my days again. I didn’t think you’d be that pregnant.”
And then, to Laura’s everlasting astonishment, the notoriously prickly and secretly shy Ruth Kabbah strode right into the house, past a still-blinking Samir, and gave Laura a hug. It was an awkward, one-armed, wincing hug, but it definitely counted. And it was enough to make Laura burst into tears. Not that it took much these days.
“Oh dear,” Ruth said, jerking back as if each salted drop was poisonous.
“You okay, angel?” Samir sounded more amused than concerned, but still, he asked.
“I’m fine! It’s fine! I’m just…”
“Leaking,” Ruth said grimly. “Like a faulty teapot.”
Laura snorted. “What?”
“Oh, never mind. I think some food is in order. Food always helps. Evan brought lasagne.” And then, as she dragged Laura into the kitchen: “Oh. You already have food.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “Yours cooks, too, then? Excellent choice. Very wise, very wise indeed.”
Just like that, Laura knew everything from here on out would be absolutely perfect.
That night, after they’d settled Ruth and Evan into the room that should’ve been Hayley’s, Samir pulled Laura into his arms.
They didn’t sleep with blankets anymore, because Laura got too hot. She was always too hot, now—but she still needed him to hold her, and honestly, he needed it too. So they slept naked, with a window open, to combat the body heat between them.
Of course, since she was Laura, and she was naked, Samir spent every night hard as hell. And since she was now at that stage of pregnant discomfort where the idea of sex vaguely nauseated her, he was doomed to stay that way until he showered the next morning.
But tonight, he wasn’t fighting off inappropriately filthy thoughts. Tonight, he was preoccupied with something… different. Something so huge, he was struggling to drum up the courage to begin
“Ruth is nice,” he said, his fingers tracing the stretch-marks on Laura’s hips, raised like lace over the silk of her skin. He was a coward, discussing her friends instead of saying what was on his mind, but fuck. Some things were too important for confidence.
“You like her?”
“Of course. She makes you smile.” He pressed a kiss to Laura’s temple. “Evan’s great, too.”
“He is, isn’t he? I haven’t known him long. He only moved to Ravenswood this year.”
And there it was, like fate: a perfect segue into the topic Samir was trying to broach. “So they haven’t been together long, then?”
“Not really. Since Easter, maybe.”
“Right.” He paused. “But they seem like they’ve been a couple forever. Years, at least.”
“I know. It’s funny.” Laura gave a happy little sigh. “It’s like they were made for each other.”
“Do you believe in that?” he asked quickly. “Soulmates, and that sort of thing? Do you think people can be perfect for each other?”
“Ummm…” She hummed out the word, and he winced as he waited for her response. He’d never been so nervous in his life. Which was ridiculous, because he was just feeling her out. Opening a dialogue. Having a reasonable, adult discussion about—
“Maybe,” she said. “I mean, I don’t think there’s only one person for everyone, but I do think that people can be perfectly matched. I think I believe in soulmates. Yeah.” She nodded, her hair rubbing against his chin. “I do.”
Well, that was something. That would make it easier to argue his case. “I do, too. Honestly, I… Laura, I know this might seem fast. And I know this whole thing between us is, I don’t know, unusual. But I feel like you’re it for me. I know you are.”
Slowly, she shifted until their eyes met. The motion brought their bodies even closer, but every inch of his focus was narrowed down to her cool, grey gaze.
Not so cool in this moment. Right now, it looked more like a tempest.
“What exactly are you saying?” she asked softly.
“I just…” He wet his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. “I don’t want to push you, but I can’t hide this, either. If I thought you were ready for it, I’d ask you to marry me. I’d have asked you weeks ago, to be honest. But right now, I don’t know if that would be fair to you. Then at the same time, I don’t want you to ever wonder how serious I am about you. Because I know exactly how serious I am, and I can tell you outright. I am telling you outright, because soon you’ll have the baby, and I know you planned to leave but I—I don’t want