His nephews were big into superheroes and Kevin knew enough about them to know being a Wonder Woman fan was a big hit with the ladies, but he’d never stopped to wonder what it meant when Spider-Man’s spider-senses tingled.
Now he imagined Spider-Man felt a little like he did when Beth walked into a room, minus the imminent danger on Kevin’s part, of course. There was definitely some tingling and it was as though he was hyperaware of her presence.
And there was some frustration, too. She hadn’t changed her mind in five minutes about having sex with him. And since their primary interaction in the week since she’d moved in was him listening for her door to open and close, he wasn’t hopeful she’d change her mind anytime soon.
She didn’t sit at the bar, but walked down to the quiet end and waited for him. “I just wanted to let you know I did some looking around and found a doctor I think is really good. I have an appointment with her in a few days. Nothing big, just a test to confirm the pregnancy and verify my due date.”
“Do you want me to go?”
Judging by her expression, no she didn’t. “No, I just thought you should know because…you know.”
Because he was paying. “We should run down to the bank and open a joint account. It’ll make it eas—”
“No.” She said it so fast she cut off the end of his sentence. “We’re not doing the joint thing.”
“You came to me so we could share in the financial responsibility, Beth. So you could have a good doctor.”
“Yes, and as the bills come in, if there’s some I can’t pay, I’ll ask you to chip in. I never intended for you to foot the entire bill.”
Rather than argue with her, he leaned on the counter and smiled. “You’re getting prickly again.”
When her gaze dropped to his mouth, he knew she was remembering the last time he made mention of her being prickly. The night he’d kissed her in the moonlight and changed their lives forever.
She sighed. “Okay, maybe a joint checking account isn’t a bad idea, but only for the medical bills and I’ll give you photocopies of all of them.”
It was tempting to say there, that wasn’t so hard, but all he said was, “Let me know when you’ve got time and we’ll go down to the bank.”
“Okay. Right now I have to get ready for work.”
“You just got home.”
“I’m bartending another wedding tonight, so I’ve got just enough time to take a power nap, shower and eat before I go.”
“Should you be working so much?” That seemed like an awful lot of time on her feet.
“I’m fine.” She was gone before he could do something stupid like tell her she should quit her job. As stubborn and full of pride as she was, that would only piss her off.
“Aren’t we a pair?” Paulie said as she reached past him for a glass.
“At least I’m not breaking all the glasses.” Yet.
Chapter Seven
Beth waited until after the doctor confirmed what the calendar and home pregnancy test has already told her before picking up the phone and dialing her mother’s cellphone. She was armed with a dish of chocolate ice cream. A big dish.
“You moved again, didn’t you?”
She would have laughed at her mother’s exasperated tone if not for the jittery nerves. “Actually, I did.”
“You owe me a new pair of shoes,” she heard her mother say, presumably to her father. “I wish you’d call before you move. When you don’t, there are times I don’t even know where my own daughter is. Where to now?”
“Same city. Just a new apartment.” She snuck a quick swallow of frozen chocolate courage. “I have some news, actually. I’m, uh…having a baby.”
The silent seconds ticked by, then her mother’s screech pierced her head. “Oh my goodness, I’m going to be a grandmother!”
In the background there was an eruption of cheers and congratulations that made Beth groan. “Mom, where are you?”
“We’re at the all-you-can-eat luau buffet. Did you buy some of that frozen sperm? Or canned…however they do it.”
Beth almost choked on her ice cream. Hopefully her mom had at least moved away from the crowd. “No, I…there’s a guy.”
She’d spent so much time focusing on how her parents were going to react to her pregnancy, she hadn’t really thought about how she was going to describe Kevin. He wasn’t just some guy who’d come and gone. But she didn’t want her parents getting their hopes up on the matrimonial front, either.
“Artie, she has a man!” Beth licked ice cream off her spoon while her parents jabbered. “What’s the man’s name, Beth? We want to know everything!”
“His name’s Kevin Kowalski and, well…he owns a sports bar and has a big family.”
“How long have you been seeing him?”
A lot longer than she’d intended to. “We’re not exactly seeing each other.”
More silence. More ice cream. “Did he break up with you because you got pregnant? Somebody should tell that man it takes two to—”