Leap Year by Joe DeRouen

Author:Joe DeRouen [DeRouen, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Small Things Press
Published: 2020-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38

Rose was in a bathroom she had never seen before, the tile floor cool beneath her bare feet. She stared at a plastic stick in her hand. The tip was blue, which meant she was pregnant. She felt both nervous and elated at the same time, but slowly the elation won out. She was pregnant! She’d always dreamed of having a baby, ever since she’d been a little girl, and her dreams were finally coming true. If only she would live long enough to meet her child…

Rose awoke with a start, for a moment unsure of where she was, but then it all came back to her. She was in a little hotel room in Toledo, Ohio. The walls were painted a light blue, and lackluster artwork hung above the bed. A little desk stood in one corner, next to a green padded chair. A tan love seat stood beside that, and a small television sat on a dresser opposite the bed where she lay alone. She was still dressed in the clothes she'd been wearing last night and smelled of sweat and dust.

She shook her head. Had she been dreaming? She chased the gossamer threads of a memory, just tantalizingly out of reach, but then it flitted away and was gone. She shook her head again, trying to clear it of the dust of dreams.

Where was Gavin? She rolled out of the bed, stretched, and made her way over to the dresser, upon which was a note. He'd gone out to get them breakfast, it said. He'd signed it: “Love, Gavin.” She smiled at that, her stomach doing little flip-flops.

She desperately needed a shower. She had one more change of clothing in their duffel, thank goodness, but after that they needed to go shopping again. She stripped out of her clothes, tossing them into a little pile in the corner of the bathroom, then reached into the shower and adjusted the hot and cold levers until the water temperature felt just right. Goldilocks water, she thought, her mother's words echoing in her head.

The hot water felt wonderful on her back, melting her knotted muscles. Ten minutes later she felt like a new girl. She wrapped a white terry cloth towel around her bosom, and then stepped in front of the sink to brush her teeth. Her mouth felt gummy, as dirty as her skin had been, and the mint toothpaste that came complimentary with the room tasted good against her teeth.

Gavin walked up behind her, startling her. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck, and her racing heart began to beat even faster.

“Feeling better this morning?” she asked, turning to face him.

He kissed one corner of her mouth. “Much better,” he whispered, kissing the other before finally kissing her full on the lips.

They stood there for a while, wrapped in each other's arms. Finally, he pulled back. “I brought breakfast sandwiches,” he said. “Egg and cheese. Also, orange juice and coffee. Are you hungry?”

“I am hungry,” she admitted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.