“She just broke up with someone—again—who isn’t me,” he said, flashing her a wink. Bright blue eyes shined even brighter as they caught the glow from the ultrasound screen. Focus entirely on her and not on the screen, the sonographer, he smiled so damn sweetly, she melted on impact. “I live in Phoenix.”
“Stop telling everyone how weird we are.”
“But we are weird.” He slowly sat up and leaned back in his chair, but kept one hand on her, the warmth of it radiating over her skin until she was toasty all over.
Yup. Platonic was safer.
The sonographer eyed each of them one at a time, her lips curling up into an amused, awkward sort of smile-smirk, and her attention drifted back toward the screen. “So,” she said, clearing the air poorly with the two-letter word. “Do you to already know the baby’s sex?”
“We have the prenatal screening report, but we weren’t sure that we wanted to find out yet,” he answered. Leaning to Zoe, he whispered, “Do you want to know?”
Biting her lips together, she nodded. “I know you wanted to wait, and… ugh, I… yes. I really want to know. Not that I’m buying pink frilly or excessively blue ‘I have a penis’ attire, but, ya know. You know?”
He laughed and nodded and squeezed her arm gently. “You flip to the last page of a book before reading it, don’t you?”
“Always. Why go through all that commitment and get betrayed in the end?”
“Fair point,” he said, scrunching his nose in a grin that mirrored hers. “Let’s do it.”
The tech smiled fully this time, and focused on her wand, shifting the gooey mess along Zoe’s belly until she found her mark. “Alright, let’s see if this little one will give us a good view. Hmmm. Can you roll to your other side for me?”
As instructed, Zoe turned to her other side, facing Ryder, and craned her neck to see the screen. Her chest vibrated and she giggled, “See if the peanut flashes us its junk.”
Ryder grinned so wide he bit the edge of his tongue and shook his head at Zoe.
“Are you hoping for a boy or girl?”
Both shook their heads. Ryder answered, “No preference.”
As the wand shifted and slowed, Zoe held her breath, her pulse vibrating under her skin. Why was she suddenly nervous?
“Looks like a little girl.”
Heat welled in his eyes and she looked up at Ryder. Still smiling, but Zoe’s expression grew distant, a tear beading at the corner of her eye, enlarging until it trailed down her cheek.
Tracing his thumb over her cheekbone, he wiped it away and she looked at him, her lips bit tight together.
Without a word, the sonographer removed the wand, wiped the equipment, and cleaned off Zoe’s belly of the lingering goop. She stood and said softly, “That’s all I need. I’ll give you two a minute. Zoe, you can go ahead and get dressed. Here’s another towel so you can get whatever I missed.”
In the dim light of the room, Zoe used the towel to wipe her belly and tugged up her extra stretchy leggings. She scooted up to sit and dropped her legs over the side to face him. Another tear streamed down her face, and she wiped it off, and wiped her eyes before another one fell out.
Ryder shifted his chair closer and framed her legs between his. “Hey, hey. You okay?” he asked, cradling her cheeks and gently brushing his thumb over her damp skin.
She nodded, lips bit tight together.
“No you’re not. Talk to me, Zoe. What’s up?”
Swallowing, she smiled a wet smile, “I am going to mess this up.”
“What? No. What makes you say that? So far, I think we’re doing a pretty decent job.”
“Apparently, my mom sobbed and sobbed when she found out she was having a girl—me. She dressed me in pink dresses and bought me so many dolls, and… don’t get me wrong, she was the first one to tell me how ‘cool’ I looked in my superhero costume, in my ripped-up pants and oversized t-shirts. Still, I… I always felt like she was disappointed that I didn’t get into princesses and fairies like she’d imagined. If…”
Ryder listened quietly, rubbing his thumbs over her knees, steady and focused entirely on her.
“She was supposed to be here with me,” she garbled, her cheeks soaking in an instant.
Touching his forehead to hers, he brushed his thumb over her jawline. “I’m so sorry. I should have thought of that.”
