Page 68 of Forked (Frenched 2)
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By the time we drove back to the house, most of the cars were gone from the driveway and the parlor windows were dark. “We stayed out there too long,” I fretted. “You should have been at the party with your family.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Noni understands.”
“What does she know?”
Nick turned the engine off. “About us?”
I nodded.
“Nothing. I mean, just that we broke up. She knows I screwed it up, though. She never let me forget it.”
That made me smile. “I love Noni.”
“She loves you too.”
“Did she want us to get back together?”
He shook his head. “No. She pretty much said it was a good thing you’d moved on because you were too good for me anyway.”
I laughed, in spite of everything. “Stop it. She adores you. Everyone does.”
“I am kind of adorable.”
I glanced at him and shrugged. “Kind of.”
With a grunt of frustration, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled my lips to his, kissing me hard. “You drive me crazy. Tell me you’ll do it forever.”
His plea squeezed my heart. “I can’t, Nick. I just don’t know.”
His hand loosened slightly, played in my hair. “What if…you know.” His eyes swept to my stomach. “Should we take a test?”
“I appreciate the whole we thing, Nick, but I don’t want you to feel like this traps us into anything, even if it’s positive.”
“I don’t feel that at all.” His eyes were steady on mine in the dark. “Not at all.”
My mouth fell open as I realized something. “You hope it’s positive, don’t you?”
“Not necessarily.” He dropped his hand from my hair to my shoulder. “But I wouldn’t think my life was over if it was. Would you?”
“Hell yes, I would.” I put my hand over my chest. “I’m not ready for it. We’re not ready for it. We have a history of rushing into things, and now we’re all fucked up, and no child deserves to be born to two people who’ve been divorced for seven years, made a sloppy mistake, and don’t even know what they want.”
“I know what I want.” His thumb brushed my cheek.
“Well, I don’t.” I looked away from his crestfallen expression. “And until I figure it out, we have to cool off.”
He took his hand off me. “OK. I understand.”
“Thank you.” I opened the car door and got out. Nick followed suit, putting a hand at the small of my back as we walked up the porch steps. I turned to him halfway up. “Nick, you have to stop touching me. Seriously. I can’t think when you do.”
He held up both hands. “OK, OK. Sorry.” We continued up the stairs. “I guess that means we can’t sleep together tonight, huh?”
“That’s exactly what that means.” It came out sharper than I intended and Nick stopped me before the screen door with a hand on my elbow.
“Are you still angry with me?” His face was solemn.
“About what?”
