The Girl Next Door - Emma Hart Page 0,22

my bed and wake up tomorrow morning.

I had to get a handle of this. It wasn’t going to happen overnight, and I was going through so many changes, but that was no excuse to be a raging bitch.

Especially to Kai.

I mean, this was partially his fault, but still. He wasn’t the one who was making me tired, though. It was something out of everyone’s control, and if I was going to make it through the next few months, I had to deal with the frustration.

In related news, I had to get some tissues ordered on next day delivery.

After another moment of silence, I took a deep breath and stood up. While I was here, I took control of business in the stall, then headed out to wash my hands and fix myself up.

Leaning on the edge of the counter, I peered at myself in the huge, glaringly lit mirrors. I not only felt exhausted, but I looked it, too. Shallow bags had taken up residence under my eyes, my cheeks were extra flushed, and there was a huge pimple forming on the most awkward spot on my chin.

Great.

I had to deal with teenage acne again, too.

I wiped under my eyes, washed my hands, and escaped the confines of the bathroom. It was getting warm in there, and I was thankful for the cool blast of air conditioning as I stepped into the bar.

It wasn’t like June in Montana was blazing hot, but it still felt good.

I slipped back to the booth. Kai had switched from the menu to his phone, and two tall glasses of ice water were sitting on coasters in the middle of the table.

He glanced up for a second before he resumed tapping. “You looked like you could use some water.”

I was thirsty, actually. “Thank you.” I slid the water to me, pulled the paper wrapper off the straw, and put it in the glass so I could take a long drink.

He didn’t look up, and I trained my gaze on the ice cubes in the glass in front of me.

“Sorry,” I said softly, still looking into the cup.

“What for?”

“Being a miserable bitch.”

He chuckled lightly, putting his phone screen down on the table. “You’re annoyed. I get it. I’d be annoyed, too, if I were you.”

“Oh, stop it!” I threw a napkin at him.

It failed miserably, flopping to the table immediately in front of me.

His eyebrows shot up.

“No, don’t look at me like that!” I gripped my cup tightly. “Being annoyed or tired or hormonal doesn’t give me the right to be a bitch to you.”

“I see why they call you the volcano.”

“I’m trying to be nice here.”

Kai reached over and picked up the napkin I’d attempted to throw at him. He laid it out flat between us, flattening his hands over it until it was all but straightened again.

“I ordered for you,” he said, focusing on ripping his own straw open. “Sophie said you like the grilled cheese, and you look a little tired so she recommended a side of tomato soup. I was going to wait, but you were in there a while. Is that okay? She said you can change it if you want.”

I swallowed, fiddling with another napkin. “That’s fine. I’m not massively hungry anyway.”

“You haven’t eaten anything today.”

I didn’t reply.

He didn’t say anything either.

“Why aren’t you talking to me?” I asked after a moment, staring at him. “And why won’t you look at me? Did I do something to make you mad?”

Finally, he dragged his gaze to me. “No. I wish you’d stop thinking that you did. It feels like you’ve spent the whole week wondering if you’ve upset me.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Need to stop it.” Kai reached over and squeezed my fingers. “Okay? Just stop, Ivy. You’re allowed to be annoyed. You’re allowed to be mad over little things. You’re allowed to run off to the restroom and take ten minutes to breathe if that’s what you need.”

“But I—”

“Need to stop arguing,” he repeated, lightly squeezing my hand again. “We have to figure out how to get through this pregnancy together, okay? We might not be a real relationship,” he said in a lower voice, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be there. I’ve shown you that, haven’t I?”

I nodded.

“Right. Trust me, if you piss me off, I’m going to tell you. If I think you’re being irrational, I’m going to tell you. But there are bigger things right now, like you adjusting