Telling her wasn’t the problem. She’d agree in an instant. The rant I gave before I left the house was.
The calm look she gave as she walked away. The silent storm as she headed upstairs. I snatched the phone out of his hands and stared at the numbers.
Yeah, this was going to go well.
28
KRISTA
“Men suck,”I said, popping a Fannie May into my mouth and sucking on the sweet, chocolatey goodness as I hung upside down from the couch.
“They suck in all the best ways,” Claire grinned.
“You’re disgusting.”
I was near the bottom of my box, and desperately wished I had ten more to fill the pit in my stomach.
“I’d be forced to tell you that you being there would only put us all in more danger, which you’d get pissed at me for,”I repeated his words in a low, mocking voice. Snorting, I shook my head. “Men are such idiots.”
“Especially when they’re trying to protect you,” Kate chimed in, peeling her orange.
I rolled my head until I was looking at her sideways. “I think you misunderstand the point of eating our troubles away with bad food. Oranges are good.”
She sighed, leaning her head back against the chair as she stared up at the ceiling. “I’m pregnant. Again.”
Sitting upright, I spun and stared at her in shock. “Aren’t you a little old to be pregnant?”
Her eyes smiled at me. “Thank you. Nothing says you’re beautiful like another woman calling you old.”
“No, I just meant—why?”
“Perimenopause can actually set off a surge of hormones. Guess who that didn’t work out so well for.”
“But…perimenopause? Don’t you have to be like?—”
“Mid forties,” she said, popping another orange slice into her mouth. “That’s usually around the time it starts. Lucky me,” she grinned. “And my prize is another baby.”
“Isn’t that risky?” Claire asked.
“What’s risky is the fact that your possibility of having twins increases significantly.”
“Does Knight know?” she asked.
“Are you kidding?” Kate snorted. “I only just found out. I give it another day or two before he puts it together. Then, I’ll be shackled to his side for all eternity. He’ll rant and rail against me, telling me to have an abortion, just like he did the last time.”
“Why would you have an abortion?” I asked, feeling that was a slight overreaction to having a kid in your forties.
“Because two kids ago, I nearly bled out and died from complications. With the last pregnancy, he told me to get rid of it. Then again, he was nearly out of his mind. He hadn’t been sleeping or eating, so he was practically delusional. But he meant every word of it.”
She sighed, popping another orange slice in her mouth. “Which is why I know this pregnancy is going to be even more stressful. I’m pretty sure he’s going to demand I give up my practice.”
Wow. I couldn’t believe it. A baby in your forties. That was… “Insane,” I whispered.
“Yes, he is.”
That wasn’t at all what I meant, but I didn’t tell her that. I couldn’t imagine having a kid in my forties. I wanted to bedone with all that by the time my thirties were over. Not that pregnancy was looking too promising at the moment.
I had a fake marriage, fake husband, fake relationship…It wasn’t like my life was exactly going in the right direction. But having a kid that late in life meant everything would be later. High school, college, marriage…all of those things would be pushed back.