Kristo“I’m pretty exhausted,” Amaya admitted. “I could do with getting home and having something to eat. If that’s all right with you?”“Sure, it is.” I planted a kiss on her cheek. “Come on, let’s get home.”“I think I have a chain I could put the other ring on,” she murmured, as she looked down at her hand again. “You’re going to have to stop getting me these, you know. I’m going to run out of room.”“A girlfriend actually asking for less jewelry?” I teased her. “Could it be true?”“Hey, watch it, or I’ll make you go back and buy me everything in that store,” she teased, and she looped her arm through mine, the bag with Jolene’s gift swinging happily in her other hand.We made our way back to my place, chatting about the days we’d had as we went. She told me a little about Darla on the way over, some new girl who’d started work at the library who she felt like she was already clicking with. I was glad for her. She didn’t seem to have many friends, perhaps not finding the time until
Amaya“Amaya, are you all right?” Jolene asked, and she cocked her head at me. I could see I wasn’t going to be able to keep the truth from her much longer. I shifted in my seat and glanced around the small room. I had something to distract her for the time being, at least, and Kristo had promised to give us as much time as we needed to deal with the situation at hand.“Kristo got you something.” I dipped my hand into my bag and pulled out the small box that contained the charm bracelet Kristo had helped pick out for my sister. Her eyes lit up as soon as she caught sight of the fancy brand name printed on the box, and she grinned up at me, the thrill evident in her eyes.“Are you serious?” she squealed, and she reached out for the box, popping it open. She gasped when she saw what was waiting for her inside. The bracelet looked even more delicate now than it had in the box. I bit my lip and smiled as I watched her slip it on over her wrist and twist it this way and that, admiring the
Amaya“There’s something else as well,” I continued, and her face dropped again.“Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding a whole niece or nephew from me as well?” she exclaimed, glancing around the room as though she expected the secret child to come sprinting out from behind the bed. I shook my head.“Nothing like that,” I promised her, chuckling. “That’s a long way down the line. But we wanted to ask you …”I hesitated for a moment. Should I give her some time to process everything I’d just dumped on her head? Or should I just get it all out there now and let her make her own decision? All of this was happening so quickly, and I didn’t want my baby sister to be left out of a single thing.“We wanted to ask you if you would consider living with us.” I grinned, and she stared at me again, silent, as though she was waiting for me to tell her I was just fooling and not to get so excited. I didn’t contradict myself. Her eyebrows shot up.“You’re serious?” she shrieked, and I nodded. I leaned o
KristoI ran my hands through my hair and inhaled deeply. This was the first time I would be seeing the family since they’d found out about everything, and I was about as scared-shitless as it was possible to be.“Hey, it’s going to be fine.” Amaya caught my hand and drew it down by her side. I managed to smile at her and planted a kiss on her cheek.“Easy for you to say,” I reminded her. “They all think you’re the best thing to ever happen to me.”“Aren’t I?” she vamped playfully, and I couldn’t help but laugh.“Point taken.” I waved her into the house. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”As soon as I took a step over the threshold, my nonna descended on me. When she saw Amaya was there at my side, she slowed a little, and I could see her reconsidering the talk she’d clearly had planned in her head as soon as she’d heard I was back in the house.“Amaya.” She gave her a quick hug. “So nice to see you. Come on, get something to eat. You look like you could use it.”I remembered the fl
Amaya“Dinner.” Nonna clapped her hands together and nodded toward the dining room. “Someone give me a hand bringing the food through, and we can eat.”Amaya and I volunteered to take everything through to the dining room. I was glad for a little time alone with her. I seemed to be craving it any chance I got, drinking in these sweet little moments where she would tap my arm as though reminding me how she felt about me. I couldn’t believe how natural it felt to be near her like this, even now. I’d assumed at some point that novelty would wear off, but for now, I was just enjoying getting her to myself. After all this time feeling like she had one foot out the door, that I could never truly call her my own, it was just the two of us, and I couldn’t have been happier.Cleo wasn’t coming for dinner, and I, for one, was relieved at that. We would have to start talking again eventually, but I was still too furious at what she’d pulled with the contract to face looking her in the eye withou
AmayaAs I walked along next to Darla, I found myself slowing as I passed by a flower shop, peering into the window and checking out the arrangements. I liked the ones with the blue in the forefront, especially the ones with those yellow flowers dotted so prettily through.“Amaya? Earth to Amaya?” Darla waved her hand in front of my face, and I blinked and came back down to the real world. I shook my head and laughed at how ridiculous I was being.“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I feel like I’ve got weddings on the brain.”“Well, not long till you get married,” she remarked. “No wonder. How long now?”“Oh, only a few months,” I replied with a sigh. It wasn’t that I wasn’t super excited about what was to come, just that it was a hell of a lot to take in, the full-blown, pedal-to-the-metal momentum of the marriage I was heading toward. At least I had more notice with this one than the last time I thought I’d been married. That had just been a matter of waking up in bed next to the man I tho
AmayaI talked to Kristo, who thought it better for me to grab an over the counter test. He picked me up and even went into the store to get it himself. We drove to a cute little diner that he loved, and I left him sitting at the table, his knuckles white and eyes a little wide. His words rang in my ears from the car ride over. “I’m sure you’re fine,” he promised me. “Just a little food poisoning, that’s all.”I didn’t have the heart to tell him I hadn’t eaten anything heavy enough to warrant this kind of reaction the last few days and, instead, just waited in the office with him until we were called in. “Everything’s going to be okay, baby.” He squeezed my hand. “I promise.”I was glad he was there by my side, but I was having a hard time believing him, even though I wanted to. My heart twisted in my chest as I tried to think about everything it could be—not food poisoning but maybe the flu? Perhaps just tiredness from working my fucking ass off since what felt like the beginning o
KristoI helped her to bed, and she crashed face first into the pillow and passed out right away. I sat on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair, watching her, wondering what the hell we were going to do.She wasn’t happy. I could tell that. She hadn’t said a word about getting rid of it, thank goodness, because I’d known as soon as I’d seen her walk back into that room, pale-faced and panicked, that I wanted to keep this kid. I would have let her make the final decision, no matter what, but I was glad I wouldn’t have to fight her on this one.In the meantime, we had so much to talk about. I was still racking my brains as to how she had even gotten pregnant, but I guessed we had been hooking up a lot these last few weeks. Maybe I had forgotten to use a condom one of those times in the rush of it all, in the thrill of finally having her be mine. I hadn’t wanted this baby, but as soon as I’d seen her walk out of that room, I’d known it was the perfect thing to fill out our little fam