Just as I’m about to stand up, she rounds the doorway with the TV from the living room cradled in her arms.
“Ah,” I drawl. “My meds.” I pull the blanket away from my body, ready to rise to my feet to grab it from her before she hurts herself, but she shoots me a glare from the over the top.
“Don’t move.” She gently places the TV on the top of my legs, trapping me unless I want to do some acrobatics which my ribs will not allow.
She spins on her heels and leaves again, whilst I attempt to slide the TV off my body without it crashing to the floor.
Rosie reappears with the pills and a glass of water, standing over me until I dutifully swallow.
She picks the TV up with ease but I still try to slide out of the bed. “Let me help you with that.”
“Jackson, if you try and get out of that bed one more time, I will tie you to it.”
“Promise?”
She snorts as she slides the TV onto the dresser untangling the wires and plugging them into the socket on the wall.
“Here.” She hands me the remote as she slides onto the bed beside me.
I grab the remote and her hand, tugging her closer until I can press a kiss to her lips. “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re welcome.”
I flick through the channels as she burrows into my side. “Do you feel better?”
The pain in my side still hurts, although lying down has eased it slightly, but my heart is bursting at the way she takes care of me. I kiss her forehead. “Much better.”
23
ROSIE
The last placeI wanted to be was the pub with a group of men talking about my baby daddy.
Yet that was where I currently was, nursing a Diet Coke outside a crowded pub in Soho. After telling Gareth about my maternity leave today I thought it was safer to not rock the boat any more than necessary and agreed to the monthly after work drinks that I have literally never attended before.
Crowds of corporate professionals spill out onto the streets, backpacks and briefcases resting by their feet. Getting a table between the hours of four and eight on a weeknight is next to impossible, so we’re huddled on the street corner wearing coats. I stick my hand in my pocket, shifting back and forth on my feet. I spend my days sitting down and my back aches from my desk chair but standing for an hour in the frigid air also causes pain to shoot down my spine. There’s no winning and I shift uncomfortably as I try to drink my drink as fast as I can.
I should hold on at least until someone buys the next round, but judging from the half full pint glasses in everyone’s hands, I know that won’t be for a while. I’m just about ready to make my excuses and leave.
“—Jackson Harper needs to come back to the universe?—”
I tune back into the conversation when I hear his name, my heart flipping at the sound. After he came home with a bruise the size of my arm, I forced him to rest in bed for a few days until I was confident he wasn’t in pain with every movement. It was almost impossible to let him walk out the door and go back to work, but he assured me that he was perfectly fine.
He’s been shooting away for the last few days and isn’t expected to be home for another week. Home. I’ve been so used to him being in my flat, lounging on my sofa or curled around me in bed, that it only feels like home because he’s there. I’m almost convinced Smudge knows he’s not there and that’s why she’s keeping me up. I’ve had to create a Jackson sized form out of pillows just so I can fall asleep and I like to think it’s tricking Smudge into thinking he’s there.
“Nah, he’s done now. He’s doing some action film with Christian Denny, I think.”
I blink, remembering the men around me have no idea that the guy they’re talking about has been sleeping in my bed for the last few months and that his baby is currently growing inside me.
“Is it Christian Denny? No way is he directing another action film. He’s been doing those girly melodramas. No explosions or anything.”
I roll my eyes. How have I somehow managed to work with a group of people who’s enjoyment of media is limited to explosions and CGI?
“I’m looking it up,” Kevin says, pulling his phone out.
I take another sip of my drink before Kevin’s incredulous laugh grabs my attention.
I look up to find him already looking at me, his confused gaze drifting between me and the phone.
