“See? I’m truly sorry this has been rough for you, but you will get through it, and then you’ll have three beautiful children.”
She groaned. “And then I’m done. I can’t go through this again, Marj. Three is good.”
“You may change your mind when you hold your baby.”
“I don’t know. I sure hope you don’t have to go through this when you get pregnant.”
“Not something I need to worry about for the near future.” Or ever, it seemed like sometimes.
“Still nothing with Bryce?”
“Nope. I saw him today, and he couldn’t have been more frigid toward me.”
“Give him time.”
“Time?”
“Well…yeah. He’s been through just as much as the rest of us, and maybe more, in a way. He’s just not ready right now.”
“Not ready? I slept with him!” I blurted out.
Jade’s blue eyes went wide. “Oh. My. God. When?”
“Last night.”
“While I was at the hospital?”
I nodded.
“Well…?”
“It was amazing,” I said dreamily. “I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve never experienced anything like being with Bryce.”
“That’s great!”
“Not so much. He couldn’t wait to get out of here this morning. Except he couldn’t, because he was meeting with Joe and Ryan. I got up to feed the boys and take them to the bus, and then I escaped here as soon as I could. He could hardly look at me, Jade. I felt like a pariah.”
“But…during?”
“The fucking?”
“I was thinking lovemaking, but yeah.”
It had felt like lovemaking, but I was determined not to get caught up in euphemisms. Not when he’d run like hell afterward. “He was attentive, sweet, everything wonderful you could imagine.”
“Wow.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m just surprised,” she said. “Not that the fucking was good, but that he hightailed it out of there. Bryce is a warm person, from what little I know of him.”
“He is,” I agreed. “Or was. A lot like Ryan, you know? Always joking and laughing. That side of him seems to have taken a hike.”
“Coinciding with learning the truth about his father, I’d guess.”
“Well, of course, and I understand that. I just thought…” I stopped. What had I thought? Fact was, I hadn’t really been thinking at all. I’d let my horniness be my guide, and so had he.
“You thought what?”