Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Well, since I’m not having a baby anytime soon,” she pouts, “we might as well eat. Whatever we eat though, it has to be spicy. The spicier the better.” I don’t remind her that she ate half a bottle of Tums yesterday because the spice gave her heartburn, which was, again, my fault.
“Okay, come over to our house. We are having everything catered,” she says and I make my way toward Zoey’s husband’s old beach house, where they are staying. My parents are staying at Nico’s place, right down the street from them.
We pull into the driveway and I look over at her. “How you feeling?”
“Like an elephant,” she grumbles and I get out and look at her. “You know they are pregnant for twenty-two months. This is what it feels like.” She opens her door and we make our way to the door that is immediately pulled open by Ralph, who smiles at her.
“How’s my girl doing?” He opens his arms for her. Candace comes toward the door, followed by my mother and my father behind her. I share a look with my father, who just nods.
“Miserable,” she moans out. “We just left the doctor and nothing.” He lets her go. “And Jaxon doesn’t want to do the one thing that will help.” She looks at me. “He won’t have sex with me.”
“Well, this is a conversation I never thought I would be having with the four of you in my life.” I look up to the ceiling. “It’s not that I don’t want to. She doesn’t enjoy it.”
“Like that matters all of a sudden,” she retorts and I close my eyes, not sure I can face them.
“It can be uncomfortable at this stage.” My mother tries to cover for me and I put my hands over my eyes.
“Can we talk about anything—anything—else but sex?” I look at all of them and they look like they are either going to throw up thinking about their children having sex or laugh hysterically.
“Come in, come in,” Candace urges now. “We set the table.”
She starts to walk into the house and stops, making us all stop. “It’s fine, I think it’s gas,” Ariella says, and she rubs her stomach as we walk toward the table.
“Where do you want to sit?” I ask her and she looks up at me.
“Not on your dick, that’s for sure,” she mumbles and walks over to pull out the chair and sits down, grabbing the glass of water that is already poured.
I sit beside her as my parents sit in front of me and Candace and Ralph sit on each end of the table. “This might be your last meal as a pregnant woman,” Candace offers.
“Meanwhile, this jerk”—she points to me—“was busy flirting with the nurse.” I look up at the ceiling, ignoring the glare from Ralph and my father. “After being annoyed because I didn’t have Stevenson as my last name.”
“Well, whose fault is that?” Ralph points out. “You went backward there a little.”
“Yeah.” I lean back in my chair and put my hand on her leg, hoping she lets me keep it there. “I mean, it’s not like she’s going to let me drag her to the courthouse to get married.”
She looks over at me. “If you think I’m going to get married like this...”
“You can always get married in the courthouse and then have a reception another time,” my father suggests. “All those destination weddings, you have to get married in a courthouse before anyway.”
“The more I think about it,” my mother starts, “I think I would have preferred doing that. Having the day, just us.”
“We did that,” Candace adds and Ralph glares at her. “Oh, don’t even.” She chuckles. “We got engaged, and when we got back home, he rushed me to the courthouse.”
“I did not,” Ralph refutes and her eyes go up. “Okay, fine, I did.”
“See,” I say, pointing to her father, “it’s normal.”
“What does it matter?” She looks at me.
“It fucking matters, Ariella,” I declare. “It matters that you are going to give birth and I have nothing holding us together,” I admit to her. “It matters that people know we’re not married.”
“It does not,” she says softly. “The baby is going to be Stevenson.”
“Yeah, well, I want you both to be Stevenson,” I state, turning to her. “I want to go in there and all of us have the same last name.”
“That’s crazy.”
“So you won’t marry me?” I turn in my chair, asking her.
“You don’t even have a ring.” She throws her hands in the air and I look over at my father. He pushes away from the table and tosses me the ring box, making everyone at the table but my father and Ralph gasp.
“What about now?” I push away from the table and fall down on one knee. “What about now? What do you say?” I open the ring box. “What do you say now if I ask you to marry me?”