Covering up my thoughts, I replied, “Yeah, you did. That was a pretty nice gesture from my husband.” His face immediately tightened, and I knew something was off. What was going on with him?
He ran a hand through his sweaty hair and rolled off me to head to the bathroom. “That’s me, baby.”
He didn’t look at me when he said it.
He looked away when he tried to deny lying.
He was giving me a reason to doubt him. Maybe not his loyalty, but his trust.
“Jack?” I called toward the bathroom.
“Yeah?” His response was echoey, like he was away from the door.
“Is everything okay?” I heard the sink turn on, then off, and Jack emerged from the door with his eyebrows raised as if it was absurd that I was asking that in the first place.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” He still didn’t make eye contact.
It was late. I was exhausted. Confronting him right now, while whatever was going on was still fresh, was probably not the best idea. Now wasn’t the time to get into a long discussion anyway. I had an early lesson in the morning that I needed to be well-rested for, and this conversation would only drain me more than the baby had.
“Never mind,” I sighed. “I’m just tired.”
Typically, if this were my response to something, Jack would hurry into bed, pull me into his arms, and stroke my hair until I told him what was wrong or I fell asleep. But not tonight. Tonight, he simply shrugged and said, “I’m sorry. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
I sank further down into the bed and turned away from him. He didn’t need to know about the tears forming in my eyes orthe fact that my mind was jumping to extreme conclusions that could change the course of my entire life. He didn’t need to know that if something went awry, it might just leave my baby and me in the dust.
Chapter thirty-one
Maggie
“Good morning, girls! How are you today?”
My favorite little students ran from their mom’s car and into the aisle of the lesson barn. “I’m sooo good,” Kellie answered with a toothy smile. “It was my birthday on Sunday, and I had so much cake and ice cream, and presents!”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Kellie, don’t brag.”
“Wow! Your birthday? How old did you turn?” I asked, Kellie’s positivity rubbing off on me.
“I turned seven!” She danced around in a circle and waved her hands in the air. “I was so excited to turn seven because Mommy said that’s when I can take the training wheels off my bike,andshe would think about getting me an iPad like Josie’s.”
I melted at her innocence. No matter how many times I had to remind them to squeeze their legs into the horse or not to swing their mallet at the horses’ heads, they always brought a smile to my face.
“That’s awesome, Kellie. That sounds like so much fun!” I turned to her sister. “What about you, Josie? How are you doing?”
Josie shrugged shyly and blushed. “I’m good, I guess.”
“She got a boyfriend!” Kellie exclaimed.
Raising my eyebrows, I looked between the two sisters, who looked nearly identical despite their two-year age difference. “A boyfriend?”
“Kellie, don’t call him that!” Josie stomped, facing her sister. She turned to me, her face flushing red. “He’s not my boyfriend. My friend, Lexi, found out from this guy Rory, who’s friends with Broc, that Broc likes me.”
“And Josie has liked him for, like, forever.” Kellie crossed her arms and spoke matter-of-factly.
“Kellie!”
I chuckled. “Well, Josie, I think that’s great. Just don’t grow up too fast, yeah? You’ve got a long, long time before you need to start worrying about boys.” Discreetly, I glanced down at my baby bump. Was I really twenty-two and seven months pregnant? Was I really faking a marriage with the father of my child? It seemed every time I asked myself these questions, I fell down a rabbit hole that only amplified my worries about Jack and me. While it had been less than twelve hours since my doubts about Jack had emerged, it felt like I was swimming in a whirlpool of fear for our relationship, trying over and over to find out what was going on in his head.
“Yeah. She’s too young for a boyfriend anyway,” Kellie added.
