Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“That sounds nice,” she says, smiling. “I really have to go.” She walks away from me with her head down and then I hear her shriek. I walk out to see Kirby standing there with his hands on her arms. “I’m so sorry again.”
“You know what they say,” Kirby tries to joke with her, “never a third without a second.”
She doesn’t answer him because she’s literally shaking. “Funny,” she replies and walks away from him.
“Is she okay?” Kirby asks, worry all over his face. “She was shaking like a leaf.”
“She has to get back home to her husband,” I relay and his eyebrows go up. “I have to get to the bathroom.” I put my hand on my stomach, walking away from him, and head to the bathroom, my mind now filled with Lexi.
thirty-six
Jaxon
Three months later
“Are we going to be late?” I ask Ariella as I’m walking out of the closet, pulling the T-shirt over my head. “What time is your appointment?”
“Does it matter?” she huffs as she walks out of the bathroom. “I’m ready.”
I look her up and down. “Are you not going to change?” The glare on her face says it all. “Baby, you wore that to bed.” I point at the tight, sleeveless cotton dress she has on.
“Wow.” She puts her hands on her hips. “You don’t even notice me anymore.” She shakes her head, rubbing her stomach, her hair piled high on her head. “The one I wore to bed was dark gray.” She gets to the steps and holds on to the railing before walking down. “This is a light gray.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s the same one,” I mumble, but don’t say anything more, “but you look beautiful.”
“Go fuck yourself, Jaxon.” She slides her swollen feet in her flip-flops, apparently, they’re the only shoes that fit her now because my child has her retaining water. Apparently, according to her, the baby also has her not sleeping at night and feeling like she’s a beluga whale washed up at shore. Her words, not mine. Oh, and it’s also my fault the baby is so big because of my big fat head.
“Noted.” I try not to laugh at her. For the past three weeks she’s been a hellion. She has hated every single minute of being pregnant at this stage. The first time she said it, I was taken aback, and then she had a full-on meltdown, crying to let me know she didn’t mean it. As the days trickled on, the crying stopped, but the complaining did not.
She walks out of the house and she groans, “It’s so fucking hot. It’s like Satan’s ball sack.”
“That’s a new one,” I tell her as I open the door for her. “I started the SUV ten minutes ago so it would be cool for you.”
“Aww.” She looks up at me, the pissed-off attitude now gone for what will be four minutes. “You’re the best.”
“Thank you, baby.” I bend to kiss her lips as I hold her hand, and she gets up and into her seat. I grab the seat belt for her, like I always do, as she reaches for it. “You good?” I ask her as she tries to buckle herself in.
“How is it humanly possible for me to get bigger?” she snaps at me. “Like literally, I get any bigger and my stomach is going to blow up like a balloon and pop. You’ll have guts all over the place.”
I reach over her and push the snap to buckle her into place. “The doctor said—”
“Jaxon, if you tell me what the doctor said one more time…” She grabs her sunglasses and covers her eyes, but her jaw is still tight as she hisses out the next words. “I’m going to kick you in the balls…” She trails off. “When I can.” Her voice goes higher. “Repeatedly.”
“I don’t think you can use that coupon twice, but we can make an exception.” I kiss her nose and then rub her stomach. She moves my hand off of her belly.
“I don’t need any extra body heat,” she grumbles and I close the door, walking to the other side and getting in. “I forgot my ice water.” She looks over at me.
“So you want me to go in and get it, or do you want to stop and get yourself a milkshake instead?”
“Ohhh, we can get a strawberry banana pineapple one,” she chirps, rubbing her stomach. At least this time she didn’t tell me I’m trying to make her fatter than she is, so I should count this as a win.
“We can,” I agree, checking the time and seeing we might be a few minutes late, but I’m not going to mention it.
We stop and get the milkshake for her and get to the appointment four minutes late. Walking into the office, the secretary smiles big at Ariella. “Good morning, you two.” She looks over her head at me. “Have a seat, Ms. Weber. The doctor will be right with you.”