of sweat that formed on my skin from the short walk from the apartment.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
I ask the question several more times as he drives. I honestly don’t care where we end up but annoying him has become a daily part of my life, and we haven’t even gotten close to my quota for the day.
“Chinese food?” My eyes light up and my stomach grumbles as we pull into the strip center.
“Are you hungry?”
I glare at him. He should know better. He makes jokes and comments about how much I’m eating and drinking, but he damn well knows that since the nausea has subsided, I’m filling my mouth every chance I can get. My weight was down at my appointment a couple of weeks ago, but I’m certain I’ve more than made up for it in the last week or so.
Pregnancy is so weird. It’s like flipping a switch. One day I’m miserable, wondering if I’ll have enough energy to get out of bed to puke, and the next I’m stuffing my mouth with the weirdest foods and resisting the urge to run around the block because I have too much energy.
“We’ll get lunch after.”
I look from him back to the store fronts, my eyes searching in an attempt to figure out what he has planned.
“Absolutely not,” I hiss when my eyes land on the sign for the specialty baby store. “It’s bad luck.”
“You’re not far from the second trimester.”
Leave it to this rough and tumble biker to know exactly what I’m talking about.
“We don’t know the gender.”
“There are a million things we can get that are gender neutral.”
“I’m frugal.”
“And I’m not.”
“I don’t expect you to buy things for me.”
“I’m buying things for the baby,” he counters.
“I don’t want you to do that.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to be disappointed then.” He presses the button to turn off the ignition and climbs out of the truck.
I probably have three minutes in here before the desert sun heats the thing up enough to suffocate me. So I cross my arms over my chest, stubbornly waiting for two-and-a-half minutes before I’m forced to open the door, only the door swings open anyway.
“Come on.” Jinx offers his hand, but I refuse it.
“We don’t have to do this today.”
“Yet we’re already here.” I simply glare at his proffered hand. “If I go in there alone, I’m buying three of everything.”
“That’s wasteful,” I mutter.
“Then come and save me.”
He winks when he determines my decision, and I can’t help the stupid look on my face when I place my hand in his.
“This is going to be so much fun.”
He’s grinning, the smile wide on his handsome face as he opens the door to the store for me. Then it’s my turn to laugh when he freezes a mere two feet inside.
“Overwhelmed?”
I turn to take in the rows of shelving, all filled with product after product, trying to see it with his eyes.
“Holy shit.”
“Come on,” I tease, grabbing his hand and dragging him further inside. “There are a million things we can buy before we find out the gender.”
He reminds me of those videos I’ve seen online where colorblind people get those special glasses and take a look around, finally seeing the world for the first time in full color. His eyes are darting everywhere, but he keeps his hands over his stomach, as if he’s afraid to touch anything.
“Change your mind?” I ask, turning over a pack of crib sheets and cringing at the price. “We can head to Target. It’s not as overwhelming there, and it’ll be half the price.”
I walked in here determined to pay for everything, but that list shrunk to a small fraction when I noticed just how damn expensive everything is.
“Let me grab a shopping cart.” For all of his shock when he first walked in here, there’s now a hint of excitement in his voice.
When he walks away, I linger near the pacifier and bottle section. Maybe these things won’t be as expensive. I hiss, dropping a three-pack of bottles. Forty-eight dollars? Do they come with a nanny?
My phone rings in my pocket, and I pull it out immediately, needing the distraction.
“Hello?”
“Simone?”
I squeeze my eyes shut, hating that I answered the damn thing before looking at the screen.
“Dr. Alverez,” I mumble. “How are you?”
Dr. Alverez is the psychiatrist I started seeing after Jeremy went to prison.
“I’m great. I’m calling to set up an appointment. I feel like you’d benefit from a session.”