up because your grandmother made you feel like you should be.”
Ivy pouted, looking over at me. “Do you have to keep bringing it up?”
“Only when it works in my favor.”
She wrinkled up her face. “Yes, fine, just like the fake marriage I cooked up for both of us.”
I grinned, catching her eye. “It’s fine. I know you like me really.”
“And just how do you know that?”
“Because you’re the one who rolled over and demanded cuddles last night.”
“I did not demand anything.”
“You punched me in the arm.”
She paused for a moment, holding the whisk still in the jug. “I suppose I did punch you in the arm. In my defense, you deserved it.”
“I deserved a harder punch.”
“I can arrange it.”
“I’ll pass,” I replied, flipping the sausage patties. “Maybe hit me with it when I least expect it.”
“I’ll take that as permission.” She poured the whisked egg mixture into her pan.
I turned the bacon, staying silent, neither denying nor confirming that it was permission.
It didn’t escape my notice that we hadn’t finished our conversation about anything between us.
That was becoming more and more normal for us—we’d start a conversation and never finish it.
Our poor baby was never going to have a name, was it?
Jesus.
We finished cooking, scarily coordinated, and I pulled two plates down from the cupboard for us. Ivy served both meals up while I poured two glasses of orange juice, and we both sat down at the small, circle table passed as my dining table.
Well, it passed as long as my mother wasn’t here.
According to her, it was a glorified side table.
We ate in companionable silence. It was nice—comfortable, the kind of thing I could see myself doing on a regular basis.
And we still had to finish that conversation.
When we were done, I cleared the table and put everything in the sink. “So, are we going on a date?”
Ivy blinked at me. “What?”
“Are we going on a date?” I asked, holding out my hands. “I have feelings for you, ones that existed before this pregnancy.”
Her mouth formed a small ‘o.’
“So you should know that I’m not going to stop asking you out until you say yes just one time.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “So it’s kind of like how you got me to sleep with you.”
“I remember you being a fully willing participant in that.”
“After you wore me down.”
“So I’ll wear you down again.”
She pursed her lips, but her smile was in her eyes. “Then I suppose I’ll just save us both some time and say yes. Better we find out what a disaster it’ll be sooner rather than later.”
“Really?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I was prepared to have to wear you down, to be honest. This one is a shocker.”
She leaned against the side of the island, a shy smile toying with her lips. “It’s not like I can get rid of you. And you did go out to the store just to buy all this stuff for breakfast to apologize, so I guess one date isn’t going to kill me. Although childbirth might.”
“Works for me. It means I have seven months of you before you die. I’ll be sure to make the most of it.”
Ivy shook her head, pushing off the island. “I can see this going terribly already.”
“How about mini golf?” I called after her.
She stuck her middle finger up over her shoulder.
I was taking that as a yes.
CHAPTER TWELVE – IVY
I stared at the clothes in my closet.
Eighty percent of them weren’t going to fit me in six months, maybe ever again, and that was a bit of a travesty.
So was Kai suggesting mini freaking golf for a date.
Mini golf. I couldn’t play golf. The last time I’d tried, I almost hit myself in the head with the club.
I know.
I didn’t know how I’d done it, either.
It wasn’t looking promising for this date.
Mostly because I really, really didn’t know how I felt about it all. While I would lie to my sister and my best friends about how I was feeling, I couldn’t lie to myself, and so I wasn’t going to.
I was feeling things for Kai, things I wasn’t sure I was supposed to feel right now.
Although he teased me about being the person who’d started this whole fake relationship thing, the one thing I didn’t want to feel in a real relationship was obligation. I didn’t want anyone else to feel it, and no matter what he said, I couldn’t stop the thoughts that he was only interested in dating me because