Delicate

Chapter 50

HAVEN MCQUEEN

I've always been a health-conscious and detail-oriented person, but I would say pregnancy has made me slightly obsessive with my eating habits, exercise, and understanding what's going on with my body. It's all for the better to make sure that the babies and I are the healthiest we can be, but I'd be lying if I said it's not stressful. The idea that I'm responsible for growing two human beings inside of me freaks me out if I think about it for too long.

But now that my morning sickness and nausea have pretty much disappeared, I feel so much more motivated to eat healthy and get an appropriate amount of exercise every single day. I've been reading all the books and articles that I've been recommended by Dr. Watts and my mom, and I think a lot of it is because I'm trying to compensate for the fact that I have no fucking idea what I'm doing. As it turns out, a lot of new moms don't.

"Are you gonna put sugar in this or something, hon?" My mom eyes me as I drop a large handful of chopped kale into my blender.

"No, I'm not going to put sugar in it," I laugh as I retrieve the oat milk from my refrigerator.

She wrinkles her nose. "But it's just green stuff."

"There's sugar in the bananas and strawberries," I explain. "It'll taste good, I promise."

"Mm," she grunts quietly in disagreement as she flips through the Pottery Barn catalog that I received in my mail this morning. "You know, I think I was meant to be an interior decorator in another life."

I smile as I secure the lid on the blender and slowly switch the nob over to one of the lower settings so the sound isn't too loud or aggressive. "Why can't you be?"

She frowns in thought. "That's a great question."

I let the blender work the fruits and veggies until the shamrock green substance is smooth and creamy, and my mom still appears to be awfully unimpressed as she watches me fill two glasses. She tries to stop me before I can fill hers too much despite my promise that she's going to like it.

"See?" I smile as she has her first sip. "Yummy, right?"

"It's not bitter like I thought it would be," she nods and tries it again. "It's pretty good."

"Told ya," I pick my phone up from the counter so we can sit at the table together.

"So," she sighs and folds her arms in front of her, and I already know what she's going to ask. "How's Harry doin'? Still avoiding us?"

"Well, if you can believe it, he's actually mad at me right now," I sip slowly to avoid getting a brain freeze. "Katie tricked me into going on a double date on Saturday, and pictures were floating around on Instagram and this stupid celebrity gossip account so he saw it and assumed the worst."

Just like I was, my mom looks confused. "He was mad at you for potentially going on a date with someone else? But you're broken up...and he cheated on you."

"Exactly," I tap the table. "I mean, I get that he would have his feelings hurt and be blindsided, but he was pissed at me for it. I could barely even get the explanation out."

"What was the explanation?"

"Well, it was a trick, like I said," I stand to get a paper towel to clean the few drops I spilled on the table. "Katie told me that I was going to have dinner with her and the new guy she's seeing, but when I got there, he had a friend for me. I'm still mad at her for that."

"Hm...yeah, I think the circumstances would be different if you weren't previously involved with someone famous, which means you're sort of in that same boat as well."