"As well as if I told her that I am married?"
"Wouldn’t expect you to say one without the other."
She screws her features, "See, this is what I mean?"
"What?"
"You being nice to me… It’s weird."
"I don’t see why that should surprise you so much."
"It’s just…" She waves her hand in the air, "All this conversation, your cooking meals for me, taking care of me when I am sick… It’s just…"
"Normal?"
She frowns, "In a way, and that weirds me out even more."
"So, you find it weird that we are actually getting along, and that you are not trying to escape me anymore?"
Her shoulders slump and I curse myself. Why the hell did I have to bring that up? Just as I was thinking that she was settling in here and she also seemed content, I had to go and spoil it all, eh?Che diavolo!
"I am not trying to escape you because, for some reason, I seem to be forgetting exactly why I wanted to get away from you in the first place."
My heart begins to race. "You are, eh?" I say softly.
"It’s all your fault," She lowers her chin as she proceeds to polish off the remaining food on her plate. Then she takes a couple of sips of the orange juice from her glass before turning to me. "You’re making me too comfortable here."
Good.
"You’re spoiling me by how you take care of me."
That’s the idea, tesoro mio.
"You’re…" her chin wobbles, "you’re confusing me, you know that? You’re tying me up in knots, you’re messing with my head, you…you…" her voice catches, tears slide down her cheeks, and my heart stutters.
It fucking stutters. I squat down in front of her, frame her cheeks with my hands, "Don’t cry, Beauty."
She sniffles, even as she turns her head away from me, "You think I want to cry, you ass? It’s these stupid hormones. They are all over the place, and half the time, I can’t even understand why things set me off when they do, without any warning. I am making a fool of myself in front of you, and I still can’t stop bawling, damn it." She balls her fingers into fists as I pull her into my arms. She stays rigid as I rub her back. She refuses to unbend as I haul her into my chest.
I hold her there until her muscles slowly unwind, one by one. When her breathing has evened out, I finally pull away from her. "Better?" I ask as she blinks away her tears.
"Sort of," she mumbles, as she reaches for the tissues on the table in front of her and blows her nose. I rise to my feet again, and keep a hand on her shoulder as she pushes back her chair and gets up as well.
"So, you going to call your sister?"
She shakes her head.
"Why not?"
"I am not ready to talk to her about...," she gestures to the space between us.
"Why not?"
"Hell, I am still digesting the fact that I am not only married but already pregnant, so please…" she tosses her hair. "Just give me a little time, okay?"
"Hmm." I stare into her features and she scowls back at me.
"I hate the sound of that hmm!"