Logan and Danielle stay a while after, and we have every intention of playing a few rounds of Mario Kart. But Danielle falls asleep on the couch and apologizes when Logan wakes her up.
“Don’t worry about it,” Charlie says. “You’re growing a human. That takes a lot of energy.”
“I used to think people exaggerated how tired they were during the first trimester, but the exhaustion is real.”
“Let’s go home,” Logan tells her and helps her to her feet. We walk them to the door, and then Charlie and I go back into the kitchen to finish putting dinner dishes away. Charlie freezes as she puts one of her million coffee mugs away.
“Owen,” she exclaims.
“Yeah?”
“I just realized something.”
“You want to go upstairs and have sex?”
She gives me a pointed glare. “I do, but also…I, uh, haven’t had a period in a while.”
“How long is a while?”
“Since before we got back together.”
“Do you think you’re pregnant?”
She slowly shakes her head back and forth. “I…I don’t know. Maybe.”Chapter 37CharlieI pace back and forth on the front porch, swatting away bugs. Owen ran to Walmart to get a pregnancy test. I don’t feel pregnant. Not at all. I have zero symptoms, and while many women can go through the whole nine months without “feeling pregnant,” I know I wouldn’t get that lucky.
Still, we want to be sure.
I chugged a big glass of water when he left, and now I really have to pee. Headlights illuminate the street and I hold my breath, hoping that truck belongs to Owen. It doesn’t, and it goes right past our house. Getting close to needing to do the potty dance, I decide I’m going to give Owen five more minutes before going to the bathroom. Luckily, he pulls into the driveway only a minute later.
He stands outside the bathroom door, waiting for me. The test said to wait a few minutes until you check, but I look at that baby right away. The control line pops up first. I watch, waiting for the second line. I don’t see one, so I set the test down and pull my pants back up. After washing my hands, I open the door and Owen picks the test up off the floor.
“You’re not pregnant,” he says after looking at the test for a good minute. “Is it weird I’m a little disappointed?”
“No.” I move next to him and hook my arm through his. “Because I am too.”
Owen sets the test down on the counter and wraps one arm around me. “This isn’t the first time we’ve thought you might be pregnant. We had a few scares there in college.”
I nod. “I remember those. And seeing the negative was such a relief. But now…now…” I trail off and shake my head. “I shouldn’t want to be pregnant. We’re not married yet.”
“Yet?” He raises his eyebrows. “Are you proposing? Don’t spoil my surprise. Though I do want a hint so I can get my nails done beforehand.”
I laugh and look up at him. “You really would have been happy if I were pregnant?”
He brings his head down and kisses me. “Yes. I love you, Charlie. So fucking much. You know I meant it when I said I’d go to the courthouse and marry you right now if that’s what you want.” He takes my hand and leads me into the bedroom. He pulls me into his lap and sits on the bed. “Until then, though, we can practice for when we really do want to have a baby.”
“Didn’t we get enough practice in this morning?”
He laughs and kisses me. “You can never be too prepared, you know.”
“You actually can, though. You need to save it up and not deplete your sperm count.”
“So romantic.”
“I know, right?”
We fall back on the bed, and it only takes a minute of Owen kissing my neck while rubbing my back to get me in the mood. After sex, we shower and then finally go downstairs to finish in the kitchen. We both have to work in the morning and go up to bed. I snuggle close to Owen, feeling like I’m where I’m meant to be.
With him.
Together.
In love.* * *
“I’m running a little late,” Owen tells me. “Go ahead and start dinner without me.”
“Okay. How late are you going to be?” I shut my office door and get into the elevator. I was at work late tonight too. It’s seven-thirty and I’m just now leaving. Dad scheduled meetings with clients today, and our last one didn’t start until seven. The entire client meeting was bizarre too, and after talking about nothing that had to do with what the client wanted to hire us for, he left.
“Maybe an hour or so. It’s been really busy at the bar all day.”
“Well, that’s always a good thing.”
“Yeah. It is. Are you heading home now?”