Page 54 of A Magnolia Move-In
I shifted on my seat as the need to go to the bathroom got worse. I’d been ignoring the pains for a half an hournow, and they were becoming hard to ignore. I always thought that when movies and TV shows talked about pregnant women needing to pee all the time, they were just joking…until now.
Now, I knew how accurate it was.
“Excuse me,” I said to Maggie as I unlocked my wheels and headed toward the house. If I didn’t go now, I was going to pee my pants.
Just when I reached the door, it opened. Colten was on the other side. He was holding a Coke in one hand and a cupcake in the other. He startled when he saw me, halting in place. I gave him a quick smile, hating the fact that my cheeks heated from his presence.
“Can you hold the door for me?” I asked, sidestepping anything to do with what had happened between us earlier.
He nodded and stepped around me so he could hold the door from the other side. I didn’t wait for him to say anything. Instead, I wheeled as quickly as I could into the house and over to the bathroom.
Thankfully, I got there in time. After I finished, I fixed my hair as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I checked my phone once more and then wheeled from the bathroom.
Jackson’s house was quiet, and I could hear the muffled voices coming from outside. I wanted to wheel back into my room and cover myself up with my covers and pillows, but I knew people would ask what was wrong.
I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell them that I had a broken heart.
So, I took in a deep breath and pulled open the door.
“I don’t care. How did you find my sister?”
I paused in the doorway as my gaze jumped to Jackson. He was facing me and was yelling at a tall man, whom I couldn’t quite see but had a sinking suspicion was Walker.
“She called me and told me to come get her.” Walker’s voice filled the air.
Walker—he was here.
As if he suddenly realized that I was there, Jackson moved his gaze over to me. “Naomi, why is he here?” he asked, jutting his finger in Walker’s direction.
Walker whipped around, and my stomach flipped. It was nerve-wracking, having all of these people looking on. They all looked confused, and Walker’s expression was hard to read with the shadows crossing his face.
“It’s Walker,” I said as I wheeled up next to him.
“Oh, Naomi. I’m so sorry,” Walker said as he dropped down to my level. We hugged, and he planted a kiss on my lips.
I knew I should have been fine with the kiss. We were basically engaged, after all. But there was something about PDA that made me squirm. Especially when my brother was in the crowd.
“Again, why isWalkerhere?” Jackson asked. His anger seemed to intensify after our embrace.
“Walker is my fiancé,” I said as he stood, and I threaded my fingers through his.
Jackson sputtered. “Your what?”
I swallowed, but my throat felt as dry as the Sahara. “My fiancé.”
Jackson glared at Walker and then back down to me. “What do you mean, fiancé? Since when? Where has he been?”
I wasn’t sure how to say this. I doubted my brother would accept the excuse that he’d lost his phone for the last month. Jackson was fiercely loyal, and I knew the first words from his lips would be that Walker should have tried harder to get ahold of me.
“I was out in the field and couldn’t contact her,” Walker said as he stepped closer to me.
I was fairly certain he could feel the wrath of my brother, who was quickly backed up by Colten. He stood about a foot off, behind my brother. His gaze drifted from Walker down to me. His expression was hard to read, and yet I felt as if I were melting under his scrutiny.
“Couldn’t contact her? She was in a damn accident, and you weren’t there to protect her.” Jackson’s hands clenched as he took a step closer.
This was quickly going off the rails. I needed to intervene. Thankfully, Fiona seemed to sense that as well. She put herself in front of Jackson and pressed her hands to his chest.
“Give them a moment to talk,” she whispered as she glanced down at me.
