Aiden stares at me, deep in thought, his brows are creased, and his lips are in a thin line. “And that’s all that is wrong?”
“I’m fine. You know I’d tell you if something was wrong.”
I feel bad for omitting the truth, and I’m sure I’ll be serving a lengthy sentence in hell for lying to him when he finds out. I know he’s only trying to take care of me, but I am attempting to do the same for him.
Once we’ve thanked Mike and are at the front door, I fumble around for my keys. Yawning. Again.
“Tired, are we?” Aiden chuckles.
“Yep. Had a busy day. Hectic morning and a crazy fiancé who keeps me up all night fornicating.”
“So, we’re fornicating, not making love anymore?” he asks with a smirk.
“Potato, potahto,” I say, blasé, which makes him laugh.
When I finally find the key and open the door, we’re greeted with the heavenly smell of homemade bread. We make our way to the kitchen where Chris has a pot of soup on the stove and a freshly baked loaf of bread cooling on the counter.
“That smells extra good,” Aiden says, wrapping his arms around my stomach and resting his head on my shoulder.
“Thanks, man,” Chris gushes. “You guys home for dinner?”
“No. We’re going to Callie’s. She has something to tell us apparently.”
“Oh, you know what that means,” Chris states with a smirk.
“I’ll bite. What does it mean?” Aiden exhales.
“She’s up the duff. Knocked up. With child. Has a bun in the oven. Preggers. In the—”
“Right, uh-huh, that
’s enough. She’s not pregnant, you idiot,” Aiden interrupts.
Chris laughs, and then Aiden and Chris continue to chat, so I make my way to our room. The second I see the bed, I lay down resting my head on the pillow, and I’m pretty sure I’m asleep in two seconds.
I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I hear Aiden’s soft voice, “Baby, if you’re tired, I can tell Mom we’re not coming.”
“No. All good. We have to go. She wants to tell us something that’s obviously important to her. We can have dinner and then leave early, if that’s all right with you?”
He sits on the edge of the bed next to me, leans down, and kisses my cheek. “I’m fine with whatever you need.”
Aiden stands and gets changed into a pair of jeans and a polo shirt. He grabs my yellow summer dress with the brown belt for me to wear. I slowly get off the bed to get changed. Honestly, the tiredness is making me feel physically ill. I guess stress can have an adverse effect on my body, and tiredness is definitely one of the side effects I am feeling right now.
“Are you sure you want to go tonight? Mom won’t mind if we cancel.”
“Aiden, we’re going,” I snap at him in frustration.
“Okay… sorry.” He looks at me, raising his eyebrow.
Shit! Now I feel bad. This overwhelming tiredness is making me cranky, and I should know better than to take it out on Aiden.
“I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m sorry. Your mom obviously wants us there for a reason, so we should go. I’ll be okay. I’ll drink a soda on the way over to wake me up.”
He nods. “As soon as you’re ready, we will leave.”
“Sure.” I throw on my yellow sundress, inhale, close my eyes, and exhale slowly to mentally prepare myself.
I can do this!