Once Upon A Half-Time: A Secret Baby Romance (37 page)

“What’s wrong?”

“I have no idea! I’m so
itchy!
”

I looked down. I’d already scratched my arm raw.

Well fuck.

I hid my rash. Lindsey grabbed Mandy’s ankle and twisted. Mandy latched onto her sister, and they both went down in a thump.

“Is this…” Lindsey screeched and yanked Mandy’s leg. “Did you get
poison ivy
?”

Mandy’s eyes darted to me. Oh, she wasn’t happy. This would probably be my fault.

The detour into the woods on the way back to the cabin seemed a good and necessary idea at the time. The tree
had
felt softer than most, covered in the spanning ivy. And Mandy had the time of her life, legs wrapped around my waist as we fucked against the tree in the greatest quickie I ever had.

Christ, that’s what I got for trying to be romantic.

Poisoned
.

“For the love of God, are you
that
outdoor-phobic?” Lindsey snapped her fingers at Carmen. “Get the first-aid kit.”

“I’m fine.” Mandy kept scratching, yelping as she found another spreading rash on her shoulders.

Lindsey peeked in Mandy’s shirt to check over her back. “Holy shit, did you
roll
around in it?”

No…but she was pushed into it. Repeatedly. For a couple of minutes.

Maybe this was why guys never stuck around after getting what they wanted. The longer I stayed, the more likely I was to toss Mandy into poisonous shrubs.

Still, if a little poison ivy was the worst thing to come from sex with her, I’d take it.

“Stay
away
from me!” Lindsey shrieked. “And stop scratching!”

“Sorry.” Mandy sat on her hands so she wouldn’t scratch. “Oh, it’s itchy. Really, really itchy.”

Carmen returned with the first-aid kit, but she handed an empty tube of calamine lotion to Lindsey with a shrug.

“I think we used this instead of the antibiotic on your scrapes last night,” she said.

Mandy groaned. She rushed to the entryway of the living room and wiggled against the wooden frame. I shouldn’t have laughed. That wouldn’t get me laid again anytime soon, vengeful plants or not.

“Fine. We’ll take five while we find something to slather on my sister.” Lindsey shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d do this when you
know
how much practice you need for this dance.”

Mandy snapped at her, getting crankier by the minute. “Oh, I’m sorry. Next time I infect myself with poison, I’ll burn the rash off so I don’t scratch in the middle of
Hotline Bling
!”

“If I see
one
scar on your shoulders in the strapless dress, so help me God.” Lindsey pushed her sister towards the bathroom. She grabbed a towel on the way up. “Don’t think I won’t roll your ass in mud or oatmeal. Maybe both, just because you’re always such a
pain
.”

Mandy stormed up the stairs. “Butt-head.”

Lindsey fumed. “
Lint-licker
!”

The bathroom door slammed shut. The bridesmaids surrounded me. It wasn’t good to limp around a pack of these lionesses.

Carmen winked. “There’s something in this kit for everyone, huh, Nate?”

She waved a condom at me. Fucking fantastic.

The thought struck me like another slap with the poison ivy.

A
condom
.

I hadn’t used a condom last night? I’d completely forgot. Then again, Mandy didn’t say anything. She was probably on the pill.

Shit. I’d have to ask her.

Except Mandy was so goddamned responsible, she’d even packed a second first-aid kit in her own toiletries. No way she’d forget something as important as birth control.

The girls clustered around me. They abandoned the Bloody Marys for margaritas and drunkenly giggled. A game of rock-paper-scissors passed between the five of them. Carmen came out victorious.

The condom returned to her possession.

“Looks like I’m the lucky one.” She tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans. Her hand stayed a little too long. “How about we make the most of this weekend?”

Oh Christ. “You should sober up. We made a lot of mistakes when we were drunk before.”

She slurped the rest of her drink. The salt from her glass stuck to her chin. “Oh, I don’t think it was a mistake.”

“Me either,” Amy said.

Red head winked. “Me either.”

Peaches giggled. “Me three. No, me four!” Her laugh rang over the house as Caitlyn purred at me. “Nate, you’ve practically slept with the whole bridal party!”

Carmen snorted. “Of course he did. He told Rick and Bryce he’d finish us all off before the reception. Good luck with Mandy though. I heard she hates you.”

I wished she hadn’t said that so loud.

Mandy hadn’t hated me yesterday.

But she did now.

She stood in the doorway, arms crossed. Intimidation wasn’t her strong-suit, especially as she squirmed against the itchiness. But she didn’t have to threaten me.

Her eyes welled with tears.

And I knew I fucked up.

“You slept with
everyone
?” Mandy whispered. “Are you that…sleezy?”

“Oh, come on.” Carmen laughed. “He’s a manwhore. We reap what we sow with him. He had his fun, we had ours.” She winked. “You oughta give him a run, Mandy. He might loosen you up.”

No. I wouldn’t. Mandy gritted her teeth.

“How…” Her breathing quivered. “I think you should go.”

“Mandy—”

“
Now
, Nate.”

Son of a bitch. The girls groaned. I ignored them. Mandy ducked out of the living room, but she pushed me away before I could get too close. She led me to the door.

I couldn’t leave it like this.

“I guess you’ve had us all now,” she said. “Unless you’re aiming to sleep with the
bride
, it’s time for you to go.”

“It’s not like that,” I said. Damn it. “It was a one-time thing with all of them. You know. That’s why
you
wanted me in the first place. Just some fun.”

“Yeah. I should have known better. This isn’t
fun
.”

“I’m sorry. Let me explain.”

“I really can’t deal with it right now.” She couldn’t look at me, and I had no idea what I had lost until I missed the honey-amber of her eyes. “I thought what we had was special.”

“It
was
.”

“Please, go.”

A couple tears rolled over her cheeks. I made her
cry
?

How the hell did I make her cry?

“Mandy, if I knew sleeping with those girls would have made you feel like this—”

“You have no idea how I feel about this, about us, about you—” She pushed me to the door. The rest of her words dissolved into a choked sob.

I hated to see her upset, but, at that moment, she just hated to see me.

The front door slammed in my face. I didn’t care.

Her words echoed in my mind. I had no idea how she felt about us…about me?

Holy shit.

I nearly tumbled off the porch.

Did Mandy have feelings for me?

“
H
onestly
, the dress doesn’t even look like it was
made
for you!”

For the first time since the wedding planning began, I shared Lindsey’s dismay.

Nothing about the hideously teal bridesmaid gown fit me. The bustles had no lift, the bows no liveliness, and the strapless cups…

Well, I made short work of them.

The last thing I needed was anyone staring too intently at my body, but it was
way
too early for any real changes right?

I looked down. My breasts were trying to suffocate me, but everything else seemed halfway normal. I thought.
Maybe
?

I hadn’t looked in the mirror yet, waiting for the moment Lindsey or Mom or one of the bridesmaids called out some sort of un-hideable baby bump. If it happened, I couldn’t even blame a big lunch. It’d been hell to just sip soup. Nothing stayed down except copious amounts of oranges, and that was risky because citric acid did not make for a pleasant return experience.

I pinched my eyes shut. The hot lights of the bridal boutique shined like an interrogation.

This was it. The jig was up. My bun was in the oven, and they turned on the heat.

“When did you
lose
weight?” Lindsey plucked at the bunched material over my waist. “No…when did it all go to your
tits
?”

Mom frowned, rubbing her chin. “It must be the lighting. Mandy isn’t that small.”

Thanks, Mom.

But the measurements confirmed it. I was different from the first fitting. I
lost
weight.

Well, that was a relief. Or was it? The doctor did warn that it wasn’t uncommon for women to lose weight in early pregnancy because of the morning sickness, especially if they happened to be a little curvier. And I couldn’t really eat much but fruit and crackers.

Okay. Another freebie. I breathed a quick sigh.

“Who measured her the first time?” Lindsey whirled around to berate the terrified seamstress and owner of the boutique. “We’re lucky the hem isn’t dragging on the floor too!”

“Well, we were all supposed to go on a diet,” I said.

“Yeah, which
some
people have forgotten to do!” Lindsey pointed at her other teal and miserable bridesmaids. “I made the spreadsheet, why aren’t you guys logging your weight? We’re supposed to be doing this
together
.”

I heard the edge of real panic in my sister’s voice. That stress peaked when the zipper to her dress needed a bit of encouragement to climb past her booty. We got it zipped, but Lindsey immediately peeled it off and threw away half of the candy bar she was nervously eating.

My sister pushed me to the dressing room. She waited outside, lowering her voice so those beyond the fitting areas couldn’t hear.

“Mandy, I know you’ve been trying hard,” she said.

I braced for it. What was it this time? Maybe she thought I was deliberately causing her problems. Maybe I wasn’t pulling my weight, or I hadn’t asked Dad to fork over another two grand for gold dust in the champagne.

“I wanted you to know…” Lindsey exhaled. “I really appreciate it.”

Wow
!

I didn’t know what to say. “Oh. Well. I’m only trying to help.”

“Look, Mom gives you shit because you’re curvy, but you don’t have to go to any extremes. You’re beautiful just as you are.”

I waited for the hammer to drop and crack through the insults. Lindsey said nothing else.

My eyes welled with tears—overwhelmed and suffering from the damn hormones that had me weepy because of songs on the radio, advertisements with puppies, and, of course, a week of avoiding Nate.

“Thanks,” I said.

“And I know I’ve been a little…crazy.” She cleared her throat. “But I’m still your big sister. Do you want to tell me why you’ve been so quiet lately?”

“Qu-quiet?”

“You haven’t been yourself since last weekend at the cabin. If it’s the dance routine, honestly, you’re only bad because…well, there’s a couple reasons. Mainly, you have no rhythm, but we can fake that with alcohol at the wedding. But you also care too much about what people think.” She hesitated. “What happened with you and Nate?”

Oh, no no no. I wasn’t answering that.

“Nothing happened with me and Nate.”

“Then why did he have poison ivy too?”

I only wished the rash had spread over the troublemaker between his legs.

I was super fortunate mine had stopped above my tailbone. I couldn’t
imagine
the talk with my OBGYN. I was already confused enough about the pregnancy, but I was pretty sure I couldn’t split a tube of calamine lotion with the baby if I had gotten poison ivy in my womb.

“I get it, Mandy,” she said.

I wasn’t falling for it this time. “Get what?”

“You were trying to make up with Nate.”

No, I had been trying to make
out
with Nate, and, per my usual, we went too far.

“You’re right. We took a walk and tried to…bang everything out.”

“Did it work?”

I cleared my throat. “Well, we had a couple really good moments.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…” No sense lying. “I lost count after five.”

Lindsey’s smile warmed her words. “That’s great.”

“But I don’t think there’s any changing Nate.”

I tugged on my clothes and slipped from the dressing room. Lindsey took my dress and nodded.

“The important thing is that you’re trying to be friends for me,” she said.

The guilt coiled up nicely next to the baby. I should have been helping my sister more with her wedding, but Nate and the baby were the only problems on my mind.

And I had no idea what to do with him now that he’d rolled the entire bridal party in bed.

I expected it. I
knew
the type of man he was.

So why was he still chasing me? I couldn’t trust his intentions, not with my heart and definitely not with a baby on the way.

Lindsey hurried to the other bridesmaids, just in time to cover her eyes as Mom finally squeezed into her outfit.

Mom marched to the mirror in a designer, form-fitting, completely inappropriate halter dress. The dress was too much bust, not nearly enough over the booty, and came in fire-engine red. Somehow her sweater puppies matured into sweater dogs, and if she didn’t let them breathe, the entire boutique was gonna blow.

“Mom…” Lindsey’s eyes widened. “You can’t wear that.”

“And why not?”

“Because your gazongas are gigunda.
Who
are you trying to impress at
my
wedding?”

Mom spun in front of the mirror. She plucked at the material and inched it higher up her leg.

Why my mother felt the need to wear thigh-high hose, I’d never understand, but at least it wasn’t as bad as the fishnets when we met with the caterers.

“Your father is no longer buying my dress for the wedding.” Mom ran her hand over her waist. Whatever corset she wore buckled but hadn’t broken. “And I want to feel beautiful.”

“Know what’s beautiful?” Lindsey stomped her feet. “
Layers
!”

“What’s wrong with this?”

I bit my lip. “Well, I can see the dimples on your cheeks.”

“I don’t have dimples.”

“Not on your
face
, Mom.”

Mom got flustered. “Mandy, if you had it your way, I’d be going to the wedding in a parka. You’ll have to accept that your mother is a sexual being—”

The bridesmaids shuddered.

“—who wants to look good at her daughter’s wedding. And if the world sees me as sexy, I’ll give it a little show.”

Lindsey sighed. “Please don’t do a show, Mom.”

“I’ve already been asked.”

“By
who
?”

Mom smiled. “It was supposed to be a surprise. But I’m going to sing
Natural Woman
at your party with the band, and I need to look the part.”

Lindsey stared at me like I agreed to play piano for her.

“Fix this,” she growled. “Now.”

I thought morning sickness made me uncomfortable. I was wrong.

This
. This was uncomfortable.

“Mom, I think Lindsey wanted to hire a
professional
to sing,” I said.

“One song, baby.” Mom patted Lindsey’s cheek. “You know what it’s like to be desired—Bryce loves you. And I’m hot on the market.” She glanced at me. “Maybe you’ll understand one day, Mandy. Once your hair grows out. And you lose a little more weight. And maybe we can do something about your nose…”

And I was done.

If they only
knew
. I
was
desirable. Hell, Nate couldn’t
stop
touching me.

It just so happened he’d already touched everyone else too.

I stormed out of the boutique, cell in hand. I had no idea if it was right to be flattered by Nate’s constant chasing, or if it meant I didn’t give in as easily as the other girls.

All
the other girls.

And nothing was wrong with my nose!

This was getting overwhelming. I needed some sort of insight about Nate. I knew the person I had to call, but Rick wasn’t going to like these questions.

I paced outside for a minute before building the courage to call him. Rick answered with a groggy profanity.

“Rise and shine,” I said.

Another profanity. “Is anyone bleeding?”

“Nope.”

“Heart attack?”

“Nope.”

“It’s my day off.” Rick grumbled. “Call back
never
.”

“I gotta talk to you.”

I permitted him a minute to complain, but Rick wouldn’t hang up on me. Once the telltale sputtering of his coffee pot hissed over the line, I knew I had him.

“Lindsey driving you crazy?” He yawned.

I took a breath. Now or never. “Not Lindsey.”

“Your mom?”

“Well, yeah. Pretty sure we’ll need the Jaws of Life to get her out of the dress she chose, but…it’s not her.”

“Uh-oh. What happened?”

Why was it so hard to say? My throat closed. I’d make it easy. Just start with the basics.

“I, uh…it’s Nate.”

Rick groaned. “
Please
tell me you didn’t sleep with him.”

I quieted. He knew exactly what that meant.

“No! Mandy, why in God’s name would you
sleep
with Nate?”

Good question. I had no idea how to explain
it.

“It was…something that happened.” And it happened more times than I could count thanks to the cabin and that night of mistaken pleasure. “I was lonely. And the wedding was getting nuts. And my parents were stressing me out. I needed something to take my mind off of it all.”

“Jesus, Mandy. Take a walk. A cold shower. Anything but
Nate
.”

“I know.”

“
Especially
since he’s slept with
all
the bridesmaids now. Christ, this wedding served him all the fresh meat he could want.”

“As I learned.” I sighed and stopped my pacing. At least the sun felt nice—warm…non-judgmental. “It’s just…I thought there might have been…”

“What?”

A spark? “Something else there.”

“Don’t.” Rick took on his older brother tone. “Don’t look for anything
more
with Nate. I know the guy. It was a one-night stand.”

“Except it wasn’t.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t…a one-off fuck.”

“Did you just use the word
fuck
?”

“Listen to me. It was more than once. And he’s been…pursuing me. Calling me, texting me. He wants to talk. He even
apologized
for the other girls before me.”

“Nate.”

“Yes.”

“Nate
Kensington
?”

“Yes, smart-ass.” I plunked down on the bench outside the boutique. “You’re his friend. What’s he doing? What am
I
supposed to do?”

“I don’t have the answers for you, but I know what
I
have to do.”

I was afraid to ask. “What?”

“Kick his fucking ass.”

“That’s not why I called you—”

“He knows better than to confuse you like this. You’re too damn inexperienced for him.”

“That doesn’t matter. Even if it wasn’t my first time—”

“Holy shit! You were a
virgin?
”

Pretty sure the elderly couple passing on the sidewalk heard him through the phone.

Rick swore. Something crashed in his room.

Yeah. We
definitely
weren’t telling him about the baby yet.

“Rick,
listen
to me,” I said. “It’s just confusing. Nate’s been nice and supportive and…it’s not like he’s looking to score.”

“That’s all he’s ever wanted from anyone.”

“Then why would he come back for more?”

“Because he can take advantage of you.”

“That’s not it, and you know it.” I heaved a breath. “This past weekend, when he was at the cabin with us, I thought…he seemed so…”

“Don’t say it.”

“I think I have feelings for him.”

This was the moment Rick’s head would explode, but, fortunately, I only heard the crash of his coffee cup in the sink. I flinched. He exhaled.

“Look, Mandy. I know he’s a smooth talker. After Jada left me, he taught me a couple tricks so I could hook up with girls at the bar—”

“You did
what
?”

“Let’s focus on your fuck-ups now, okay?”

My words caught in my throat. Rick apologized and softened his voice.

“My advice?” He hesitated. “Stay away from him. You’re not his type, and he is definitely not yours. I want to see you taken care of.
Loved
. In a nice big house with a boatload of kids running around giving you a headache.”

Mission-partially-accomplished. I swallowed.

“And I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said.

“I don’t either. But everything is getting more and more complicated.”

“If anyone can untangle things, it’s you.”

Sure, when the rope wasn’t looped around my neck. I forced a smile into my voice. “I’ll sort it out.”

“Don’t make me whoop your ass too.”

Oh no. That was still to come. “Please…don’t tell anyone? I’m trying to keep the wedding as drama-free as possible.”

“Oh yeah.” Rick gave a deep belly-laugh. “Lindsey’s drama-
free
wedding. Right. Am I invited to that one too?”