The Best Laid Plans by Lauren Gallagher

Author:Lauren Gallagher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay couple;adoption;ménage;surrogate mother;surrogacy;bisexual;friends to lovers
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2016-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Kendra

The consultation with the attorney was boring but informative. Much less stressful than meeting with my divorce lawyer, which didn’t surprise me—I wasn’t climbing the walls with frustration over my ex-husband making things unnecessarily difficult.

The meeting wasn’t what I’d call painless, though. Not because of the discussion, but because everything from my ribs to my knees ached like a motherfucker. If pain were a sound, it alternated between an irritating noise in the background to an air horn blaring right into my ear—distracting, annoying, sometimes making me want to scream and other times making me want to cry. Or curl up under the table and never move again. Ever.

When the meeting was over, I rose—carefully—and shook my lawyer’s hand.

As Gabe and I headed out, he turned to me. “You all right? You seem kind of—”

“Pale, bitchy, bloated and uncomfortable?” I pushed open the door. “Get used to it. I’ll be like this for a week out of every month for a while.”

“Oh. Gotcha.” He paused. “Will you be okay to drive?”

“I better be,” I grumbled. “Or else I’m fucked.”

We went back to his place to grade papers, since we were kind of behind on that lately. At least there wasn’t anything to distract us this time. If the man even mentioned sex, I was going to kill him.

As I settled on the couch with my briefcase full of neglected exams and worksheets, Gabe went upstairs, and he came back down with a heating pad.

“Here.” He plugged it in and handed it to me. “This is what I use when my back is jacked up.”

“Oh, thank you.” I laid it across my stomach. “I don’t suppose we could sweet-talk your man into smuggling out some drugs from work?”

“Afraid not. I do have some Percocet upstairs from the last time I fucked up my back, though.”

I scowled. “I was thinking more along the lines of general anesthesia.”

He sat beside me and patted my leg. “That might be an awful lot of equipment for him to hide under his scrubs.”

“He already hides plenty of equipment under his scrubs.” I winked, and we both laughed, which hurt. I tucked the heating pad against me, wishing it would hurry up and do its damn job.

As long as I didn’t move, I was all right. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, the pain would flare up out of nowhere, blurring my vision and making my breath catch.

“You okay?” Gabe asked after a cramp took my breath away.

I nodded. “Just be glad you’re a guy.”

“Oh, I am. I still have that Percocet.”

“No, it’s okay.” The pain slowly receded to something slightly less violent, and I exhaled. “If I take something like that, I’ll be loopy for the rest of the night.” I fully expected a joke about how that was different from usual, or to let him know so he could film it, but his expression remained serious.

“Kendra, if it’s that bad, I—”

“I’ll be fine.” I forced a smile. “I promise.”

Grading kept us busy for the

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