Chapter Thirty-Six
"Is that what you're eating?" his icy tone drew her attention.
Isabella looked up from her plate and saw her boyfriend's disgusted expression, which took her by surprise. He'd never really commented on what she ate before, as she usually ate relatively healthy. Tonight's chips with steak and salad was along those lines and only the chips could be considered a poor choice. "Yes…" she said hesitantly. "Is somethin' wrong?" she asked warily. Ever since he'd last gone round to Aaron's last week, he had been different, on edge, and while he hadn't lashed out at her so far, it felt like he might blow at any minute.
"No, nothing," David responded nonchalantly. "Guess at least soon I won't need to worry about other guys hitting on you," he added, like a barb that struck her from nowhere before he headed out of the house. He wasn't sure where he was going but he didn't really want to be inside where Tatum could come home any minute.
His girlfriend sat frozen as she watched him leave, not sure what to do now. She slowly got up and headed over to the mirror in the hallway, taking in her figure. She'd always been curvy, but healthy, and she'd blamed that on her Colombian roots. As far as she was aware, David had always liked her curves as well, so his comment made no sense. But it was the only logical conclusion that he was telling her she was putting on weight. Isabella pulled her shirt in a little tighter to see her figure underneath it as she mulled it over. Maybe, without realising, she'd started joining Tatum in eating more. Maybe he was right. The longer she looked, the more repulsive her once proud curves became. "Ugh I'm disgusting," she muttered to herself and resolutely walked back into the kitchen. She finished her steak to get the protein and iron in her and picked at the salad, but as soon as she'd finished that she walked over to the bin to throw the chips away.
"Oh hey, don't throw them, I'll have 'em," her sister's voice interrupted her, and the brunette could just straighten the plate on time before the chips tumbled into the bin. "Not hungry?" Tatum asked as she took the plate from her now and started munching away.
"No, I must've had a bigger lunch than I thought," Isabella fibbed as she held her hand against her stomach, indicating she felt bloated and full, even as she felt it grumble. "Where've you been?" she asked curiously now, wanting to get the attention away from herself.
"Me? Nowhere. I mean, just a walk," the redhead reacted a little nervously, as if she'd been caught. In truth, she had started to go for a walk by herself. About halfway into town she'd bumped into Sean and he'd invited her to go for ice cream. Technically, she wasn't supposed to have soft ice cream while she was pregnant, so as long as she stayed away from the soft ice cream machine and milkshakes, she should be okay. She tried to refuse initially, but as soon as he'd mentioned the word ice cream, it had been all she could think about. So, of course, she had to go with him to have some. "Do you wanna join me for a film?" Tatum asked her sister, trying not to think about her afternoon with Sean.
"Sure," the brunette nodded and together they trooped into the living room to settle on the sofa together. As they watched Ryan Reynolds being subjected to Sandra Bullock's high-maintenance leadership, Tatum's thoughts couldn't help going back to thinking about Sean. He'd ordered first, a chocolate milkshake and a sundae, and the thought of a chocolate milkshake had almost made her drool. "Why don't you get one too?" he asked, fighting back a chuckle as her mouth almost visibly watered. "Oh, no, I can't," she'd said wistfully without thinking, freezing when he looked at her confused. "Why not?" "Oh eh… there's a chance I might have a mild allergy to peanuts and soft serve ice cream machines can't guarantee there's no cross contamination," she quickly fibbed. It wasn't a total lie, the cleanliness of the machines was precisely why pregnant women weren't allowed to have soft serve ice cream, but she did feel bad for lying. "Okay, so no milkshake. What would you like?" Sean asked. She leaned forward, almost pressing her nose to the glass as she checked the flavours available. One hand held her hair from her face as the other rested on her belly, almost as if she was trying to gauge what the baby might like. She hadn't realised he was watching her, intrigued. "Can I have chocolate, chocolate fudge brownie and mango?" she asked, looking up and seeing his amused look. "What?" she asked tentatively. "Nothing," he assured her and put her order in. "No, what?" Tatum tried to get him to tell her as they sat down in one of the booths with his milkshake, waiting for the rest of their order. "Nothing," Sean said again. "I like a girl with a good appetite," he chuckled, and she nervously joined in, hoping that sentiment didn't change as she moved further in her pregnancy.
"Have you been avoidin' me?" her spirited nasal voice was the first thing that met Austin as he got out of his truck. He tried not to sigh or make it obvious that he was not in the mood to have this conversation with his 'girlfriend' right now.
"Of course not, don't be silly," the Sheriff said, trying not to sound bored of this conversation already.
"Oh really? Then why haven't I seen you all week?" Vivian demanded as she stood in front of him with her arms crossed in front of her chest, well aware that doing so provided her breasts with a little boost.
"I've been workin'," Austin rolled his eyes. He knew that she didn't need to work but surely, she was familiar with the concept.
"Yeah, but you have time off, right?" the skinny brunette said, sounding genuinely confused. She was not impressed with his behaviour so far; first he went into Bellum and refused to avoid it in future, and now he wasn't spending any of his free time with her. "You get the concept of havin' a girlfriend, don't you?" she asked when he didn't say anything; he'd been using his free time to hang out with Aaron and Sean, and keeping an eye on David and Isabella. He was pretty sure she wouldn't take kindly to the last bit.
"Of course, I do," he said impatiently, crossing his arms as well.
"Well then, act like you do!" Vivian told him, shoving him against the arm.
"Viv," Austin said strictly, using his Sheriff's voice. He didn't want to use that voice with her, but his abhorrence of physical violence worked both ways; it wasn't any more okay for a woman to hit or touch a man than it was for a man to do so to a woman. The change in her look and demeanour at hearing his tone confused him. She found his Sheriff's voice, his muscles and him standing up to her incredibly sexy. Her chest heaved in excitement as she reached up to pull him in and kiss him. "Viv, what are you doin'?" he asked, as he grabbed her arms to pull her away from him.
"It turns me on when you act tough," she told him, kissing him again.
"But we were fightin'," he said confused, still trying to get her to stop.
"If it means that much to you, we can continue that later," Vivian said to appease him, grabbing him by the neck as she reached up to kiss him again. His hands went to her hips to push her away again, but it had the opposite effect as she kissed him harder. "Come on baby, you know you want to," she whispered as she pushed her body against his, teasingly bringing her lips closer to his. His blue eyes frustratingly glared at her before he bridged the gap to kiss her back.
"When did they become an item again?" Aaron asked his brother, when they happened to leave the house just then.
"A few weeks ago," Sean said with a shrug.
"Huh," the older sibling responded confused. "Well, good I guess," he shrugged as well. "Say, how 'bout you? You seein' anyone?" Aaron asked, realising he hadn't seen his brother with anyone in a while.
"Eh no, not me," he shrugged nonchalantly, trying not to let his thoughts stray to the redheaded Tennant he'd had ice cream with two days ago.
"Why not? You're a good-lookin' cowboy, and a Miller," he said, giving him a jovial nudge with his elbow as they headed towards his truck now. They had been planning on going to go see Austin, but, seeing as he was too busy kissing their cousin in ways they didn't want to watch, they figured they'd might as well still go into town.
"Yeah, I dunno. Anyways, I'm good for now," Sean assured him, not wanting him to even think about trying to set him up with anyone. "Wanna go see a movie?" he asked, trying not to look round at their friend and cousin.
"Sure," his brother nodded as he pulled out of the driveway.