deleted them. It gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but it was only for Haz’s benefit. This would stress her unnecessarily and there was no way I was going to add to her mental load with this.

Although Haz was feeling cheerier, she was feeling tired a lot lately. She had worked a lot of hours over the past few weeks, and Belle was having some family issues, so she spent quite a few hours on the phone with her. Hopefully by the time the baby arrived, things would be more settled.

We were in bed, and Haz was nodding off. I rubbed her sweet little belly and kissed her on the cheek. It had been a weeksince we were intimate, and I missed her. I knew when the baby arrived, one-on-one time would be limited, so I wanted to love on her as much as I could.

I nuzzled into her neck. “You asleep, babe?”

“Not yet. Tired though,” she murmured, rolling away so I was facing her back. I sighed. Okay then. I headed to the bathroom.Just you and your hand tonight, I could hear P!nk sing.

_____________________

I organized a date night the following night to help relax Haz and maybe create some intimacy. It was wonderful. Just the two of us at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Sean had chosen fried chicken on Thursday, so I was missing my beef and black bean.

“So good to get out,” Harriet moaned tiredly. “I’m almost done with teaching Sam how to use the system. Once I sort out my handover notes, I can see my time out without all this hassle.”

“Foot massage tonight?” I offered. Her feet were hurting lately. They weren’t swelling, but I could tell they bothered her.

“That would be amazing.”

Ping.

I looked down at my phone. Rose had a date tonight, and I was so happy for her. Maybe this man would stick around and pitch in so I could withdraw further. I smiled, just a small smile.

It was a picture of her in a short black dress and tall black heels.

Harriet: What do you think? You’re my fit check person. I need a guy’s opinion! *Image attached*

Me: You look beautiful. And what the hell is a fit check? *laughing emoji*

---