Learning the Ropes (13 page)

“Do you think we’re pregnant, Rory?”

“No, I don’t think
I’m
pregnant. But I’m certainly not going to expose my hypothetical baby to radiation just so I don’t upset
you
!” she snapped out. She was finally looking him in the eye now and he almost wished she wasn’t. Her expression was caught somewhere between terror and rage.

He made his voice as soothing as he could. “I’m not upset and you did the right thing. We were careful, but who knows…”

“I mean, what if it’s twins and I had gotten this x-ray and they came out as one baby with two heads?” Rory was showing more alertness than she had all morning. Maybe not clarity or sense per se, but at least she was talking to him.

“So now we’re having twins?” He smiled at the image.

She let out a harsh laugh. “Stop saying ‘We.’ It’s not like you’re even going to be around much longer.”

Noah felt the comment like a punch to the gut. Apparently Rory was still thinking of him as a temporary part of her life. He felt his own anger rising up. “Well I guess you’ve just got all the answers. Tell me this—who are you going to tell everyone is the father of these two-headed twins? Since you’re so clearly ashamed that it’s me.”

“No, it’s one baby, two heads. And that was only if I had the x-ray and exposed them to radiation. And I’m not asham—” Her words were cut off by the ringing of the kitchen timer. The time had elapsed.

Rory looked down at the pregnancy test in her hand and then closed her eyes. He had no idea how to interpret that.

“Rory?”

“I’m not pregnant.”

Noah let his breath out in a whoosh, unsure how he felt about the news.

Soft whimpers from the other side of the small room drew his attention back to Rory. She was quietly crying, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Noah. I didn’t mean it. I just feel so awful and I was so afraid—”

Rory’s words were cut off when he crossed the room to hold her. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed. He could feel the heat still radiating from her skin through his worn T-shirt. Yes, her words had stung and she appeared to still be thinking about him only as a temporary lover. All of the progress he had believed they had made had never existed. They would have to talk about where their relationship was going eventually, but later.

The nurse came back to find out the verdict and then to get her ready for her x-ray. Noah sat by himself in the waiting room, trying to get his emotions under control and figure out his next step. When it was all finished and Rory was ready to leave, it was with the semi-good news that she only had ‘flu, not full-blown bronchitis.

Noah’s next few hours were a blessed retreat from having to think about the scene between the two of them. Helping her get home and notifying both of their bosses that neither would be in for the rest of the week took up most of his energy. He was lucky that she was only barely coherent for most of her illness as well. As much as his heart ached to see her in pain, it was also difficult for him to look at her.

Now he knew for sure that she could hurt him.

What he needed most was time away from her, but he wouldn’t allow himself that until she was one hundred percent better. Once she was well again, he would take some time away from her. Time to figure out what he was going to do with this woman who wouldn’t acknowledge their relationship in the most basic of ways. The woman he was rapidly falling in love with.

Chapter Nine

Rory looked regretfully at the cocktails menu before ordering a glass of water and sitting back in the booth where she was waiting for her friends. She was feeling much better after her bout of ‘flu more than a week before, but she was finishing the last of her antibiotics, which made alcohol a no-no. Which was unfortunate because she had a feeling she was going to need it that evening.

For the first time since she had started her fling with Noah, she had actually made it to girls’ night. Honestly, she hadn’t been too keen about attending, but Mac had threatened to put her face on a milk carton if she didn’t show up. Luckily she would only be facing two of her friends since Brianna was out of town with her track-and-field team at a meet. If she could just get past the abuse for being missing in action lately, she would really enjoy hanging out with her friends. She’d been kind of wrapped up in Noah for the past month, and while she had loved every second of it, she missed her girlfriends.

It was just so hard to keep a secret from them. She’d never really been one for subterfuge so she didn’t have any practice at it. It probably wouldn’t even be an issue for much longer though if she had her guess. Noah seemed to be getting tired of their relationship. Or—correction—he was getting tired of all of the restrictions she had placed on their relationship. He had dutifully nursed her through her illness and back to the land of the living—going well above the call of duty, especially since he was still hurt by her violent reaction to the thought that she might be pregnant, she suspected.

Rory winced in remembered embarrassment. Blame it on the pain, fever, or headache, but she had really gone off the deep end on that one. And unknowingly exposed her deepest fear to him. That someday soon he would get tired of her vanilla lifestyle and move on. They hadn’t really talked about it, but Rory could feel him pulling away from her. Sure, they still spent most of their free time together but he wasn’t as affectionate or open as he used to be. There were even days when he was so distant that she missed him, even though he was sitting right next to her on the sofa. On those days she counseled herself that it was for the best. Wasn’t a slow dropping off better than a ripping the band-aid off situation? Wouldn’t it be better to lose him by inches than a dramatic, “It’s not you, it’s me” speech?

The only problem was that her little “notes to self” weren’t working. She dreaded the end as much as she was certain of its occurring. It was a shame that she couldn’t tell her friends, because she had a feeling that she would need them a lot in the aftermath. But it was better to keep it to herself. She would rather bear the pain alone than be pitied for thinking that she could ever be enough for a guy like him in the long term.

Rory was startled out of her thoughts by the noisy arrival of her friends. Celeste crowded into the booth next to her and then passed her purse over the table for Mac to keep on her seat.

“It’s been a long time, stranger,” Mac teased as she grabbed Rory’s hand for a squeeze.

Rory couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as her friends debated the merits of cocktails. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed these women.

“How are you feeling?” Celeste asked.

“I’d be feeling a lot better if I could have a glass of wine. But for someone who thought she was at death’s door last week, I could be worse. How are you two doing?”

Celeste grinned brightly. “I’m doing fantastically. Things are really great at work and of course wonderful with Grant.”

“Oh, don’t get her started. I swear she was going to break into her “Ode de Bartender” on the way over here.” Mac laughed. “And things are pretty much the same with me. Crazy at school, as I’m sure you know, since we haven’t had a chance to talk there in weeks. And…” Mac let the suspense build for a moment, “John and I have been talking engagement.”

All three girls squealed and several bar patrons looked their way. Rory’s head was reeling and her heart was aching. She wished that she could partake in all of the boyfriend talk, but Noah wasn’t her boyfriend, he was her adventure fling. No matter how much she wanted to tell her friends what was going on, they would see right through her. Right through her games about not caring about him and just using him for the thrill and to expand her horizons.

They would know that she felt more for him than she was letting on. They would feel sorry for her and probably sit up at night with their respective boyfriends talking about if only Rory could find someone that could love her back. She choked back a knot of tears that was clogging her throat.

“That’s amazing,” she enthused while Celeste looked at her in concern.

Mac was too excited to notice anything out of the ordinary. “It’s not anytime soon or anything, I’m just happy to be talking about a future with him. I mean, six months ago he was dating another woman and I was pining away from afar.”

Celeste laughed in remembrance. “Yeah, but then you set out to seduce him and now you’ve got him talking permanent commitment. I need to take some lessons from you, girl.”

Mac shrugged. “I didn’t expect this to happen. I just decided that any amount of time with the man I love was better than nothing.”

Rory opened her mouth to comment but was distracted by raucous masculine laughter at the entrance. Grant, John, and a couple of other guys from their group were walking into the bar. And part of that group was Noah. Rory immediately turned back around to face her friends, who were busy making mooneyes at their men.

“What is that pack doing here?” Rory tried to sound nonchalant.

Celeste picked up her drink and took a sip. “They decided to meet upstairs at Grant’s to watch the game. I guess it’s over—and from their expressions, that it ended well for our team.”

“Why upstairs? Why not down here at the bar? Seems a lot easier to me.”

“Grant just wanted to relax. He always feels like he has to be working when he’s down here, but he likes company to talk about the games with. Lord knows I’m not up for the job,” Celeste laughed.

Mac waved at John before turning her attention back to the conversation. “I’m really happy Grant called John and the guys to hang out. It won’t be too long before we’re double-dating.” Mac clearly would have ended the sentence there but Celeste was making faces at her and tilting her head towards Rory. Rory assumed she wasn’t supposed to see any of it. “Of course, it will be triple-dating soon. We’ve just got to find someone for you, Rory,” she rushed to say.

“I can find someone for myself.” Rory knew her voice came out cooler than necessary, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Celeste straightened her spine and looked over the top of the booth at the guys in the room. “What about…” her gaze landing on the one person Rory would have rather not talked about, “…Noah?”

“Ha! We’re like cats in a bag together. It would never work.”

Celeste waved her concern away. “I always thought that was just misplaced sexual tension. You can work through that.”

Rory stared at her friend in silence. Luckily, Mac came to the rescue and filled it. “Actually, I’ve got some dirt on Mr. Noah Sellig.”

Celeste leaned forward, ready to hear the gossip. “Don’t make me beat it out of you.”

Mac leaned forward too and lowered her voice. “Apparently Noah is seeing someone. John said that he walked in on Noah with some pretty little thing and that it was hot and heavy. He said that he thinks Noah has finally met his match.”

“No! When was this?” Celeste gasped.

“At the party last month.”

“Last month? Why am I just hearing about this now?”

Mac shrugged. “John didn’t tell me until last week. I think it was a secret though, so don’t go blabbing.”

Celeste sat in shock for a few seconds before breezily moving on. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. He’ll be free in a couple of weeks. He doesn’t have that long of an attention span.”

Rory sat back in the booth and bit her lip to keep from commenting. She agreed with Celeste, but it was still hard to hear her friends talk about her like she was disposable, even if they didn’t
know
it was her. She mustered up all of her lying skills.

“I wouldn’t have him on a bet, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Mac slanted her a glance that said she didn’t believe a word Rory had said, but thankfully kept quiet.

Celeste tipped her glass up to drain her drink and then nodded her approval. “Fair enough. But I’m still going to try to find out who his mystery woman is. He shouldn’t be too tough of a nut to crack.” Celeste grinned at them. “After all, I have experience with mystery lovers.” She put her empty glass down on the table, accepted her purse from Rory and slid out of the booth.

Mac laughed and stood up as well. “Now this I’ve got to see. Coming, Rory?”

Rory nodded tightly but stayed well behind the other women, deciding that if ever there was a time to ignore the surgeon general’s warning about mixing medicine and booze it was now. She scooted up to the bar and ordered a drink, watching Celeste work her magic out of the corner of her eye. Maybe she was working it a little too much. Noah laughed down at her pretty friend as Celeste leaned against the pool table he was playing on. They looked good together. In fact, Rory wasn’t sure why they had never hooked up before. Celeste seemed exactly his type: blond, stacked, always fashionable, and never awkward or at a loss for words.

Rory shook her head and turned away. Celeste was in love with Grant. There was no reason to think that she was talking to Noah for any other reason than to find out who his mystery girl was, to satisfy her curiosity. Rory swallowed her jealousy and looked around for someone to talk to. Mac was busy chatting with John in a corner and the other guys she knew were playing pool close to Noah. It was safer to stay on the other side of the room.

“That’s an awfully big sigh.” Rory looked up to see Grant’s smiling face as he slid her drink across the bar to her.

She mustered up a half-hearted smile for him and pulled her drink closer. “How are you, Grant?”

“I’m great. How are you doing, Rory? I heard you were feeling under the weather last week.” Grant wiped the bar in front of her and Rory almost laughed at the urge to spill her secrets to the bartender. Talk about stereotypical.

Celeste’s loud laugh from across the bar caused both Grant and Rory to look in her direction. She and Noah were laughing together like the best of friends. A cold, hard lump formed in her stomach.

“I thought I was feeling better, but my head is killing me.” Rory closed her eyes and turned back to Grant. When she opened them, he was surveying her with compassion in his eyes.