The Soul Mate (Roommates, # 4)

“Don’t you dare. If I’m carrying your baby, you’d better let me hit you with all the garlic knots I want.”

His smile warmed and sent a thrill through me. “Okay, fine. Deal.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Deal.” I nodded, then picked up a garlic knot and tossed it at him.

He snagged it out of thin air without even blinking and I gasped.

“I can read you like a book,” he said before taking a triumphant bite.

That may be true and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

“I guess I just have to use the element of surprise next time.” I shrugged and then took a bite of my own food.

When Mason finished chewing, he said, “So, you think about her a lot?”

“I do.” I nodded.

“What do you think about?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I sort of think about what her nursery would look like and what kinds of things we could do together as she gets older. Teaching her to walk.”

“And fish,” Mason added, and my heart broke a little bit.

I had thought about that. Often. And I still hadn’t decided if it would break my heart to do it without my dad there or help me heal some.

“Yes, and fish,” I said quietly.

“Do you think you’re going to be an overly protective mom?”

“Why? You planning on taking her skydiving?”

“Not until she’s at least fifteen.”

“Eighteen,” I countered.

“Eighteen, then. No, I was thinking of teaching her to work on cars and how to ride horses.”

“You ride horses?” I asked.

He nodded. “I have cousins in Montana who own a ranch. I used to go there every summer to help out. My parents thought it was important that I get a full sense of the world.”

“Well, anything with animals is okay in my book,” I said. “Just don’t let her treat your patients or anything until after medical school.”

“We’ve decided on medical school for her already?” he asked with a laugh.

“It’s the family business,” I shrugged. “It seems likely, don’t you think? Plus, on her first Halloween we can get her tiny scrubs and a little stethoscope. How cute would that be?”

“You really have been thinking about this a lot, huh?” he asked softly.

I nodded. “A lot. And I want what’s best for us. Which is why…when we’re done here, I think we ought to go back to my place and find out what’s inside that envelope. I’m being a chickenshit and it’s time to rip this Band-Aid off once and for all.”

He nodded encouragingly. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”

I realized for the first time that he always wanted to open the envelope. He’d only been waiting for me. And the anticipation must have been killing him. I think in that moment I fell a little in love and instead of fighting it, I pulled the feeling closer and let it wrap around me like a warm blanket.

We waited for the check, which he paid like a gentleman, and then we walked back onto the street with our hands laced together.

“I like the idea of a tiny you,” he said.

“A tiny me?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He swung our hands back and forth between us. “Maybe she’ll be a veterinarian. A little bit of you and a little bit of me.”

“Makes sense.” I sighed. “Whatever she becomes, we know she’ll be smart.”

“If she has half your brains, she’ll be just fine.”

“I would say the same about you.” We stopped in front of my complex, and he leaned down and kissed me just as a raindrop fell on my shoulder. Slowly I wrapped my arms around his neck and fell into his kiss, pushing and pulling along with his tongue until my head swam.

I didn’t know if I was stalling or simply taken by the moment, but whatever it was, when he pulled away, the last thing I wanted to do was follow him inside.

Instead I wanted to stay out here in the rain, in his arms, breathing in the uncertainty of a family that I only just now realized how badly I wanted.

It had been so long since I’d had a family that was whole and happy and good. To have this baby…to have the chance to mend the broken pieces of my heart that my father’s death had left behind…it would be such a blessing. But I had to take that terrifying first step.

Mason took my hand and led me into the building, stopping only when we reached my front door.

I pulled out my keys and unlocked it, then led him inside, ignoring the sudden tightness in my chest.

“Time for round two,” I said, then found the matches and lit every candle in the room until the whole place was filled with glowing yellow light. Mason ducked into my bedroom, and when he reappeared, he held the white envelope-and our fate-in his hands.

I took a deep breath then turned on the indie folk station again, closing my eyes as the music filled my head and dulled the insistent pounding of my heart.

“We don’t have to do this.” His deep voice rumbled through the room, and I opened my eyes again to find Mason waiting for me.

“No,” I said, taking another step toward him and the tall pillar candle in the center of my coffee table. Thought nerves swam in my belly, I knew it was time. “I want to know. Once and for all.”

He nodded. “Then let’s find out.”

He handed me the envelope and I blinked back at him. “But I thought-“