She swallowed, wishing desperately that she knew how to get rid of this bizarre tension between them. Wishing that they could have a redo of Monday’s lunch, and she was torn between wanting to strike at him and soothe whatever demons he refused to talk about.
Heather opened her mouth to say something—anything—but he looked away from her, instead shifting his attention back to Kitty, rewarding her with one of his easy, charming smiles before leaning down and whispering something in her ear.
Heather’s breath caught, and she felt a stab of pain.
So she clung to anger instead.
Heather stepped into her apartment with Trevor, giving Josh one last look before slowly, deliberately closing the door on him.
Chapter Fifteen
YOU’RE COMPLETELY ENORMOUS. YOU know that, right?”
Josh’s sister glared at him over her cup of orange juice. “No, brother dearest. I have a bowling ball chilling on top of my bladder and ankles that feel like water balloons, but I had no idea that I’m enormous. Thanks for the public service announcement.”
Josh sighed and looked at his brother-in-law. “Has she been this way for all nine months?”
Kevin scratched his cheek. “I’m going to get pizza. Who wants pizza?”
Jamie’s hand shot in the air. “I want all the pizza.”
Josh reached over and patted his twin’s protruding belly. “You are eating for two, after all.”
His sister snorted. “Please. The kid can get by on the umbilical cord. The pizza’s mine, all mine.”
“Speaking as someone who shared your umbilical cord, I’m pretty sure that’s not how it worked.”
“Don’t get me started on that. I know you were in there figuring out how to give yourself the fit gene while I got the chubby gene.”
“I forgot how good you were at science,” Josh mused.
Jamie started to lean forward to swat him but leaned back with a tired sigh. “Forget it. Once the kid’s out, I will be kicking the shit out of you, but for right now I’m too grateful that you made the trek down here. I’m getting sick of Kevin.”
“And that’s my cue to go get pizza,” Kevin said, standing and placing a kiss on his wife’s head. “Canadian bacon and pineapple, same as last time?”
Jamie made a gagging motion. “What are you trying to do, kill me? Who eats fruit on a pizza?”
“You did, just last week,” Kevin said, searching around on the messy desk until he came up with the car keys.
“Well, the baby’s cravings have shifted. Now she wants sausage and mushroom.”
“I thought you said the baby didn’t get any pizza,” Josh said.
“Don’t do it, man,” Kevin muttered. “Just don’t do it. Be back in a bit. Don’t kill each other.”
Josh lifted a hand to wave good-bye to his brother-in-law before frowning. “Do they not have delivery here?”
“Easy there, New York, this is Nashville, not rural Wyoming. Of course we have delivery. He just needs any excuse to get away from me these days.”
“I can’t imagine why,” he teased, standing up from the kitchen table and going to refill her orange juice glass.
“I know, I’m a monster,” she said, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her belly. “I’m just grumpy I can’t be with the family for Thanksgiving. Stupid third-trimester flight limitations.”
“You know we could have come to you,” he said, placing the orange juice in front of her and sitting back down.
“I know, but Dad has to work on Monday, and Mom’s got that charity thing she does on Friday. And honestly, it’s probably better. I’m so dang pissy these days, because I feel fat and cranky and my back hurts.”
He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “You’ll get through it. Just a couple more weeks, right?”
Jamie sat up a little straighter. “Oh my God. Josh. I’m sorry, you must think I’m the worst, complaining about a little back pain and swollen feet. I didn’t think. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t do that. My experiences don’t make yours any less valid.”
The miserable expression on her face didn’t fade, and Josh squeezed her hand. “Jamie. I thought we were over this.”