flecks of green. I wonder if the baby will have eyes that remind me of Kyle’s.
"This is bigger than you or me, Daisy. It's bigger than just the two of us. There's another person involved here. Another life involved. I think we owe it to this baby to do our best by it."
"So you want to marry me out of a sense of honor?" I reply slowly. So he's not looking for an escape hatch, he's still on this marriage-of-convenience idea?
"Is that such a bad thing, Daisy?" His eyes flash. "To conduct yourself with honor? A baby is a big deal to me."
"So we should stay together for the sake of the children?" I question. "Circa 1965?" Yet isn't this what I've always wanted? A man who would behave like a grown-up? Take responsibility? A man who would show an interest in the future? The kind of man who remembered to get rental insurance before he flooded his apartment with a kegerator malfunction?
He shrugs and steps back, his hands falling from my hips as he glances at the parking lot instead of at me. "I'm not suggesting you saddle yourself with me forever. If you find being with me so distasteful you could always leave."
"Whenever I want?"
"After a suitable amount of time, yes."
"Suitable? Define suitable."
"Look, Daisy." He turns and meets my eyes again. "I'm thirty-four years old. I've just taken over my grandfather’s company. I'm not looking for a dramatic two-week marriage followed by an annulment and bad press. I don't have the time or inclination and it's bad for business."
Oh, wow, be still my heart. I don't hide the skepticism from my expression.
"I need you to let me help. There's no reason for you to do this alone." He's taken the car keys from his pocket and he's bouncing them in his hand as he talks. He's back to not looking at me again.
I'm a bit bewildered. He needs me? No one has ever really needed me before. I'm an identical twin and I'm definitely the extra one. Violet is the one you'd pick out. I'm the gift with purchase. Though he really only needs me because I'm the incubator. It's not like he'd have chosen this on purpose. Chosen me.
We continue on to his car, some kind of high-end Land Rover. It occurs to me as he's holding the door for me that he's already better prepared for a baby than I am. I drive a two-door Honda Civic coupé. Can I put a car seat into the back of a coupé? Legally? Logistically? Would the car seat even fit through the door opening with the front seat flipped forward? Would I have to tilt the carrier sideways to wiggle it through with the baby precariously suspended in the carrier?
I need to get a new car.
I have time though. I could trade my car in like the weekend before the baby arrives. No biggie.
I'm not even going to worry about my one-bedroom apartment. The baby is going to be really small for a really long time and I've got room for a crib. I will need my sister to move out though. If she doesn't get her own place before she finds out about this baby she's never going to leave.
On the bright side, my plan of pushing Violet outside of her comfort zone is working like a charm because she's having some kind of torrid affair with a British guy from the tour I sent her on. By torrid I mean they had sex, which is a really big deal for Violet because she's a bit of a prude and I don't think she's ever had sex with anyone who hadn't already pledged to be in love with her.
Anyway.
I'm staring at Kyle's backseat when he slides behind the wheel. It's quite roomy back there. I bet a car seat would fit through the back door with ease. No tilting or accidentally whacking the carrier against the doorframe trying to squeeze it in.
"It's unfair, isn't it?"
Unfair that I'm twenty-six and I'm thinking about the cubic feet of a backseat in terms of car seats and diaper bags instead of sex? Yes. Yes, it is unfair. I sorta doubt that's what Kyle is referring to though, so I turn to face him as he backs out of the parking space. "What's unfair?"
"That you have to do everything."
Hmm, that is unfair. "Go on," I tell him. He really is very attractive. And so much less annoying today than he was