“Okay, let’s not get too touchy feely here.”
I roll my eyes.
“You’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” I reply, meaning it. “I’m enjoying it more than I ever thought I would, but don’t tell Van. I’m going to let her think that she made me come against my will for a while longer.”
“Women are mean.”
“You beat your brothers up every day at lunch.”
“That’s called martial arts, and a workout,” he replies easily. “Not the same.”
“Whatever. Kiss Kate for me. I’ll see you next week.”
“Be safe, darlin’.”
I end the call and look at the ultrasound again, smiling widely. There’s a little baby coming to join our family soon. I can’t wait!
“Is that yours?”
I spin to find Todd standing behind me.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to look over your shoulder, but that’s hard to miss.”
“No, it’s fine,” I say with a laugh. “It’s definitely not mine. It’s my brother’s. His wife is pregnant, and he sent me this to tell me.”
“Excellent,” Todd says, his accent as thick as Simon’s, yet not quite as sexy. “Did you know that the baby is the size of a peanut right now?”
“Did you know tidbits like that during every phase of your wife’s pregnancy?”
“Hey, I did my homework,” he says with a wink. “Congratulations.”
He pats my shoulder and walks away, and I gaze down at the photo one more time.
I love you, little peanut.
I’m late. I hate being late.
Despise.
Loathe.
It’s my biggest pet peeve in life.
And here I am, struggling into my shoes as I yank my shirt over my head, no time to blow my hair dry, so it’s in a bun on top of my head, and I have no makeup on.
My alarm didn’t go off this morning, and I overslept. And I never oversleep. What is happening to me?
Just as I’m about to dash out the door to class, my phone rings, and like an idiot, I hit accept rather than ignore.
This is not my day.
“Hello?”
“Hey, beautiful,” Ryan says with a sing-song voice, making me stop in the doorway.
“What’s up, Ryan? I’m in a hurry.” And I don’t ever want to talk to you again.
“I was just thinking about you. I haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been?”
“Remember when I told you I was going to a retreat for two weeks? These are those two weeks.” I roll my eyes. Ryan rarely paid attention to details that didn’t affect him.
“I didn’t realize you were really going to that,” he says, annoyance heavy in his voice. “I thought we said it was a silly thing to go to.”
“No, you said that.” I check the time. “What do you need, Ryan? I’m late for class.”
“I want to see you,” he says simply.
“You want to fuck me,” I reply.
“Yes.”
“No.” I shake my head and sit on the edge of the bed. Who cares if I’m a couple minutes late?
“No? Are you seeing someone?”
“I don’t have to be seeing someone else to say no to you,” I reply, my voice strong. “But no, I’m not. However, you are.”
“You must be mistaken.”
“Nope. I’m not. I heard your conversation with Pamela, Ryan. You don’t like me, but you like to fuck me. And if I remember correctly, you were going to call me and break it off for good. Which you didn’t do. But let me just save you the trouble.”
“No, there was no reason to call because I broke things off with Pam.” He sounds panicked now. “There’s no reason for us to stop seeing each other, Char.”
“Yeah, there is.” I sigh and shake my head. “You don’t even like me, remember?”
“That wasn’t true, baby.”
God, I’m weak when he calls me baby like that. And he knows it. Bastard.
“Either way, I’m done, Ryan. It’s time for both of us to move on.”
“Let’s talk about this when you get home,” he says soothingly. “Don’t make any rash decisions.”
“Whatever. I’m late. Goodbye.” I hang up, turn my ringer off, and hurry out of my room. I’m not going to let him talk his way back into my pants again. I was okay with the friends with benefits thing, but I’m not okay with the just benefits thing. No way.
I rush into the room, already quiet, and cringe when a few people glance over my way. I hurry to my seat next to Heidi and get settled as quickly as I can.
“Are you okay?” she whispers.
“No alarm,” I whisper back.