Selfish Mistakes

22 - Ambivalent

It was past eight o'clock when Jeremy arrived but the house was still dark and there was no sign of Liz. He checked his phone and dialed her number but his call went straight to her voicemail.

Scrolling down in his inbox, he saw a text from Kevin:

*****

Went out to have coffee with Liz.

*****

He dialed Kevin's number but he wasn't answering. He paused for a moment to think if he ought to be jealous or pissed off, he chose neither. His trust in Liz was definitely unquestionable.

His train of thoughts slipped towards the events that happened during the afternoon when he met with Darlene in the hospital. She said she has a surprise for him coming in a few days from now. She wouldn't tell exactly what it was but it would be on her sister's wedding and he was invited.

Jeremy wanted to ditch the invitation but he was genuinely intrigued so he said he would come under one condition, he would be allowed to bring one guest with him. Darlene agreed with no qualms which he thought was very unlikely of her character.

He went to the kitchen to prepare sandwiches in case Liz would be hungry when she comes home to him. He reveled in that thought more and more. It has been a long time since he took care of someone and enjoyed doing it out of sheer happiness.

He wasn't a very romantic showy type of lover. But he knew that he has someone special now and he wanted to do more for the woman who would be the mother of his child.

Family? It wasn't in his plans yet but the more he spent his days with her the idea starts to bubble into excitement. He was great with kids as a doctor to his patients, however the notion of the role as a father was honestly frightening and possibly challenging. But he was ready to face that with Liz.

He set aside the sandwiches and decided to relax with a hot shower. Dragging his footsteps across the halls, he resisted the gnawing feeling of boredom and restlessness while waiting for Liz to come home.

There was no point in wanting to hunt down Kevin and demand him to return his girlfriend. Jeremy was never that insecure nor paranoid but he was a little wary of the way he was feeling tonight and how it was adding to his agitation.

The trickle of warm water calmed him as he lost track of time while reminiscing random thoughts of Liz and their shared moments. He continued leisurely to remember her various facial expressions of joy, annoyance, anger and embarrassment while he was shaving his face in front of the bathroom mirror.

Liz walked into him in half surprise as she said, "Damn it, you startled me."

Jeremy chuckled and wiped off the excess shaving cream as he cleaned up his face. "You know you shouldn't cuss too much." He turned around and smiled at her, "I won't have our baby talking like a sailor when he grows up."

He came over to where she was standing by the doorway and kissed her on the forehead. "Are you hungry? I made sandwiches in the kitchen."

"No, thank you. Kevin and I had dinner already. Are you done here?" She averted her gaze from his barely clad body. It was rather distracting, odd enough she was well aware of her crazy pregnant hormones acting up from the sight of him half naked with just a white terry towel covering him up.

Her flustered cheeks did not escape his inquisitive eyes. "Well, it depends. Are you going to take a shower?" Teasing her with a smile and a hint to his question.

"No, I'm going to take a crap. Now get out." She pushed him out of the bathroom and locked the door behind her. The lie was a valid reason to be left alone and she had to sound so blunt to dismiss her bothered reaction.

She looked up and saw her crimson face in the bathroom mirror. How was she supposed to stay angry at him when her own body was betraying her? Pull yourself together, Liz.

She took a warm bath taking a very long time to finish up to make sure that he was already tired and had fallen asleep when she comes into the bedroom. She was too exhsusted to have to deal with him. She felt like she was all wrinkled up like a prune and hoped it was worth the trouble to avoid him.

However, reality was never like everyone would hope for when she came out of the bathroom to see him still working on his laptop while sitting on the bed. But at least he was fully clothed now in a white t-shirt and boxers.

He looked up and greeted her with a smile, "All good with the digestive system?"

She ignored his question and sat on the settee at the foot of the bed while drying her hair with a towel. Her mind and body was exhausted from everything that has happened today and she wasn't in the mood to talk. There was a threat looming over her head that if she opened her mouth it was bound to slip with a question about Darlene.

"I found great articles about the right diet for pregnant women so no worries about getting constipation." Jeremy closed his laptop and placed it on the study table by the window and went over to snatch the towel from her hands.

He sat beside her and began to gently dry her long hair, "I didn't sound very romantic right there, did I?"

She remained silent, clutching protectively over her bathrobe to draw the neckline together. Her eyes firmly staring on the carpeted floor wishing her cheeks would cooperate by not turning red again.

"Are you, ok? Your face is flustered again." He placed the back of his hand over her forehead to check if she was coming down with a fever.

"I'm ok. Stop fussing." She pushed away his hand and stood up to head for the dressing room but before she could take a step further his hand pulled her back to sit on his lap.

"The website did warn husbands about hormones making pregnant women getting irritable." He sniffed the sweet fragrance of her shampoo and kissed her ear.

She shivered from a simple kiss and hated it at the same time. Couldn't he just go to sleep and leave her alone?