Chapter 8

"Then we took a walk around Opal Springs and we talked for hours," I said. "He told me all about the team he played for in New York and how he liked the change of pace from that."

"It sounds like you like him." Eden handed us mugs; tea for Cat, coffee for me.

I nodded my thanks and wrapped my fingers around the mug, savouring the warmth that seeped through the porcelain.

"I do like him," I said. "He"s interesting. And hot when he"s telling other guys to stop being dickheads." And warning Oliver, but I couldn"t say that out loud.

"Will you be seeing him again?" Cat asked. She sat back on Eden"s couch, trying to get comfortable.

"Probably." I sat beside her. "I had a good time and I think he did too." He hadn"t asked me out again, but he"d spoken like second and third dates were inevitable.

"It"s good that you"re seeing someone." Cat took a sip of her tea and half closed her eyes as she savoured the taste. She preferred coffee, but she loved tea almost as much. "I was starting to worry about you a little bit."

"You were?" I frowned. "Why?"

"It can"t be healthy spending all of your time with my father," she said. "I love him to bits, but everyone needs a break from work. I know how driven he can be. The late hours you"ve been putting in because of him are a lot. If you want me to talk to him, to make sure he"s not working you too hard?—"

"No," I said quickly. "He"s not working me too hard at all." Not in the way she meant. A lot of those late afternoons, we were taking time to be together, not because he had taken on extra patients. I wanted to tell her that, but I glanced down at her belly and bit my tongue. If I said something now and the stress hurt the baby, neither she nor Oliver would forgive me.

No, it was getting harder, but it would have to wait. I suppressed a surge of frustration, and the hint of resentment that came with it. I was hating this more and more by the day, but I had no choice at all. Our time would come. It had to.

I cleared my throat, and my thoughts with it. "I love my job. I don"t mind working all the hours Oliv— Doctor Ryan gives me."

Surely I was as transparent as a window that had just been cleaned. How did they not both see right through me? They trusted me to be honest with them and I wasn"t. I felt like shit for continuing to lie to them both.

"Cat"s right," Eden said. "It"s good that you"re seeing someone." She glanced at us both, uncertain as to whether she should continue. "For a while there, I got the feeling Oliver was interested in you."

My laugh in response was uncomfortably high-pitched. "What gave you that impression?"

"Seriously?" Cat pulled a face. "Can we not talk about my father like that? Yuck. There"s no way he"d be interested in Marley or anyone else our age. No offence," she added, offering me a small smile.

Offence taken, but I forced a smile back. "Why not? I mean, people get together with people older than them all the time. Don"t tell me you don"t believe love is love."

"It"s not about the age gap," Cat said. "It"s about him being my father and your boss. It would be all kinds of wrong. Imagine if things went bad. You"d have to find another job. You said it yourself, you love what you do. You wouldn"t want to risk that, would you?"

"What if it didn"t go bad?" I asked. "What if we were perfect for each other and destined to last forever?" As far as I was concerned, that was exactly what we were.

"I don"t really see any point in thinking about it." Cat tucked some strands of red hair behind her ear. "You said you like Toby and you"re going to see him again. He sounds perfect for you. A guy who buys you books has to be a keeper, right?"

"Absolutely," Eden agreed. "Does he have a brother?"

"Do you need one?" I asked teasingly. "I heard something about you being in the middle of a centre sandwich the other night." I raised my eyebrows at her, happy to have the conversation focus on someone else for now.

Eden smiled. "Maybe I was."

"And?" I gave her a "tell us more" gesture with my fingers.

"And we played pool, had a few drinks and some laughs, then we went home," she said.

"Alone?" Cat asked.

Eden sighed. "They had early training in the morning. When we get together, it's amazing, but I don't know if either of them want more than fun here or there."

I grimaced. "That sucks. It sounds like you need to meet someone new too. There was no shortage of hot guys in O"Reilly"s the other night." Some were even nice.

"Both Elliott and Zane hit on me," Eden said. "I was tempted to go home with one of them, just to see what Mitch and Jagger would do. But then I realised something."

"You have taste and dignity?" Cat asked.

"Exactly." Eden laughed. "My clit was so sad. She has neither taste nor dignity, apparently. She just wants to have a good time."

"It sounds like she"s ready to lead you astray," I remarked. Not that I could talk. Mine had led me astray for quite a while now. Although, there was more to my relationship with Oliver than sex. With Toby there wasn"t even sex, not yet. When he took me home, he only gave me a kiss on the cheek. One I could still feel, like a lingering warmth on my skin.

I could easily have taken him inside and fucked his brains out, but where was the hurry? My vibrator got a workout instead.

"Maybe I should let her," Eden said. "We"re only talking about orgasms here. Is it possible I"m being too fussy?"

"There"s no such thing as too fussy," Cat said. "Do what feels right. Don"t worry about what other people say."

"That"s good advice," I said. "Never let anyone stand in the way of your happiness or your orgasms."

Wasn"t I doing just that? I couldn"t wait until Cat had her baby. I just hoped like hell she didn"t hate my guts when Oliver and I told her what was going on. She and I had been friends since we were kids. I didn"t want to lose her. I was terrified she"d insist on Oliver choosing between me and her.

No matter how much he cared about me, there was no way he wouldn"t choose his daughter, especially with a baby involved.

Eden might choose Cat"s side as well. When the dust settled, I could lose everything. The idea was absolutely terrifying.

"Are you okay?" Eden asked me. "You look pale."

I blinked at her a couple of times. "I"m a blonde, I"m supposed to be pale."

"Paler than usual," she said, laughing on an exhale. "You seem worried about something."

"I"m fine," I said. "Everything is just perfect." So many things were so far from perfect it wasn"t funny. "It was disappointing that the Ghouls lost the other night, but they"ll win next time."

I sat back while Cat told us all about her guys" reaction to losing and their determination not to be beaten again. Toby said many of the same things, with the additional frustration of having let goals get past him. Even if the team didn"t blame him for the loss, he blamed himself.

I"d reminded him a team wasn"t just one player, but I understood his frustration. They badly wanted to win and they hadn"t. But it was only one game. The first of many.

"What do you think?" Eden asked.

I frowned. "What about?" I"d checked out for a minute or two. Now, they were both looking at me expectantly.

"Do you think Nutella and Vegemite would taste good together?" Eden asked.

I thought she was serious until she surrendered to the smile that pushed at the corners of her mouth.

"First of all, absolutely not. Secondly, what were you really asking? I was away with the fairies for a moment."

"We could tell," Cat said. "I was just saying it would be nice to get a few people together at the old rink for a recreational skate. I won"t have much time for it when the baby is born. Are you in?"

"Sure." I shrugged. I was nowhere near as good at ice-skating as she was, but I enjoyed it now and again. "Maybe Toby will come along."

"Definitely ask him," she agreed. "I might see if Dad will come too. He still enjoys getting his skates on from time to time. Now the team isn"t practising at Rhonda"s rink any more, she"s going to need more people there to make up for the loss of revenue."

"If you"re going to skate, I doubt you could keep your father away," I said. "He"s very protective of you and that baby you"re carrying. If anything happened to you, he"d want to be there to help you."

"That sounds like Dad." Cat grimaced. "He"s the definition of overprotective. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a doctor and a father."

"You"ll be exactly the same when your little one is born," Eden said. "So will those guys of yours."

"If they had their way, the baby would be skating already." Cat rubbed her belly. "They"ve already bought tiny hockey sticks and pucks. And the smallest sized jerseys they could get in Ghouls colours. If they had their way, the baby"s name would be Hockey Ryan."

Eden and I both laughed.

"They might be the tiniest bit obsessed," I said.

Cat held up her fingers, slightly apart. "A tiny bit. But they"re all going to adore this baby. I can"t wait until they"re born. It"s been a long time since I"ve seen my own feet without a lot of effort."

"That baby is going to be very loved," I said. "A wonderful mother and three doting fathers."

"And if Easton gets his way, another sibling shortly after." Cat pulled a face. "He loves me being pregnant."

I"d seen them together, his hands on her bump. The way he looked at her and her growing belly, like he worshipped both of them, was sweet. From what she"d told me, they were barely together when he first told her he wanted her to get pregnant. Who was I to shame him for his kink?

"You look adorable." I couldn"t help a slight stab of envy. Just a little one, because life was already complicated enough as it was.

"I feel like a giant manatee," she said. "But it"s sweet of you to say so. You will be babysitting for me, right?" She turned her sweetest smile on both of us.

"Just try to stop us," Eden said. "Both of us are looking forward to it. I never want to have my own children, but I like spending small amounts of time with other people"s. As long as I can give the baby back and walk away at the end of the day, I"m content."

As long as I"d known Eden, she"d said she didn"t want to be a mother. I supported her a hundred percent, but I didn"t feel the same way about myself. Someday, when the time was right, I wanted babies. Fuck only knew when the time would be right though.

"I"ll pencil you in for the second round of babysitting duties," Cat said. "I think my father will be first in line for that. I always got the impression he would have liked more than two. He"s going to absolutely dote on this little one." She patted her belly.

He definitely would. I wondered how he"d feel about him and I having a baby together. That was another question I had no answers for right now. Yet another thing that was on hold until the right time.