Page 25 of Nine Month Contract
Slightly irritated, I back up as the three of them stomp their way up the steps, making light work of a task that I expected to take me the better part of the day to accomplish.
“Is there a way to make them stop?” I ask Wyatt, who is currently staring at Reginald, whose snout is pressing into the crack of the doorway that leads out into the pasture. “I planned on moving my own stuff. Your brothers don’t even know me. Moving my stuff is asking way too much.”
“You didn’t ask.” Wyatt shrugs. “And they’re doing it for me as much as they’re doing it for you.”
I frown at that simple response, feeling a bit stunned by the generosity of everyone, and I’ve barely been here for five minutes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’ve never met someone who’s been kind to me. But these are literal strangers. Hell, Wyatt is still a stranger.
And he made Reggie a pigpen.
Heavy green flag, definitely sweet-not-psycho sigh.
“I suppose we can try the pen out tonight, but I can’t promise Reggie will be okay with it.”
Relief washes over Wyatt’s face. “You can put the crib mattress in there if it makes you feel better.”
I nod. That certainly makes me feel something.
The next forty-five minutes are a flurry of mountain men lugging stuff up to my apartment. At one point, his brother Max started opening up a wardrobe box and was going to hang my clothes for me, but I begged him to stop. If a pair of my granny panties tumbled out in front of these four beefy men, I would die of humiliation.
Once I’ve shooed the big, tall men out of my space, I make my way down the stairs to take the van back to Earl. He’ll be so impressed that I’m on time for once!
I find Wyatt leaning over the pen, watching my pig, so I moveover to join him. “I suggest we introduce Millie and Reggie tomorrow. Tonight, we just let them get used to having another animal in the same building.”
“That sounds good,” Wyatt replies with a thoughtful nod. “If they don’t get along, I already worked out a way for me to partition off the pasture so Reginald can have his own space and Millie can have hers. My brothers can help me run some new fence lines. It should be easy enough to pop up within an hour.”
“You boys get a lot of stuff done in an hour, don’t you?” I reply with a smirk.
He shrugs. Real chatty, this guy.
“Anyway, I have to go, or I’m going to be late to return the van.” I slap my hands on the fence and make my way out of the barn, turning on my heel at the door to let Wyatt know one more very important fact. “Oh, by the way…I’m ovulating right now, so I say we get this show on the road tonight.”
“Tonight?” Wyatt blurts out, his eyes the size of saucers. His Adam’s apple slides down his throat before he asks, “Are you sure?”
“Yep.” I smile and shoot him a wink. “I should be back by sundown, so I’ll come up to your place then. Toodles!”
As soon as I’m out of the barn, I cringe, my face scrunching up so much I can’t even see where I’m walking. Did I really just say to the mountain man whose sperm I’m about to inject into my vagina…toodles?
I think I might actually be the psycho on this mountain.
SurrogatesCurrentlyOvulating:1
AnimalsontheMountain:2
The sun is just beginning to disappear behind the hill when I see Trista finally return to Fletcher Mountain in her tiny, beat-up Honda Civic.
“Fuck,” I murmur as I glance at the tires on her car. They look like they’ve seen better days. It’s spring now, so they should be fine, but if she gets pregnant, that means she will be here for the winter…which also means that the car will not do for the duration of this.
Yet another aspect of this arrangement we didn’t take into consideration. Along with the pig, who looked quite happy in his pen this afternoon.
Dammit anyway.
I make a mental note to talk to my brothers about loaning me one of the work trucks for Trista. We have a couple that sit at our shop, so I’m sure we could spare one for her to drive when the snow comes.
Provided she actually gets pregnant with my baby, which apparently could happen sooner rather than later based on the bomb she dropped on me before she left to return the van to her boss.
“By the way…I’m ovulating right now, so I say we get this show on the road tonight.”
She sped off in her van, leaving me in a wake of nerves and anxiety.I wore a path in my recycled wood floor, pacing my house and waiting for her to return. I knew this day was coming. I just didn’t know exactly when. And now that it’s here…I’m not sure how to prepare for it.
