Chapter Eighteen
EVA
“I don’t think he’s leaving, Eva. Y’all need to talk,” Jeremy said once we heard the truck crank back up outside.
“But. . . he has school. Baseball starts soon. What. . . Has he lost his mind? He isn’t making any sense.” I set my fork down. I’d had to force myself to eat because I wanted Cage to eat.
“He’s not leaving,” Jeremy repeated. “I ain’t figured this out yet, but I do know he ain’t leaving,”
I stood up and took my uneaten food to the garbage and scraped my plate clean before walking to the sink to watch his truck rumble to the back of the property like he belonged there. “I thought he’d be headed back to school today. He has to have exams coming up.” This was his way of telling me he was okay with me and Jeremy. He was going to be a part of Bliss’s life the best he could. He didn’t know how to tell me, so he was showing me. “He’ll be gone tomorrow. He has to be heading back by then.”
“I think you’re wrong,” Jeremy said as he set his plate in the sink and headed for the door. “I don’t think he’s going anywhere, Eva.”
I stared out at the barn, wondering what Cage was thinking. The screen door banged as it closed behind Jeremy. He thought Cage was staying.. . . But why? For what? He would have to leave eventually.
* * *
Three days later, and Cage was still showing up at six in the morning and still acting like he belonged there. I continued to cook breakfast. He continued to eat and talk like he was there to stay. Somehow he always managed to leave before I could stop him and talk to him. It was like he was dodging my questions. If I wasn’t afraid to call Low after all this time, I would call her and ask her if she knew what the heck he was doing.
Jeremy stood on the porch, sticking another dip in his lip three hours after we’d had breakfast. It was his normal break time. I walked outside to talk to him. We hadn’t talked much this week. Cage being there had consumed my attention.
“I wonder if he plans on leaving this weekend?” I asked, realizing I was scared that that was exactly what he was going to do. In three short days I’d grown accustomed to him being there again.
“Nope. His ass ain’t leaving,” Jeremy said, shoving his tobacco in his back pocket.
“What about his classes?”
“Don’t think he gives a rat’s ass about his classes.”
“Why?”
Jeremy looked over at me and grinned. “Because, Eva, he’s proving himself to you. He isn’t making excuses and explaining what he did. He’s handling it like a man. That’s what he’s doing.” He shook his head and walked down the stairs then stopped. “Damned if it don’t make me respect his sorry ass,” he said, then walked away.
He was proving himself? Now? Why? I sat down on the stairs and then studied my bare left hand. I hadn’t been able to put my ring on for two days. Normally I just needed a break for a day, but just picking it up felt wrong. Like I was intentionally being cruel if I wore it. To Jeremy because he loved me a way I would never love him and to Cage because it was a symbol of us being over.
“I keep waiting for our girl to move. Is she ever gonna move for me?” Cage said as his shadow fell over me. I looked up, and his twinkling blue eyes were smiling down at me.
“You’re never around when she does,” I replied, moving both of my hands over my stomach.
Cage nodded to the spot beside me. “Can I sit down?”
Could he sit down? Yes, he could, but could I handle being that close to him? I managed to nod, and he pulled his hat off and took the spot next to me, leaving no room between the two of us. Our bodies touched hip to knee.
“Can I talk to her?” he asked, studying my stomach. I often stood naked in front of the mirror and wondered what Cage would think of my body now. I looked so different than I had the last time he’d seen me naked. Seeing him study my swollen stomach so carefully made me nervous.
“I guess,” I said, not really sure I wanted him to, but how could I tell him no?
He shifted his body so he could cup my stomach with both his hands. I couldn’t help the small shiver than ran through me. It had been so long since Cage had touched me like this. His thumbs moved gently over my stomach in a caress. There was no mistaking the tremble in my body. I knew he felt it, but he wasn’t teasing me or mentioning it.
“It’s time you moved for me, baby girl. I’ve been waiting all week. I wanna feel you inside your momma.” He was talking to my stomach. I was going to cry. I bit my bottom lip as hard as I could to distract my hormonal emotions from the sweetness of what I was witnessing.
“What do you normally do to get her to move?” Cage asked, looking up at me.
“I sing to her,” I admitted, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. Emotion flashed in his eyes so quickly that I almost missed it.
“What do you sing?”
“Lullabies mostly. Maybe a little Adele. She likes Adele.”