Kissing Booth 4ever and Always

17. Meanwhile at the Beach House

I had gone home that night feeling like Noah and I were in an okay place, and if I had planned better than just storming out of my house, I would have packed an overnight bag to stay with him. I knew he was exhausted, but he stayed up to make sure that I'd made it home safely. Tomorrow was Friday; the last day of the week, and the beginning of Elle and Lee's extraordinary beach house weekend extravaganza.

At the office, I arrived to find an iced coffee and a box of breakfast bagels from my favorite place with a note written on the box.

I love you. -N

I sighed and smiled. Despite our heated argument the night before, I'm marrying a man that still has breakfast delivered just to make me smile. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and stood smiling down at the screen as I texted him.

Thanks for the breakfast delivery. How did you know I ran out of the house without my coffee?

You're welcome, have to make sure my girl is fed or she gets grumpy ;) Plus, you know you'd drink a coffee from Brewno's even if you'd just finished a full mug from home.

You think you know me so well.

I've only known you your whole life, Shell. I have to prepare for meeting a new client. I love you, call you later.

Love you more xx

"Ooooooo," I hear Hannah say in a teasing sing-song voice as she walked into the office, "Does Elle Evans have a love interest?"

She picked up the box and examined the words. I laughed nervously and grabbed onto my ring finger to make sure I hadn't left my ring on. Ugh. When will I feel like I don't have to hide this from her?

"N? Hmmm....Nate? Nicholas? Nathan?" She pried as my nerves inflated.

"I'm not going to give it up, so you may as well stop guessing," I said, trying to be coy, which made her laugh.

"Well, whoever it is, he's a lucky lucky man to have you."

She bounced over to her desk where she plucked the ultrasound picture from its photo clip and replaced it with a new one. My gaze lingered for a moment, taking note that the little jelly bean of the previous picture now more closely resembled a tiny human. My hand absentmindedly dropped to my own abdomen for a split second as I remembered last night. I knew I needed to tell Noah that I hadn't been taking birth control, I just wasn't sure how to bring it up. I was a little scared that it may start an argument, we had honestly not had a real discussion on kids other than that I knew he wanted them someday. I'm sure he had assumed I was on the pill, after all, I was during high school. God, that had been a fun conversation with my dad. But after never finding myself in a serious relationship during school, I just never refilled my prescription. Instead, I closely monitored my cycles and made sure that I steered clear of when I was ovulating, and always made sure they wore a condom. A quick Google search last night reminded me that it would take at least two weeks before a test would show if I were indeed pregnant. If there's one thing my first failed relationship with Noah taught me, it was that we needed to both communicate better, and I had no intentions of spending the next two weeks worrying alone. I'll tell him this weekend...after I tell Lee about us. I turned on my computer and started in on an everything bagel to fuel my busy day.

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The evening air was heavy and the smell of the sea hugged me like a warm sweater, the salt already curling my hair. Lee had beat me to the beach house and was surely inside opening up the windows and taking the sheets off of the furniture. Just inside the door, I took a moment to breathe it all in and allow myself to relish in the nostalgia of all of the memories held within the walls. I smiled seeing the pictures on the wall, one in particular now holding a new memory from where it hung in my own house.