He forced a short laugh. “Almost had to chuck a u-ie.”
Molly exhaled. “I kind of wish you had.”
“Sorry. I was distracted.”
“That fact did not escape my notice, darling.” She pried her fingers free slowly. “I hope you didn’t throw off the muffler or something.”
“No worries. I went for the damage waiver.”
“Your foresight is excellent. All the same, with me and my unborn baby in the car…”
No. Our unborn baby. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll get your door.” Matt scrambled out the car. Tripped over his own feet a bit as he scurried around it.
In the pink-hued office waiting room, Molly filled out form after form. Matt pretended to read a three-month-old issue of Sports Illustrated. Pretended not to read over her shoulder. Not like Matt needed to know when Molly’s last period was, but somehow it made him feel more a part of her life. Their future baby’s life.
Forever passed, and they called her name. Matt wasn’t sure Molly wanted him to go back with her, but she got dizzy when she stood and staggered a bit. He steadied her, and they walked back together, holding hands.
Almost like they were normal.
“You okay there, Mrs. Cooper?” the nurse asked Molly while she stood on a space-age scale.
Molly shrugged, shook her head. “Yeah, just tired, I guess.”
“What did you have to eat today?”
She looked down at her feet.
The RN ducked her chin and raised her eyebrows. “It’s after one in the afternoon, and you haven’t eaten at all.” It was not a question.
Wide-eyed, Matt stared at Molly. Skinny girl though she was (not L.A. skinny, but thin enough), the lady could eat. Skipping two meals wasn’t like Molly at all.
“I’ve had trouble getting things down. That’s normal though, right?”
“To an extent. Have you been nervous? Stressed?”
Right in front of the meddlesome nurse, Molly glanced involuntarily at Matt. He wanted to die. Now they’d think he battered her.
The truth was almost worse.
She quickly looked back at the nurse. “I’ll be fine.”
“Mm-hmm.” The nurse—“Patty,” her name tag said—looked at Matt. “You make sure you take care of your lady, Mr. Cooper. Draw her a nice bubble bath every so often—but mind you don’t make it too hot. Rub her poor feet; it’s on account of you they’re carrying that extra weight. Stock your kitchen to the brim with whatever she feels she can eat. And when you make love, be gentle. She’s got precious cargo aboard now.”
Matt coughed. Any correction or relevancy objection was beyond him at that point. He gave the nurse a thin smile and silently coached himself. Don’t puke on your shoes. Do not hurl on your shoes. Matthew Andrew Patrick Kelly, don’t you dare vomit on those shoes.
Molly was as red as L.A. sunburn on August tourists from northern Maine.
Nurse Patty glared at them both at the same time and clucked her tongue. “Hey, now, don’t y’all act like you don’t know how you got yourselves into this current situation.”
Matt cleared his throat. Chin up. “Yes, ma’am. Anything you say.”
Nurse Patty huffed and turned on her heels, and Molly slapped him on the upper arm—and not too lightly—before she followed the nurse to an exam room.
Matt “Mr. Cooper” Kelly sat in an uncomfortable, pale pink plastic chair and took slow deep breaths while R.N. Patty quizzed his “baby mama.” When the nurse left, they sat alone in uncomfortable silence. At last, Dr. What’s-Her-Name crowded into the claustrophobic cell and asked Molly all the same questions she’d just answered for the nurse.
When they’d been cooped up for an eternity in the tiny room, the doctor asked, “Well, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, are you ready to hear your baby’s heartbeat?”
“He has a heart already?” Matt asked, feeling like a complete moron before he even got halfway through the sentence.
The doctor blinked. “Oh, yes. Baby’s heart starts to beat eighteen days after she’s conceived. Keep in mind, though, gestational age and conception aren’t counted from the same date. We count Mrs. Cooper’s gestational progress from her last menstrual period. But conception, what that means—”
“I know what that means,” he muttered, face in flames once again. Matt looked down at his hands and unwillingly imagined again how it had all worked. A tiny piece of Molly mashed together with an even tinier piece of him to make a whole someone, completely new altogether. He still couldn’t get his head around it. What was going on inside Molly right now, in ways even more astonishing and wondrous than making love with her had been.
Don’t think about that. Not here. Matt needed to jump into an Antarctic sea.
The doctor disappeared, and someone new came into the room pushing a little cart. “We’re going to do your Doppler test now, Mrs. Cooper,” the curly haired young man announced, a chuckle in his voice.
“Checking the weather in there, huh?” Matt blurted.
The tech laughed.
“Mr. Cooper” watched Molly’s lower belly as the guy smeared clear gel across the skin. At the moment, it still held the same tight curve it had the night they slept together.
A square-ish plastic sensor slid over the sheen of shiny goo. Weird staticky noises. Then…
A fast squishy bump-bump-bump-bump.
“Oh, my God.” Molly. Her voice soft. Full of reverence.
Molly looked at him, smiled. The tech glanced at Matt, snatched a tissue from a box on his cart, and handed it to him.
Bump-bump-bump-bump.
(We made that.) He stared down at the tissue, confused. “Should it be that fast?” His voice crackled, all snotty.
“It’s perfect,” the tech told him. “Just perfect for a little baby at this age.”
Bump-bump-bump-bump.
Matt frowned at the tissue he never asked for, blinked. He wiped two streams of tears from his face.
Chapter four
Matt was a jerk with no manners, so he invited himself to Molly’s for dinner. “I’ll bring pizza.”
He was on the red eye tonight, but he couldn’t leave her. Not just yet. Matt didn’t even ask if Molly had other plans. He wasn’t ready to let her go, and he expected she would cater to his demands.
Molly’s response was slightly delayed and somewhat awkward, but she agreed. Like Matt knew she would, because that was the kind of person she was.
Matthew knew a hundred ways to get Molly to do what he wanted her to do whether Molly wanted to do it or not. Us being friends again is a good thing for both of us, right? And the baby, too. Right?
As if he didn’t know emotional manipulation of another human being was wrong no matter the reason or cause. Getting off to a great start with your baby’s mom, aren’t you? Yessir.
Matt further pushed the bounds of decency when he showed up at the door with his best clueless grin pasted onto his face. His tone over-the-top bright. “Hi, hon!”
She gave him a stiff smile, eyebrows raised. Molly may be a pushover, but at least she was smart enough to be cynical regarding his motives. Maybe she knew Matt too well. Which could totally get in the way of the friendship-for-the-baby thing. Huh. Should have thought that through a bit more.