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Chapter 177: Setting up the future
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 178: Someone to watch over me
ALISONWhen I'd bought my three-bedroom house in Bayerton, I'd wondered if I was crazy to choose a home with so many extra rooms. I had planned to use the extra bedrooms as an office and a guest room respectively, although I'd been dubious about who'd be coming to visit me, making the guest room necessary. Now, of course, I planned to turn the small room near mine into the baby's nursery instead of an office. I'd long ago given up on the plan to make the bedroom into an office when I'd realized that I preferred to do any paperwork at home downstairs in my living room to be comfortable. I'd ended up buying a bed for the guest room on a whim when I fell in love with a pretty fourposter at an antique fair. I'd bought a new mattress for it that remained wrapped in plastic, sitting on the bed frame without sheets or a quilt. I explained all of this to Noah as we drove home from the hospital. "At least you won't have to sleep on the sofa," I told him, finishing my meandering story of
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 179: Lies I tell myself
NOAHHonesty was important to me. It always had been. I'd been careful to remind Alison that the two of us needed to be transparent with each other if this unorthodox living situation ever had a chance of working. I'd been strict with myself about being truthful with her, no matter what.But I was still lying to myself. I lied to myself every time Alison smiled and I wanted to kiss her breathless. I told myself that it was just because she was a woman I'd had sex with and I was a horny bastard. And every time she leaned a certain way and her shirt pulled over those full, luscious tits, my dick went hard, and I told myself it was perfectly normal to react this way. Just a visual stimulus. Nothing more. I lied to myself a lot. I'd sold myself and Alison on the idea of us living together as friendly parents-to-be, and I hadn't been wrong. It was important. I knew that every morning when Alison came downstairs and offered me a grateful smile for the decaf coffee and breakfast I had
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 180: Baby shower
ALISON"There's the glowing mama-to-be!" Emma folded me into a tight hug as I stepped into the cabin. "Look at you, Alison. I don't think you've ever been more beautiful." I wrinkled my nose. "Oh, tell me, what is it that you find more attractive? The way I waddle instead of walking? The swollen ankles? The red nose?"She gave my arm a gentle squeeze. "It's the whole package, sweetie. You just look . . . happy." She studied me. "Are you?"I hesitated. Answering that question in the affirmative felt . . . dangerous. Risky. The last time I'd copped to happiness, it had been cruelly yanked away from me. If that happened again . . .But no. I wasn't going to think that way. I remembered something that Brooke had said to me at a recent session: Don't let fear rob you of joy.So now, I let out the smile that I was feeling and nodded. "I am. I really am. I mean, life isn't perfect. I'm still nervous about motherhood, and sometimes, I wonder how I'm going to juggle everything. But I'm t
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 181: Repairs
ALISON"Oh, my gosh. Look at this. It's so tiny!" I lifted a precious white cotton sleeper from the gift bag, holding it aloft so that everyone could coo over it. The front of the little outfit was embroidered with ducks and bunnies-and, I saw with a smile, there were miniature stethoscopes and footballs mixed in, too. "Anna, I love it. Thank you so much." I held the sleeper to my chest. "I thought it might make a nice coming-home outfit." The older woman smiled. "Anna, didn't I tell you that Alison's giving birth at home?" Emma piped up. "Oh, did you?" Anna shook her head. "Well, either way, I hope he or she wears it in good health." "Thank you," I said again, and then raised my voice a little bit to be heard about the low-level chatter. "Thank you, everyone. I can't tell you how much all of this means to me. To us." There was a smattering of applause and a swell of voices as women began to stand up or turn to others to continue conversations. I sighed, wondering how a
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 182: Amends, part 2
NOAH"This is all so beautiful." My mother stood with me on the front porch of Emma and Deacon's cabin, gazing out over the neatly planted rows of vegetables and the trees beyond. "Emma and Deacon have built a beautiful home here.""Yeah, they have," I agreed. "Although I'm not sure how much Deacon had to do with the building since he was overseas when the rest of us were working so hard. Still, they both made it more of a home. They're happy here.""And what about you?" My mother glanced at me. "You're living with Alison now at her house in that small town? What about your home?"I shrugged. "I don't really know," I admitted. "I've had some thoughts, and a couple of ideas, but I don't want to make any big decisions until after the baby comes."My mother eyed me. "Will you think that I'm interfering again if I ask how you and Alison are getting along?"I sighed heavily. "No, it's not interfering. I just don't have a good answer for you. We're …" I squinted, trying to figure out h
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 183: Loss
ALISON"Have you seen my keys?"I made my way carefully down the steps, intentionally not rushing even though I was running late for work. My balance had been crap lately which wasn't any surprise considering the fact that I was carrying an immense amount of weight out in front now. I'd learned to take my time going down the steps. Or suffer the consequences."Aren't they on the hook?" Noah stepped into the foyer, sipping a cup of coffee. I tried to ignore the fact that he looked like sex on fire with his bare feet, tight faded blue jeans that were unbuttoned at the waist, and an open cotton shirt lying like a lover's kiss over his shoulders. "Maybe they are. I haven't checked yet," I replied tartly, a little salty because I was mad at myself for how much I still wanted this man. "It takes me so long to get from one point to the other that I try to call ahead nowadays."Noah chuckled. "All right then, darlin'. You stay there, and I'll hunt your keys." I picked up my handbag fro
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 184: Future days
NOAH"Spencer." Coach stood up from where he was sitting at a small round table in the corner of the coffee shop. He stretched out a hand toward me. "Good to see you. You look a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you.""Thank you, sir." I shook his hand. "I feel a hell of a lot better than I did then, too. I want to say again, sir, that I'm sorry for –""No more apologies, Spencer." Coach shook his head. "That's water under the bridge now." He hesitated. "I assume you saw all the paperwork for your retirement?""Yeah." I nodded. "Everything looked good to me. And I appreciate the team waiting as long as you did to make the announcement. I heard from the head of PR that you're going to release a statement next week?"Coach nodded. "Of course, it's more of a formality now than anything else. I don't think anybody is under the impression that you're going to be coming back to play with us this year. Not after we drafted Ramonez.""True," I chuckled, thinking of the guy wh
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 185: Trust love
ALISON"Read me that last part again?" Noah and I were sitting in the nursery, surrounded by boxes, gift bags, and about a million pieces of a pine crib. He had spent the last two weeks focusing on the nursery. He'd painted the room a lovely pale yellow color, insisting that I stay with Emma and Deacon at the cabin for the two nights after he'd completed the first and second coats so that I didn't have to inhale the paint fumes. Together, we had selected the crib and the dressing table. Noah's mother had sent us the cradle that all of her children had slept in, and that was already set up in my bedroom.Now, with my due date less than ten days away, we were finally tackling the project of building all of the furniture that hadn't come pre-assembled. I squinted at the paper in my hand, trying to decipher the words."I'm pretty sure that this was translated directly from Swedish by someone who didn't speak English," I commented. "It doesn't seem to make sense.""Does it say at wh
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