A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Twenty-Two

When Holly finally came to pick up Paul, the relief that surrounded Chris was nearly palpable. He’d handed him over to her so fast you’d think Paul was some type of time bomb.

            “Thank you again for taking care of him today,” Holly thanked us for the twentieth time, pausing in front of the door. “I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”

            “Holly was good with him,” Chris told her, putting a hand around my waist. “If she wasn’t here, your son might not have lived.”

            I gave him a reproachful look. “Chris.”

            Holly laughed, obviously not offended. “I had a feeling you’d call someone to help you, so seeing Holly already here was a nice surprise. I didn’t feel as bad.”

            “Paul is really cute,” I told her, my eyes drifting to giggling child in her arms.

            “Isn’t he?” she responded happily. “He’s going to grow up to be very easy on the eyes.”

            Chris frowned the tiniest bit. I furrowed my eyes in confusion at his action. Why would he frown at that? At the moment, I would have given anything to know what he was thinking. My first guess was that he was jealous— maybe he was thinking Holly thought Andy was better looking than him. However, I highly doubted that was the case…

            “Maybe when you guys have children they’ll be friends!” Holly added excitedly. “That would be so cute! You guys have to have babies quickly!”

            “Holly,” Chris started in a flat tone as my face flamed.

            She giggled. “Oh, come on, Chris. I’m just teasing. Look at Holly! She’s blushing so hard!”

            I dropped my head, slapping my hands to my cheeks to try to hide my blush. Of course I was blushing! She just basically told me to have sex with him! How could she say that so calmly?

            “Don’t tease her,” Chris ordered, crossing his arms. “That’s my job.”

            “I’ll let you in on a secret,” Holly announced, ignoring his words. I looked up in time to see her grinning widely at us. “I’m pregnant. One month to be exact.”

            My eyes immediately dropped to her stomach. It was still completely flat. “Y-you’re pregnant?”

            “Uh-huh!”

            “Congratulations,” I said slowly, looking at Chris from the corner of my eyes. How did he feel about it?

            To my surprise, he was grinning at her. “Yeah, congratulations,” he echoed. “I remember how excited you used to get when you talked about having children.”

            “And I remember that spaced out look that would appear on your face when I did,” she responded, laughing.

            I awkwardly turned my attention to the random penny lying on the ground a few feet away from my feet. As much as I loved Chris, I didn’t want to hear him talking about Holly about his past relationship with her. We tended to shy away from the subject.

            “Enough reminiscing,” Chris stated. “Tell Andy I said congratulations.”

            I looked up now, watching as Holly nodded. “Sure! We’re actually going to go out to dinner tonight. I should probably get going. Say bye, Paul.”