“I put your pants in the utility room. I didn’t know how you’d respond to me going through your pockets.”
He wraps his arms around my waist. “Whatever you need to do, Summer. I don’t care. Why don’t you sit down, I’ll empty my pockets and do the laundry?”
“You just got back, I’ll do it.”
“It’s no problem.” He kisses my neck and gropes my breast under the new, clean, cable-knit sweater I’m wearing. He pulls the cup of my bra down and pulls on my nipple, making me gasp and lean back into him. “Or maybe we should just go back to bed.”
“As tempting as that sounds, I am so hungry.”
His hands drift to my stomach. I wish they’d move for him. “Let’s go out to dinner? Or order in?”
“What do you want to do? It’s your first night back.” I turn in his arms and peer up at him.
His eyes flash. “Order in it is. Indian food, Chinese, Mexican?”
“I haven’t had Mexican food in forever.” My belly rumbles an agreement. “I just want cheese and meat so bad.”
He laughs into my hair and moves his lips to the other side of my neck. “Cravings?”
“I think so. I really want Mexican food right now.” I tug on his beard to get him to look at me. “Can we?”
“Hell yeah, baby, and we’ll finish the tree while we wait.”
“MASON!” Maya shrieks and rushes us, a blur of black hair and tan limbs fly our way. She throws her arms around his neck, sending him back a step.
“Hey, Maya,” he responds, chuckling and returning her hug.
“You got bigger, Mason. Look at those arm muscles.” She squeezes his bicep playfully and wags her brows at me.
I roll my eyes and waddle to Loryn who embraces me like she hasn’t seen me in forever. Which she hasn’t.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called much,” she whispers and leans back.
“It’s fine, I understand.”
She places her hands on my belly and her eyes fill with tears. “You’re massive, Summer.”
“Yup. Mason always beeps like a truck reversing whenever I turn around or sit down,” I grumble but really I find it hilarious. So does she because she laughs clearly and hugs me again. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” she replies and we part again. “Actually, not too good. Lucas and I…” Her words drift off and her eyes go to Mason. “We’ll talk about it on a day where we’re not celebrating Mason’s return.” I look at Mason over my shoulder, he’s shaking hands with James.
“Whenever you want to talk I’m ready, Loryn. I’m always here.”
“That means a lot.”
I squeeze her hand. “I mean it. When the excitement has died down later, we’ll escape if you like?”
“No, it’s okay, it can wait.” She moves to Mason who is coming our way and tugs on his beard, the same way I usually do, he winces playfully and bats her hand away. “You’re looking a bit feral there, Mason.”
He sits when she swings the chair around and then tips it back over a basin.
“You all just gonna stand there and watch him get shaved, you bunch of weirdos?” I ask, linking my arm through Maya’s.
We join Evelyn who is playing in the corner with all the toys and books for kids that parents have to drag along with them.
“Where’s Amelia?” I ask Loryn as James and Maya sit on the plush sofa, leaving me the matching armchair.
Loryn doesn’t look up from what she’s doing, dragging the buzzing shears over my man’s jaw. “She’s at school.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s excelling, but they say she’s too argumentative. She doesn’t know when to stop.” Loryn doesn’t look upset by this. “I just think she’s going to be an incredible lawyer one day, or a businesswoman like her uncle James. She can negotiate the fur off a monkey’s back.”
I laugh with Maya and James. It’s so true. That girl is too smart for her own good.
“I love her, she’s so funny,” Maya responds happily. “She negotiates for dessert before dinner and wins almost every time.”
“She does eat her dinner though,” James points out proudly. “She just likes her dessert first. Who cares which way it goes?”
“Not Amelia,” I add and look up when the studio door opens and Marie appears.
“Finally get to say hi then,” she says, beaming at Mason who jumps up from the chair, half shaven, covered in foam. They hug so tight I worry Marie might break. “You good?”
“I’m good,” he replies, grinning as wide as she is. He wipes the foam that transferred from his neck to her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Good, get shaved, because you and Summer are doing a pregnancy shoot.”
I blink once. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope, it’s my gift to y’all. Loryn is going to pretty you up, Maya is gonna dress you and I’m going to photograph you both.”
My excitement rockets through the roof. “NO WAY! SERIOUSLY?” Then I glare at her. “You said you didn’t have time for weeks.”
“I lied.”
“You’re the best. All of you.”
Loryn agrees, “That they are.”
“And then we’ll go get dinner,” James finishes and the babies finally start to wriggle around.
“They want Mexican again,” I inform them all and move to Mason. I place his hands on my stomach. “Can you feel that? That gentle tapping?”
His brow furrows in concentration and he traps his tongue between his teeth. Everyone falls silent, giving us a moment.
The boys dance in my stomach, I don’t know which is which.
His furrowed brows shoot up as they wriggle together even more and his eyes come to mine. He lets out a laugh. “I can feel it.”
“Really?” I ask, my eyes as wide as his.
“Yeah. That’s crazy.”
Loryn and Marie join in and soon I have three pairs of hands on my belly. Yep, I’m that big.
Loryn squeaks and pulls her hand away, but then she returns it and her eyes fill with tears. “That’s amazing. I’ve never felt that before.”
“It’ll be you soon,” I assure her, placing my hand over hers. “You’ll see.”
“I hope so,” she whispers and we share a smile.
“They’re gonna be runners, Mase,” Marie says proudly. “I can tell already. We’re gonna have to leash them.”
“Them?” Loryn asks, looking perplexed.
“Uh-oh,” Maya replies quietly.
“Uh-oh,” Evelyn mirrors.
I look at Mason, Mason looks at me. I just shrug.
“We were going to do an announcement, but this’ll do.”
“I’m sorry,” Marie replies and Mason follows it up with, “We’re having twin boys.”
“WHAT?” Loryn shrieks, startling us all but there’s nothing but happiness in her eyes. “Identical?”
“Fucking hell, two babies, you guys are brave,” James adds, chuckling.
“They’re pretty sure they’re identical.”
“That’s crazy. Oh my God. You’re going to need two of everything.” Loryn looks awed. “Oh, please let me shop with you!”
“Yes, please let her so I don’t have to,” Marie begs making me laugh.
“Okay, whatever you want. Just finish shaving Mason so we can do the shoot and I can get Mexican.”
“I don’t want Mexican,” James pouts, looking at Maya.
“Do you really want to deny all of this the food it wants?” I ask him with a brow raised.
“No, ma’am,” he jests and winks at me. “Congrats, guys. So happy for you both.” He looks at Maya. “We need a boy.”
Maya flaps her hand at him. “We need no such thing.”
When Mason and James are playing air hockey, yelling at the puck like teenage boys, I lick my fork clean and look at Loryn, Marie, and Maya. Letting my eyes scan each of them before I ask, “Has you know who been in touch?”
“Voldemort?” Marie asks, her lips smirking, but
we all ignore her.
“Not recently,” Maya replies, her voice as low as mine.
“He spoke to Lucas the other day,” Loryn murmurs, looking at the boys as they play while bouncing Evelyn on her knee. “He’s doing better. I think he’s dating somebody. He still wants to talk to you though.”
“I have nothing to say to him.” It’s the truth. I was mad and hurt at first by the revelation of his infidelity, but I just can’t find it in myself to care anymore. It doesn’t bother me at all. I’m twenty-seven weeks pregnant with twins, I’ve got bigger things to worry about. “And I have a feeling if I try, he’ll just open up a new can of worms.”
“How goes the divorce?” Marie is the one who asks this. I notice how she doesn’t steal my milkshake this time. I don’t think they dare take food from a pregnant lady.
“Smoothly, for now. I don’t want anything from him. I’m just waiting for him to contest it and for it all to blow up in my face.”
Loryn’s eyes widen. “Lucas did say that Chris is convinced the baby might be his. Maybe I should tell Lucas to tell Chris that you’re having twins? There’s no doubt they’re Mason’s now.”
“You can if you want.” I try to recall if I told him already. I don’t think I did. “Maybe he’ll get peace of mind then.”
“Speaking of Lucas, when is he going to come and apologize to Summer?” Maya asks. “He’s avoiding everyone.”
“He’s already on weird terms with James after what he did when you were sleeping, Maya. It’s not just Summer and Mason he’s avoiding. And now he’s even more humiliated for defending Chris after everything Chris did to Summer. It’s a mess. He’s not in a good place right now.”
I take her hand over the table. “Tell him I forgive him for what he said to me and Mason, if that helps, and I’m sorry for dropping him in it with the whole Maya thing.”
“Let’s not talk about that,” Maya murmurs. “I’m not mad at him, not really. I think it’s funny and James is over it but he won’t be the first to go to Lucas. Lucas has to go to him.”
“I keep telling him that.” Loryn dares to take a sip of my shake and I allow it because she looks so sad. “Hopefully he’ll get over it by Christmas.”
“Hopefully,” I reply earnestly and then, after snatching my shake back from Loryn, I smile again for an entirely different reason. “Mason loves the apartment.”
“It looks so good, of course he does,” Maya responds with a roll of her eyes. “You should have gone into interior design.”
“Do you think so?”
“Umm, yeah,” Marie adds, looking at me as though I’m crazy. “I’ve never known somebody decorate like you do.”
“It might be a ginger thing, I once knew a girl back in college who was amazing at decorating, she was a ginge too.” Loryn shrugs her shoulders and snatches back my shake.
“Buy your own.”
“Can’t, calories.”
“Yep,” Marie agrees and slides the shake her way. “They don’t count when it’s somebody else’s food.”
“If only that were true,” Maya grumbles.
I shoot daggers at her. “You of all people do not get to complain about calories. You have to eat more than a guy to maintain your weight because of how much you run every day.”
Maya smirks at me, her eyes gloating in a way that makes me want to yank on her hair. “Why do you think I run every day?”
“So you can eat?” Loryn asks, looking perplexed. “I thought it was just because you liked the release or something?”
“That too, but it’s mostly about the pancakes, syrup, sausage, cakes, chocolate…”
“You’re making me hungry.”
“You just ate.”
“And?”
She blinks at me twice.
I glare back at her. “Don’t you look at me like that. I have two babies to grow.”
“Four if you count the size of your ass cheeks these days,” Marie mutters and Loryn and Maya start sniggering into their own boring drinks.
“Babe,” Mason calls, looking happy and excited. He reminds me of a Labrador. If Mason was a dog, he’d be that. “You ready to go?”
I nod and slide my shake to Loryn. Maya slides out of the booth to let me out and Mason pulls me to my feet. “Where we going?”
“Home.” He presses his lips to mine but keeps his eyes open.
“Ew.” Marie gags and Loryn shushes her.
“That okay? You can stay if you want to,” he pushes but I can see that really he wants me with him and I love that.
“You crazy? I’ve had these bitches for months… I’m all yours. Let’s go.” I take his hand and we say our goodbyes then head out into the cold. He helps me adjust my woolen poncho, because jackets don’t agree with the size of me, and then double wraps my scarf as I pull on my gloves. The streets are frosty and sparkly like diamonds.
It’s so beautiful, we’ll have snow soon, I can smell it.
“Are you sniffing the air?”
I nod and grin like a little girl. “I’m smelling for snow.”
“Smelling for snow.” He takes a big sniff himself and grimaces. “Nope, just back-alley urine and car exhaust fumes.”
Giggling I snuggle into his side and press my temple against his shoulder. “We should really invest in a car, I think. I don’t much desire battling the subway with a twin stroller.”
“I’ll look into it soon.” He kisses my hair and we continue walking for a little while longer. “Want to go home and fuck or explore a bit?”
I laugh and wave my hand in the air. “TAXI!”
“That’s my girl,” he murmurs, kissing my temple and then my lips. He deepens it immediately and I pray that this chemistry between us never dies. “It’s so good to be back.”
“Was it hell?”
“You have no idea.”
I caress his cheek with my hand. “If you want to talk about it—”
“I don’t, it’s better that I don’t,” he replies gently and I don’t feel offended. Mason has his own way of dealing with his work and I’m not about to interfere with that if it’s not interfering with his happiness.
“If you ever change your mind I’m here.”
He smiles softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners, his lips tipping up at the ends. “Chris fucked up losing you, Summer.”
I shouldn’t be as thrilled by his words as I am but who can blame me?
“Summer,” Mason grumbles into my neck and I feel his hand flailing around for something on my nightstand. “Fucking phone, babe.”
I blink my eyes open and feel immediate anger at being disturbed. I’m thirty weeks pregnant, massive, and so uncomfortable I want to leave my body. Getting to sleep is a massive accomplishment.
Growling and huffing, I lift my phone in the darkness and shield my eyes from the glare. It’s Lucas.
Why is Lucas calling me at two fifteen on New Year’s Eve? I swear if this is him singing drunkenly into the phone about new beginnings again, I’m going to flip? New beginnings can start tomorrow!
It rings off but then immediately rings again.
I put it to my ear. “Lucas?”
“Summer, have you heard from Chris?” Lucas asks, his tone panicked, he sounds a lot more sober than he did at eleven.
Now I’m awake. “What?”
“Chris, have you heard from Chris?”
“No, not for weeks. What’s going on?”
Mason stirs beside me and gently tickles my bicep with his fingers. “Who is it?”
“It’s Lucas,” I mouth silently.
“Again?” he mouths back and I shrug.
“He just called me about forty minutes ago, he sounded… it wasn’t good. He was drunk, crying… he begged me for your number.”
I tense and sit up fully. “What? What do you mean he wasn’t good?”
“He said he’d pull the trigger if I didn’t tell him your number.” Lucas sounds tenser than I feel which is saying something. The trigger? What the fuck does
that mean? “I told him to tell me where he is, said I’d get him. He told me a bar but, apparently, he left an hour ago. I’ve checked your house and he’s not there either.”
I don’t correct him and tell him it’s not my house anymore. There’s something more serious going on than who possesses what. Like what exactly is possessing Chris to behave like this? “I thought he was dating somebody?”
I feel like yelling at him to call her, but that wouldn’t be fair of me.
“He was but she ended it a couple of weeks ago, I think. I don’t know. I don’t really speak to him anymore since I found out what he was doing behind your back. I felt like an idiot and a dick for defending him.”
I rub my eyes. “I’ll call him. I’ll try to find him.”
“Summer… he really didn’t sound good. He said…” He goes silent and I hear a thud, it sounds like he has hit something with his fist, maybe the dashboard of his car? “I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want to stress you out.”
“What did he say?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just call him. Talk him down and I’ll deal with the rest.”
“You were wrong, by the way,” I declare with clarity.
Lucas hesitates, I hear his soft breathing on the other end of the line get sharp. “What was I wrong about?”
“You said I’d regret everything.” I clear my throat and glance at Mason. “I feel guilty, but I don’t regret a thing. You were wrong.”
“I’ve been wrong about a lot of things lately, Summer. I’m working on it.” He hangs up the phone and I stare at the screen of mine as Mason asks me repeatedly, “What’s happening? What’s going on? Say something.”
“I don’t know,” I reply, contemplating a call that might mean I need to change my number again.
Chris isn’t my problem anymore. The divorce is almost final. I don’t owe him anything after what he’s done. Just like I never thought he owed me anything. But I care about him, of course I do, maybe I even still love him, just not in the way I used to.
Still, I let my thumb hover over his name, but I’m interrupted by a heavy banging on the door.
“SUMMER!” Chris yells, and if I tensed before, I’m frozen cement now.
A Little Bit of Guilt: Little Bits #5 Page 23