Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
"Well yeah, I'm always hungry. The more important question is, will I be able to keep it down?"
I nodded toward the kitchen. "Is that a big problem now?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "It's morning sickness that apparently can strike at any time of day. So far, it's just early mornings, and I can manage a few bites throughout the day after that."
I frowned. "How in the hell can you grow a human on a few bites a day?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, Levi, take it up with nature."
I managed a laugh at her snarky words while I pulled ingredients to make scrambled eggs. "I'm making extra, so eat as much as you want."
"Yes, sir!" Her mock salute made things feel normal for the first time since she said those words to me. I'm pregnant. "So I meant what I said, Levi. I don't want to pressure you about this. It's completely unexpected, and maybe if I was at a different point in my life, I'd be scared shitless, but right now? It feels right for me."
"I never thought about having kids before."
She was silent for a long time. "Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, there's never been a right girl, and for the past few years, it seems like they've all been the exact wrong girls." Shit, that was giving her the wrong idea. "Not that there have been a lot."
She laughed. "You're gorgeous and kind and you can cook, I'm sure there were plenty of women, Levi."
I smiled, ignoring her complimentary words. "Mostly they were a few dates, but a few that could be called relationships that didn't go anywhere."
"Did you want them to?"
I nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't realize it until the disappointment set in when they were over. But it wasn't about the woman, just the situation, I suppose." I finished off the eggs and placed them on two plates.
"I dated a guy for three months a few years ago. I liked him, and I thought he liked me too, but when he broke up with me, you know what he said?"
I shook my head.
"'I wasted three months, and you didn't even recommend me to anyone. What was the point of this?'" She shook her head at the memory. "I was falling for him, and he was just biding his time until I gave him an in, which was bad enough. But when I met him, he said he was a DJ, not a model."
"What a fucking asshole." How dumb were the men in modeling?
"He was," she agreed easily. "But he was also a lesson learned."
"'Men are assholes,' was that the lesson?"
She threw her head back and laughed, still chewing her eggs. "Obviously, but that's a gimme. I learned to listen to a man's actions more than his words."
I heard her words, and I understood. "Eat up," I told her with a smile.
"You're bossy," she shot back.
"It's because I'm the boss." I tapped the table near her plate. "Unless you want me to whip up some oatmeal?"
She laughed again, and it was such a sweet sound, and the fact that I just thought that told me I was in more trouble than I realized.
13 ROB
Why did I do this to myself?
I asked myself that question at least five hundred times since yesterday afternoon, when a nasty bout of nausea woke me from a midday nap. I nibbled on crackers and threw back ginger ale like it was shots of tequila on my first shoot in Mexico, but nothing worked. I was full of carbs and carbonation, but I still felt sick. Nothing helped.
And then the headache started, intense and pounding, so bad that my vision blurred as I stumbled down the stairs and curled up on the sofa, where I stayed all afternoon and into the evening. I only got up to go to the bathroom and to keep myself hydrated in between trips to empty my already empty stomach. I was hot and then cold, sweaty and then shivering, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
I had never felt so awful in all my life. Not even the flu that had taken me down junior year of high school was this bad, and when the next morning came and went, and the sickness persisted, I started to get scared.
“Phone,” I groaned, trying to sit up several times before I succeeded. My gaze scanned the living room and what I could see of the kitchen counter in search of my phone. “Dammit.” It wasn’t anywhere I could see, and now that I thought about it, I hadn’t heard it ring since sometime yesterday.
My eyes slid shut as I replayed my steps from yesterday before my nap. I had lunch with Hailey and Torey and rushed home in time to make a video call with a new sustainable makeup company that was interested in a social media partnership. I remember tossing my keys in the bowl on the table beside the door before rushing upstairs to freshen up for the video call. “And fighting to disentangle from my handbag.” It was upstairs, which in my current state might as well be the top of Everest.