Dr. Connelly appeared to be in her fifties. Brown hair peppered with gray was pulled back in a neat bun at the base of her neck. Fine lines reached out from the corner of her eyes and mouth. She looked like she smiled a lot, and I immediately liked her.
The appointment reminded me of a normal gynecologist visit until we got to the point the ultrasound was brought into the picture. By then Nick had scooted his butt closer to the table and was staring avidly at the screen as Dr. Connelly moved the handle. A lot of black and gray . . . blobs were moving on the screen.
“There you go,” Dr. Connelly said. “Your little bun loves the camera, because we got a clear image of it.”
My gaze darted from her to the screen. Uh . . . I had no idea what I was looking at. “You see it?” I asked Nick.
He was leaning forward. “Yeah, I think I do.” Stretching, he ran his finger around what sort of looked like a lima bean. “Right there, right?”
Dr. Connelly nodded. “There it is.”
What in the hell? I shot him a look. He could see it and I couldn’t? I glanced at the doctor, who was smiling broadly at him like she wasn’t immune to Nick. “I don’t see it.”
“That’s common,” she said, and the screen stilled. The picture was taken. “It doesn’t really look like a baby right now. It’s still so small, but the little bun is in there. Believe it or not, fingers are moving and so are the legs.”
“Really?” I asked, my eyes widening.
She nodded as she started to pull away from the table. “The fingers are slightly webbed at this stage.”
Nick grinned at that.
“And cool little fact for you,” Dr. Connelly said. “The baby’s taste buds are actually forming already.”
“Wow,” I whispered, floored as I stared at the screen. There were other things on the screen, dots and lines and numbers, but I focused on the blur that Nick had so easily seen. The longer I stared, I sort of saw it, and it was so incredibly tiny.
My throat clogged and I cleared it. Without having to say a word, Nick reached over and folded his hand over mine. He squeezed. “You find it yet? Or do we need to draw a circle around it with a bunch of arrows?”
“Jerk.” I laughed hoarsely. “I think I see it. Looks like a lima bean, right?” My gaze moved to Nick’s and was stuck, held by the softness in those light green eyes. “That’s what it looks like?”
Nick nodded.
“The baby looks like a lima bean,” I told him, fighting a grin.
“Yeah, but it’s our lima bean,” he said.
My lips curled up at the corners and I nodded. Yeah, it was our lima bean.
Chapter 22
Because I was a cornball of epic proportions, I’d tacked the sonogram on the fridge with a heart-shaped magnet. Sort of like when I was a kid and my parents displayed my grades. I mean, they were proud of my grades and I was proud of the lima bean.
Nick was coming over in the afternoon. Things had been rough with his grandfather the week after the prenatal appointment, so I hadn’t seen a lot of him, and I missed him.
God, I really did miss Nick.
When he wasn’t around, I thought about him at the oddest moments. Seeing certain things reminded me of him. Fresh, crisp scents made me think of his cologne. When something happened at work or if Roxy or Katie said something funny, I couldn’t wait to tell Nick.
Relationships were weird like that, I decided.
A twinge of unease formed. Relationships were also tricky. No labels had been tossed around. He didn’t call me his girlfriend, and vice versa, but what we were doing felt like that. Except I still hadn’t met his grandfather and he hadn’t met my mom.
My mom would really like him. Based on everything I’d told her, about his grandfather and everything, she already did, and while I knew his grandfather wouldn’t know who I was, I still wanted to meet him.
I still wanted more.
Was that what falling . . . in love felt like? I sighed. I imagined that it was what it felt like when you weren’t sure if the other person felt the same way. Actually, I knew that was what it felt like.
I held out waiting for the perfect guy—the perfect relationship. I never fell for anyone I’d been with. Guys who had no baggage I knew of. Guys who were already firmly seated in their careers. Ironically, it was the most imperfect situation and imperfect guy who was capturing my heart.
Who had captured my heart.
I just didn’t know where Nick stood in this. Yes, he cared about me. I could tell in the way he talked to me. Yes, he wanted me. That was obvious. Yes, he was making plans with me. Those plans centered around the baby. His words lingered in the back of my head.
We’ll make the best of this.