Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I cross the room and hand his coffee to him.
“Thanks.” He takes it and has a sip. “You’ve already primed it?” he asks.
“Yep.” I nod, taking a sip of my tea.
“You did a good job.”
“Thanks.” My eyes smile at him. I swallow another sip of my tea and put it on the windowsill.
“Do you have any stepladders?” he asks me. “If not, I have some—”
“Oh!” My hand goes to my stomach, my eyes looking down at my bump.
Was that …
“What’s wrong?” River puts his coffee down on the windowsill next to mine and approaches me.
“Nothing’s wrong. I think … the baby just … kicked.”
“Has it kicked before?”
I shake my head. I can feel tears welling in my eyes. I don’t even know why I’m getting emotional. “No, that’s the first time,” I whisper.
He smiles, moving even closer, and I feel some unnamed emotion expand in my chest.
I stare up into his eyes. “I mean, it could’ve been wind or—not!” I laugh at the feel of another kick. A strong, healthy kick.
“The baby’s kicking right now?” he asks.
“Olive,” I say. “I nicknamed the baby Olive.”
“Oh,” he whispers.
That feeling expands further.
“Can I … would it be okay if I …”
I reach out, take hold of his hand, and press it to my bump.
I hear his breath hitch and see his Adam’s apple bob on a swallow.
That feeling in my chest spreads out, casting out of me and over him, like a net wrapping around the both of us.
River’s eyes are focused on where his hand rests.
And, when Olive kicks again, he laughs. His eyes widen and brighten with awe. “Hi, Olive,” he says to my bump. “I’m River. Your neighbor.”
He sounds so formal; I want to laugh. A small chuckle escapes me.
His gaze comes up to mine. “What?” He’s smiling.
I chuckle again, shaking my head. “Nothing. You just make me laugh.”
He seems to like that from the look on his face.
Olive kicks again, drawing his eyes back to my bump.
“God, it’s fucking amazing, Red.” He shakes his head. “You have a baby inside of you right now.”
“Five months now,” I deadpan.
His eyes come back to mine. “You know what I mean. Of course, I knew you were pregnant, but it wasn’t …”
He’s struggling to find the right word, so I offer one up. “Real.”
“Yeah.” His eyes flicker down and then come back to mine to stay. “It wasn’t real. Until now.”
His eyes are still staring into mine, and I’m looking right back into those dark depths of his.
I feel it—the exact moment something shifts between us. Like it snaps and then clicks into place. I know he feels it, too.
I don’t quite know exactly what it is or what it means, but I just know that it matters.
It matters a lot.
Carrie
I hum along to the lyrics of “I Found” by Amber Run, which is playing from my phone, while I fit the mobile onto the baby’s crib.
It’s adorable. I ordered it from a store online. It has clouds and stars hanging from it. And hanging in the middle is a crescent moon, and an elephant is sleeping on it.
The delivery box was waiting on my doorstep for me when I got home, so of course, I had to fit the mobile to the crib straightaway.
The nursery is almost done. The walls are fresh with the color I picked out. On the wall directly above the crib, there is a black-and-gold decal sticker that says, Dream Big, Little One, with stars and a crescent moon surrounding them. Olive’s crib is a brown wooden sleigh crib. The cream bedding with little gold stars is on the mattress. The crib bumper fitted to the crib. Matching chest of drawers and the changing table sit nicely around the room. Baby clothes hang in the closet and are folded up in the drawers. I have a rocking chair over by the window, so I can feed Olive during the night.
River pulled up the old carpet and sanded and varnished down the floorboards. It looks amazing. I got a fluffy white rug for the floor, which Buddy has taken a liking to sleeping on.
River’s been such a big help in getting the room ready these past few weeks. I don’t think I could’ve done it without him. But, of course, I won’t admit that.
I’m an independent woman nowadays.
River has become incredibly important to me.
He’s my friend. Probably my best friend.
But it also feels like things have shifted between us. There’s a slow, shimmering attraction there. I feel it. I think he does, too. Or maybe I’m just imagining it, and it’s all on my part.
Either way, I have no intention of acting upon it.
I would never do anything to risk our friendship.
I’d say we have a unique friendship though.
It’s like we know everything about each other and absolutely nothing at all.