Wyndham Series Book 2

The silence between us was deafening. She just stood there waiting for a reply, and I just looked at her like a deer in the headlights. I had to say something soon or I would have to feel her wrath at any moment, but dammit I was so bad with these things.

“Um…the black one?” I answered as a question.

“Are you sure? Seriously, Miles, I can’t go to your mother’s house to announce our pregnancy looking anything but perfect.”

She tossed both dress options on the bed and went back into the closet. “Ah, I can’t do this! She’s going to think it’s too soon. She’s going to hate me for ruining her son’s life!” she screamed from the closet.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I felt a headache coming on, so I needed to defuse this fast. I walked over to her and stopped her from tearing our closet apart, grabbing both her hands in mine, forcing her to turn to me.

“Stop, Callie, for god’s sake. Look at me. The black dress looks beautiful on you, and you know it. I do remember tearing it off you at one point shortly after coming home from dinner a couple of weeks ago.”

Her scowl turned into a smirk as I nudged her nose with mine.

“Besides, doesn’t she already kind of hate you?” I asked with a laugh.

Her scowl was back, but her face was still soft. “Not funny.” She pushed me away and walked past me to the bathroom, grabbing the black dress on the way, hopefully to finally put herself together.

I was still laughing at my joke as I watched her fine ass walk away, but my thoughts went back to my mother’s request, which spoiled my mood completely. It had been two weeks since both ladies in my life dropped a huge amount of information on me, and I was still trying to process it.

Once Callie told me she was pregnant, I couldn’t bring myself to even talk about what my mother wanted from me, and why should I?

I didn’t need to make Callie more upset than she already was; I needed to figure out a solution before dumping this on her. She already had her anxieties about being pregnant this soon, and while she was trying to build her restaurant from the ground up.

I also had to process the thought of being a father. Was I even suitable to be a dad? I couldn’t even get my own head on straight.

I didn’t want to let my mother down, either, or have them lose a client, but Callie and I came first, and now that a baby was coming along, I couldn’t possibly leave her for this ridiculous business trip, especially with Palmer of all people.

But still, I needed to find a way to help my mother. I know she wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t need me. Luckily, I still had a few weeks to decide, but time was ticking down.

The thoughts continued to swirl around in my mind, and my headache was starting to come on even worse.

I walked over to the side table drawer to pop a couple of Tylenol, and I heard the clicking of Callie’s heels coming from the bathroom. “Are you ready?” I asked while I turned around to meet her.

There she stood, taking my breath away again. I don’t think I will ever get used to the feelings that she gives me. How can I be living with a woman, engaged to her, and still feel like a nervous schoolboy asking his crush to the prom?

“Well?” She smoothed the dress down and gave me a twirl. “What do you think?”

I slowly walked up to her and nabbed her by her waist. “I think you looked better when the dress was on the bed.” I began to lick and nip her exposed neck while pulling her even closer to me.

She gasped when she felt how ready I was to cancel this entire dinner and stay in.

She laughed while trying to fight her own urges and stay serious. “Miles, we can’t. We are already late,” she said while weakly pushing me away.

“Yes, well, whose fault was that? Going through every dress in your closet for a silly dinner,” I mumbled while continuing to try to persuade her to undo all that she had just finished doing.

She grabbed my face on both sides and brought my eyes to meet hers. “It’s not just a silly dinner. We are announcing our pregnancy, and time’s up. We gotta go.” She lightly pushed me away as I pouted.

“But I don’t want to,” I whined like a two-year-old.

“Come on,” she simply replied, grabbing her purse and walking out of the bedroom, leaving me standing there with a pout on my face and an unsatisfied firmness in my pants.

Luckily I was able to calm myself down during the drive to the city. The cool air helped. We were now making our way to my mother’s front door. This was Callie’s first time here, and I could tell she was very nervous.

“Calm down, Cal,” I told her as I rang the doorbell.

“I can’t. Your mother just makes me nervous,” she said, fidgeting.

“I thought the two of you have been getting along?” I asked, confused why she was suddenly so nervous.

“We have, in a casual sort of way. But she still makes me nervous, and we are about to tell her she’s going to be a grandmother. You don’t think she will be upset about that?” she answered, as though she thought I was the crazy one.

I thought about it for a second. “You know, I don’t know. I haven’t ever really heard her talk about it before.” I turned to her and saw such a look of fear on her face that it made me laugh. “It will be fine, I promise.”

“Okay,” she said in almost a whisper, then took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, just before the door opened.

“Callie!” Marley called out when she opened the door. She pulled Callie into a hug, not even waiting for a greeting.

Callie laughed and I let out a sigh of relief to see my cousin. If anyone was going to relax Callie, it would be Marley.

She was the one and only Wyndham who went her own way and did her own thing, and she always gave Callie the rundown on how to handle the family drama. She was a godsend.

“Miles, come here.” She beckoned me over and hugged me. “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in forever. When was the last time you came to see me?”

“Just last week, Marley. We went to dinner at your restaurant, just like every week before that,” Callie stated with a smirk.

“Not nearly enough,” Marley replied, giving her a shove.

“Miles.” I heard mother call my name from the dining room to the right of us. “Come now, dinner is about to be served. You kids are late. Chop-chop.”

She turned and walked back in, not stopping to say hello first, or thanks for coming. It was no wonder Callie was afraid of her.

The three of us walked into the room only to see a lot more people than we were expecting. When Mom had said come over for dinner, I stupidly thought she meant just Callie and me.

Around the table were Uncle Jensen and my Aunt Gwen, Marly’s parents—not at all like her. The other unexpected guest sat at the end of the table snugly beside my mother. A person I wished to not see this evening.

Judging by the way Callie was now squeezing my hand, she felt the same way. Palmer smiled at us with her fake grin and a glint of mischief in her eyes.

This dinner was not going to go well.