Kendall
I meet Elora in the dining room with a plate in front of her and sit down next to her.
“You need to eat something,” Elora says, but my stomach feels funny after talking to Camden.
“Elora ,” I say seriously. “I need to talk to you.”
She looks up at me from her plate of fruit and slides it to me. “Okay, but you should eat.”
I take a piece of honeydew and eat it slowly, and it does make my stomach feel better.
“This thing with Camden,” I start, and she waves her hand dismissively.
“I’m not upset with you or anything, babes,” she says easily. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“That’s the thing, though,” I argue quietly. “I want to be able to make my own mistakes. I know that I’m not very experienced and that you are, but you make lots of mistakes.”
Elora scoffs. “Tell me about it.”
I continue without looking at her. “So, I need to know that you’re not going to interfere. Not with Camden, not with this baby.”
“That baby is my niece or nephew,” she argues. “I’m going to interfere plenty.”
“Okay, fair enough,” I laugh, glancing up at her and she’s looking at me with a little smile.
“You’re gonna be such a good mama,” she says, and tears spring to my eyes.
“I’m glad you think so,” I say softly, sniffling and trying not to cry.
“I know so,” she insists. “You’re such a kind and loving person, Kendall. That’s why I’m worried about you and Camden. He doesn’t feel things the way that you do.”
“I think maybe he does,” I say softly. “He just keeps it buried deep inside.”
“Maybe,” Elora agrees. “But you can’t fix him, Kendall. You can’t lose yourself trying to have him.”
“I won’t,” I say, more confidently than I feel. That’s really the essential problem with me and Camden, isn’t it?
I want him so badly that I’m willing to give up a part of myself. That’s what I’ve been doing, all this time. But yet, I’ve just agreed to have him in my bed later tonight. Knowing that I want more. Knowing that he doesn’t.
I sigh when Elora keeps looking at me. “I understand what you mean,” I assure her. “And I’m going to try really hard to keep being myself, okay?”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” she says, and then Mia comes into the living room with a big plate of leftover pasta. She smiles at us.
“Mind if I join you ladies?” she asks.
I nod and so does Elora .
“Of course, it’s your house,” Elora says.
Mia laughs. “I like to be a good host. Feel free to share this pasta with me. I’m eating for two, not four.”
I snort and take my fork and eat a little off her plate, my eyes widening. “This is delicious. Marisa made this?”
Mia smiles. “Dante, actually,” she says.
“Wow, this is better than anything Camden has ever cooked,” I say, even though he’s cooked some great meals for me, this one is phenomenal.
Elora laughs, always happy at any dig to her brother. They’re so close, but at the same time, they butt heads so often.
“You’re eating for two, also, I heard?” Mia asks me softly, and I flush.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“I’ve been trying to get her to eat!” Elora says.
Mia hums in sympathy. “It’s so hard to eat the first couple of months,” she says. “I was nauseous for the first five months. They say it’s four, but it was five for me.”
I groan. “Don’t tell me that.”
I have to admit that it’s nice, to be able to talk about it, not have it be some secret. It’s nice to have someone like Mia who’s going through it to talk to.
“And then I had the weirdest food aversions,” Mia continued. “I love onions and garlic, but the first few months? I would throw up if I so much as smelled them.”
“That sounds terrible,” Elora says, her eyes wide.
“No onions and garlic as an Italian should be considered torture,” I say, and Mia laughs.
“It gets better.” She pats her big stomach. “It gets easier.” She winces and I look at her.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. She’s just kicking away in there. You want to feel?” She takes my hand and places it on her stomach, and I feel a little bump. Then another.
“Wow,” I breathe, my eyes feeling watery again. It seems like I’m crying all the time. “That’s beautiful, Mia.”
“You won’t think so when yours is sleeping with his butt in your ribs,” she laughs, and I smile, wiping at my eyes. She leans in closer to me. “The crying gets better, too.”
I feel encouraged and eat more pasta and fruit, my stomach feeling more and more stable. I chat with Mia and Elora late into the evening before dinner, and finally, we realize that the guys are missing.
“Where did Camden and Dante get off to?” Elora asks, and Mia shrugs.
“They’re probably drinking in the office,” she says. “I’ll take them a plate later.”
I look at her curiously, wondering what it is they’d be talking about. Not that I’m worried Camden would talk about me, why would I be? He doesn’t care that much.
Mia and I complain about not being able to have wine with dinner and Elora announces that she’s never getting pregnant and we talk through dinner, Marisa joining us.
It’s kind of nice just having women at the table, and we barely miss the guys’ presence- all except for me though, I can’t stop my heart from racing at the thought of seeing him tonight.