Broken Dreams

Reese: Hey. Do you want to meet sometime this week? I know we’ve been keeping this a secret from the wife, but I’m really excited to see you. This is going to be amazing.

I looked up at Courtney as she was walking toward the porch.

Fuck me. She thinks I’m cheating on her.

I ran up to her, but Layton came out, helping Whitley. Court walked up to her and took her other arm as she helped her.

“Court, I have to talk to you—now.”

She shot me a dirty look and turned back to Whitley. “Remember to breathe, baby girl. That’s it. You got this.”

“Courtney?” I said.

She let go of Whitley and turned to look at me. “What you have to say is not nearly as important as Whitley having a baby with her husband—her husband who is loving and caring and faithful to her.”

Layton and Whitley both stopped, and Layton turned and looked at me.

“What’s going on?” Whitley asked as she held her stomach.

Courtney glared at me. “Nothing important.”

As she turned to walk away, I yelled out, “I didn’t cheat on you, Courtney. Reese is not a girl, for fuck’s sake. It’s a guy.”

Layton really looked confused now. “Are you talking about Reese Michaels? The guy I got Lulu from?”

I let out a sigh and dropped my head. There goes my surprise.

I looked up, and Courtney had stopped walking.

She slowly turned around and looked at me. “Reese is a dog breeder?”

Layton said, “Yeah. I was wondering why you’d asked me who I got Lulu from. Y’all are getting a dog?”

“Oh, yay!” Whitley said before she bent over and let out a little yell.

Everyone ran up to her and helped her into Layton’s truck. Whitley sat in the backseat with Courtney, and I jumped up front with Layton.

“Wait!” I yelled. “I better bring my truck just in case. I don’t want to be stuck at the hospital or leave you stuck there.”

Almost forty minutes later, we were at the hospital in Fredericksburg. Things were so crazy, and I was waiting for Layton to pass out any minute.

When the nurse asked Whitley if she wanted anyone in the room, she said, “Just Layton.”

I looked around for Courtney but couldn’t find her.

Layton started to follow the nurse, but I grabbed his arm and said, “Layton?”

He turned and looked at me. “Yeah?”

“Take in every moment.”

He smiled and nodded his head before heading to where they had taken Whitley. I pushed my hands through my hair as I pulled out my phone. I sent Reese a quick message back about meeting him this week, but the cat was out of the bag. Right when I shoved my phone into my pocket, it began ringing. I pulled it out and saw it was—

Courtney?

“Court? Where in the hell are you?” I heard her sniffle. “Angel, are you okay? Please tell me where you are.”

“I’m in the courtyard. I needed fresh air.”

I looked all around and saw a sign that said, Outdoor Courtyard. “Baby, I’m on my way.”

I practically ran through the hospital and out the doors. She was sitting on the grass next to a tree. I walked up to her and sat down. When she looked in my eyes, I was gutted.

I always end up hurting her somehow. “I’m so sorry I always hurt you,” I said as I reached out to touch the side of her face.

“What?”

I shook my head. “I’m always hurting you, and I don’t know why.”

She grabbed my hands and said, “Why in the world would you say that? You don’t ever hurt me—ever.”

“Courtney, I swear to you, I was just playing around with you. I didn’t mean for you to think I was upset, and then you read that text, and for you to think that I would ever cheat on you…I guess I just thought maybe I’m not loving you enough and—”

“Stop.” She choked back a sob. “Please stop. Reed…I’m so sorry I even thought that. I was just already upset, thinking I made you upset, and when I saw that text, I just…” She looked down and then back up at me. “Those old memories came flooding back, and I’m so sorry I just assumed, and it kills me that I did. You have no idea how upset I am with myself that I jumped to conclusions too soon, and I just didn’t ask you. It’s all these hormones, and we haven’t had sex in so long.”

I let out a chuckle. “Baby, it’s only been four days.”

When her eyes captured mine, I sucked in a breath of air.

“You don’t understand. I need you, Reed. I need to feel you close to me. Sometimes, it scares me so much that I need you like I do. Nothing makes me feel better than you making love to me. You’re like my drug.”

I smiled as I gently ran my hand down the side of her face. “Come on, let’s go wait in the waiting room. The nurse made it sound like it wouldn’t be too long.”

I stood up and reached down to help her up. As she stood up, she gave me that look.

I tilted my head and looked at her. “Court?”

She bit down on her lower lip and said, “We can really win it.”

I rolled my eyes because I instantly knew what she was talking about. She and Whitley were bound and determined to be the winner in this whole public-sex thing.

“Reed, come on. Public sex…while pregnant. We’ve got this!”

My mouth dropped open. “We already did that. In the nightclub, remember?”

“Not while I was this pregnant. This pushes that one out the door.”

I started to walk off. “No, Courtney. I’m not fucking you while you are eight months pregnant in the hospital where our best friends are having their first baby.”

She started following me and said, “Well, when you put it like that…”

I smiled as we headed back to the waiting room. All I could think about was how I wanted nothing more than to find an empty room and give her exactly what she needed.

Reed had his hand on my stomach as we both watched in amazement while an elbow moved across one side to the other side of my stomach. We both looked at each other and started giggling.

“Oh God, I can’t wait to see her.”

“Or him,” Reed said with a smirk.

I let out another chuckle and said, “Or him.”

Reed kissed me on the cheek as he picked my legs up and scooted out from under them. “Want something to drink?” he asked as Gracie jumped up with excitement.

Reed about busted his ass as he tried to maneuver around the twelve-week-old black lab he’d bought me the weekend Taylor was born. I smiled when I thought about Whit holding her daughter and how happy she was. I swore that Layton and Whitley had hardly left the house ever since they brought Taylor home.