Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice you weren’t drinking in all that time,” Beth said, and Cat laughed, still looking a bit teary-eyed but heaps better than just a few minutes ago.
“Cam helped me. He always made sure I had a virgin cocktail on hand when we were entertaining or out. We enjoyed keeping it under wraps and just between us for those first few months.” They shared an intimate smile.
“We’re going to make an announcement to the rest of the framily when we all meet up for the paintballing thing,” Cat said.
The paintballing tournament was scheduled for mid-March. Beth had been trying her best not to think about it too much. She was a little freaked out at the possibility of getting hurt.
“Paintballing probably isn’t safe for you right now, is it?” Beth asked.
“It’s not. I won’t be participating. But I’ll still be cheering my man on from the sidelines. And since everybody will be at the braai afterwards, it’ll be a great time to tell them about the baby.”
“Any thoughts on names and stuff like that?” Gideon asked.
“Not yet. But I’m partial to one size fits all names, like Rory or Madison. It’s tedious thinking of boy or girl names.”
“Are you interested in finding out the baby’s sex beforehand?” Beth asked.
“Not really. I’m happy to be surprised. And we’re not those pink-for-a-girl, blue-for-a-boy people, so we won’t be decorating along those lines. I already have a color scheme in mind for the nursery; sage green, and white, with pops of color—pinks, blues, yellows—in meadow flowers painted on the wall. With little country animals.”
“Sounds adorable.”
“You’re going to have to paint it, of course,” Cat told Gideon and he chuckled.
“You think I’d allow anyone else to do it?”
Beth blinked, confused.
“Gideon? But…why?”
“What do you mean why?” Cat asked. “You know why.”
“I really, really don’t.”
What was she missing here?
“Gideon’s an artist, Beth. How do you not know that?” Cat looked a little aghast and Beth felt like crawling into the nearest hole.
“The impoverished kind, as you have so sweetly pointed out on many occasions.” Gideon smirked.
“I did not know that. I asked you what you did once and you said—” She shut her mouth abruptly and went bright red, while the others stared at her in varying degrees of confusion.
Well…Gideon looked confused at first, then he frowned as if he were recalling something, then his lowered eyebrows rose clear to his hairline, and he guffawed.
“I remember now. I told you I was a gigolo.”
Beth refused to respond to that, averting her gaze and sucking her lips between her teeth to bite back her angry response.
“Christ, Gideon!” She heard the exasperation in Cam’s voice, but refused to look at any of them, waiting for it to sink in. For the much too astute Gideon to figure it out.
“Wait—you believed me, didn’t you?” Aaaand there it was. “All this time, you actually fucking believed I was some kind of manwhore.”
“Not all this time,” Beth said, her voice soft and resigned. “I thought you were being an uncooperative dick as always, unwilling to make conversation with me and mocking my attempts to be civil.”
She met his eyes as she said that and this time, he had the grace to look shamefaced. He actually flushed a bit.
“Because I knew you’d look down on what I really did. I figured why bother when you would just judge me anyway?”
Beth cleared her throat, physically unable to speak past the thickness that had lodged there. And knowing the words would emerge in a mangled mess if she even attempted it.
“So if not all this time, when did you start thinking maybe the gigolo thing was legit?”
Still unable to speak, she stared at him mutely, and he raked his fingers through his hair.
“What? You’re too good to answer me now?”
She inhaled deeply, another mechanism her speech therapist had taught her. Take a moment, gather yourself…and speak.
“It’s irrelevant,” she said, proud of the steadiness in her voice.
His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned and for a second, Beth was certain he was going to push her. But he nodded and looked away from her dismissively.
When he asked Cat which room they were thinking about for the nursery, the conversation moved on. And the matter of Beth’s embarrassing misunderstanding seemed to be dropped…for now.
The evening stumbled along. Beth and Gideon both made a concerted effort to play nice. Their friends appreciated the attempt and they managed to scrape together some semblance of an enjoyable time.
Still, Beth was exhausted when she eventually decided that enough time had elapsed to make a graceful exit. And since everyone else was showing similar signs of strain, they seemed relieved to have an excuse to end the night.
Gideon gave her a curt nod once they were out in the dark driveway. His bike was parked across the street, which was why Beth hadn’t spotted it when she’d first arrived. She watched as he slammed the helmet onto his head and climbed onto the massive metallic blue and chrome beast.