“When?” Rebecca pressed, which was something that she’d been doing a lot this past week.
“I’m going to tell him,” Melanie promised as she popped another fry in her mouth.
“Better do it soon,” Rebecca said with a pointed look at the plate in front of Melanie, which just happened to be the third cheeseburger platter she’d ordered in the last hour and something that would probably give away the fact that she was pregnant with a Bradford soon, “before Lucifer figures it out.”
“He’s going to be mad,” Melanie said slowly exhaling and trying not to think of all the times he’d taken care of her over the past few months, checked on her, brought her food, sat with her, and occasionally carried her to the bathroom when she was too weak to do it herself so that she could hug the toilet for a few hours.
He had no idea that his brother was the father because they hadn’t told him and when he found out that they’d kept him in the dark he would probably never talk to her again. This was really turning out to be the best day ever, Melanie thought dryly even as she had to wonder where her order of pancakes with extra butter, syrup, and bacon was.
“No, he won’t,” Rebecca promised her with a shake of her head. “He’ll just decide that gives him even more rights to be the godfather.”
That was true…
Lucifer did seem rather determined to be the baby’s godfather, Melanie mused, glancing in his direction to find him sitting at the bar, glaring down at a stack of papers, which brought up a completely different subject.
“Aren’t you supposed to be writing a paper?” Melanie asked, returning her attention to Rebecca to find the other woman shrugging.
“I finished it, but he wasn’t happy with my choice of font and felt that my introduction wasn’t exciting enough to capture the reader’s attention.”
Frowning, Melanie absently ate another fry as she glanced back at Lucifer, who was still glaring. “What was your paper on?” she couldn’t help asking.
“Time management,” Rebecca said with a shrug.
“I see,” Melanie murmured thoughtfully, wondering how Rebecca handled Lucifer’s OCD without killing him.
Then again, since she’d benefitted from his OCD over the past few months, she wasn’t exactly in a position to talk. Thanks to Lucifer, everything in her apartment was now organized and she meant everything. From the frozen peas in her freezer to the extra pack of floss in her bathroom, everything was organized by expiration, size, likelihood of use and, in the case of her kitchen, by flavor and texture in addition to all the aforementioned categories.
She’d felt bad at first that he was doing so much, but that quickly changed when she’d realized that he was actually enjoying himself. Whenever she tried to help him, Lucifer would glare at her, point towards her bedroom, and wait until she went back to bed before continuing with his hobby and if she didn’t move fast enough the bastard would call her mother. She still wasn’t sure how he got his hands on her mother’s phone number, but she suspected that the small woman sitting across from her had something to do with it.
“How did you end up spending the night with Aidan?” Rebecca asked, and Melanie had to give her credit because she’d held off asking that question again a lot longer than she’d expected.
With a shrug, Melanie said, “A lot of tequila, some beer, and a few shots of unidentifiable alcohol.”
She decided not to mention that she could barely remember what happened when she’d left their apartment with Aidan after Lucifer threw them out. She remembered going to a bar, ordering a drink, the feel of Aidan’s hands on her as he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, flashes of what happened once they made it to the hotel, and…
That was it.
The only thing that she remembered with perfect clarity was what happened the next morning when she woke up to find Aidan sitting across the room, glaring at her as he informed her that the condom broke during the night. The conversation that followed was definitely something that she wasn’t likely to forget anytime soon.
There was really nothing like struggling with a hangover while the first guy she’d slept with in years made sure that she knew just how much he’d regretted sleeping with her before she’d flipped him off, mumbled something that she hoped pissed him off, grabbed her clothes and left, more than ready to forget about him.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out.
“Fine. Don’t tell me,” Rebecca grumbled as she glanced back at her husband and groaned miserably, “He’s getting out the red pen.”
“Sounds like you’re going to have a fun night,” Melanie said absently, not really in the mood to torture her best friend tonight.
Rebecca shrugged. “He’s easily distracted.”
From the sounds that she heard whenever she walked past their apartment, Lucifer’s office, or the supply closet, Melanie had to agree. As she sat there, absently nibbling on another fry, she couldn’t help but wonder if Rebecca would be willing to distract Lucifer when he found out about Aidan.
“Do you think Aidan knows?” Rebecca asked, making Melanie’s stomach turn because she honestly didn’t know.
“I left before he saw me and I doubt the nurse is going to make a big deal out of a patient ditching an appointment.”
The nurse would probably just mention it to the receptionist, who would make a note of it and send her a request for a cancelation fee. They’d probably just tell Aidan that his eleven o’clock canceled and that would be the end of it.
At least, she hoped it would.
Feeling exhausted from her first real trip out in months, Melanie popped another fry in her mouth, tossed one at Rebecca, who was back to ogling her husband, and made her way to the door in the back that led to her apartment. Once she put her code in, the door unlocked with a loud click and she was making her way upstairs and praying that Mojo, the large mastiff with a slight weight problem and a love of naps that she’d adopted with Rebecca a few years ago, wasn’t waiting for her at the top of the stairs.
When she finally made it to the second floor, and she refused to think about how long it took her to walk up a flight of stairs, Melanie opened the door, made sure that there weren’t any large puddles of dog drool waiting for her, and went into her apartment.
Her sad, lonely apartment…
Sighing, Melanie tossed her bag aside, grabbed a small bottle of apple juice from the refrigerator and walked towards her bedroom, forgoing her comfortable couch and settled for the bed that she was sick of looking at. It was only for a little while longer, she reminded herself, hating that she was going to have to move soon, but what choice did she have? Renovations were set to begin on the Fire & Brimstone soon, she had a baby on the way, she could barely make it up the two flights of stairs now, and she really wasn’t sure how she was going to manage it with a baby in her arms, but most importantly, she couldn’t afford the rent by herself anymore.
Grabbing her iPad, Melanie sat on the bed, picked up where she left off with the two-gallon sized Ziploc bag of peanut butter M&Ms that she kept for nights like this, and settled in for another night of trying to find a first-floor apartment with two bedrooms, a garden tub, a gourmet kitchen, a huge backyard with a hot tub, and a landlord who was willing to rent it to her for a thousand dollars a month or less.