Chapter 6

Noah parked the rental truck along the curb on Pritchard Street. Rachel opened her door and they surveyed her apartment. "How long have you lived here?" he asked.

"Eight years -- same as how long I've been at Hubbard's."

"We need to figure out what we put into storage and what we give to Goodwill." He looked into her bedroom. "The bed and dresser can go to storage. We might want to convert the den into a guestroom sometime."

"What would you use as an office?"

"I don't need an office -- just somewhere to file paperwork and a place to set up my laptop. It would be a good excuse to purge some stuff." He surveyed her living room. "The sofa can go to storage."

"It can go to Goodwill," she replied. "It's terribly worn and a spring is sprung in one section."

"Okay, sofa to Goodwill." He regarded the table in the bay window. "I think we can use that at the condominium."

"Fine with me," she said.

"So we need to do triage -- identify what is Goodwill, what is storage and what goes home. I want to put the stuff for home at the back of the truck, for storage in the middle and Goodwill at the end."

"Okay..."

"What about the bookshelves?"

"They're built in," she said. "This apartment used to be the library."

"How convenient for a voracious reader."

Noah picked up a chair from the bow window and carried it to the truck. Rachel followed with another chair.

"So long as we have the truck," she said, "maybe I should clean out my closet."

"How much do you have in there?" She opened the door. "More books. You have books everywhere. We're renting the truck by the hour. I want to concentrate on items that need the truck." He picked up one side of the table. "Give me a hand with this."

They eased it down to the street and Noah hoisted it into the truck. "I'm getting hot," he said and removed his tee shirt.

Together they lugged the mattress, bed frame, dresser and mirror from her bedroom and loaded them into the truck. Then they brought down the items to be given away -- the sofa and an upholstered chair.

Noah surveyed the apartment again. Rachel approached him and they embraced. She ran her hand along his bare chest. "I like seeing you shirtless," she said.

"So do I like seeing you shirtless. I thought men were the visual ones."

"I see you and it makes me want to touch you." She stroked his chest again. "I love this little patch of chest hair," she said and ran her fingers through it.

Noah kissed the top of her head. "That's all the furniture," he said. "We've already emptied your kitchen cabinets. About all that's left to do is to sort through the books and determine which are keepers and which are tossers."

"I hadn't realized I had amassed so many."

"When you said voracious reader, you meant it."

"I guess I'm like a crazy cat lady, except with books instead of cats."

"At least books don't shit on the floor and pee on the furniture. Let's lock up and get the truck unloaded so I can return it to Home Depot."

"I want to stop at the grocery store after we drop off the truck," she said. "I want to make a special dinner tonight."

"What are we celebrating?"

"It's been one month since we started dating."

"And, one month since we consummated our love. This is a special occasion."

Noah pulled into his condominium complex. He drove past an open lot and saw Rachel's ten-year-old Ford Escort parked there. He pulled into his assigned, covered carport. He and Rachel stepped out and Noah retrieved a sack of groceries from the trunk. They walked together to his unit.

Rachel began preparing ingredients. "What are you preparing for our celebratory dinner?" he asked.

"It's a surprise. No fair peeking."

"I have something to help us celebrate." He held up a paper sack and removed a half-bottle of Champagne. "I've been saving this for a special occasion and this qualifies as special."

"Noah -- I can't have that."

"Nonsense. One short glass of Champagne during your pregnancy isn't going to hurt anyone."

"I suppose not."

"It's only a half bottle. Shall I put it on ice?"

"Go ahead."

Noah dumped ice into a bucket, stuffed in the bottle and topped it with water from the tap. Rachel returned to the stove. Noah put his arms around her ribcage and nuzzled the base of her neck. "You're doing that so you can see what I'm making," she said.

"Not at all." He turned her around, embraced her and kissed her lips.

"Well -- it's done." Rachel began plating their dinner. Noah popped the cork on the champagne bottle and poured two glasses. He gave Rachel one that was three-quarters full.

She set plates on the table. "Shrimp scampi with rice and asparagus," he remarked.

"It's one of your favorites, isn't it?"

"Yes, one of my favorites. "Does asparagus make your pee smell funny?"

"It makes everyone's pee smell funny," she replied.

Noah lifted his glass. "To us," he said and sipped.

"To us," she replied and sipped hers. "Very nice. Noah -- what is your absolute favorite meal?"

"My absolute favorite." He gazed at the ceiling. "It would be my mother's London broil. She makes a special marinade."

"Do you have her recipe?"

"Are you kidding? Mom shares that recipe with no one. She'll take it to the grave with her." He sipped more Champagne. "I'm delighted you decided to move up our decision point about moving in. Remember -- we planned on deciding the end of August. We still have a third of August left."

"I remember."

"Now that we've emptied your apartment of furniture, moving out becomes more difficult."

"I am aware of that," she replied.

"What changed your mind?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"I do."

"It's the sex."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. I feel so good after making love with you, Noah -- it's like a drug, a narcotic. I wasn't getting enough when we were seeing each other only on weekends. Now I can have it whenever I need it"

"So long as you behave yourself -- I'm more than happy to accommodate you."

Rachel pressed her hand against her abdomen. "Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Is he moving?"

"Oh, yes. He's been really busy today."

"What's it feel like?"

"Like something's moving in your belly ... I dunno -- like a fish flapping around. He's too little to give me a real kick."

Noah walked hand-in-hand with Rachel as the strolled around the condominium complex. "Excellent dinner."

"The Champagne was a good idea," she said. "You're right -- I barely feel it. I'm sure it won't do any harm."

"What are your hours tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'm dreading tomorrow -- I have to close. I work noon to nine. I'll have to take a dinner break, Noah. There's no way I can hold out 'til after nine."

"All right -- so I'll have one of the frozen entrees you despise so."

"It's okay once in a while," she replied, "like in a situation such as this." They walked further. "I went to the clinic today."

"And?"

"They took an ultrasound."

"And?"

"Everything's normal ... but..."

"But what?"

"They've extended my due date. Now they say I'm due the end of the first week of January."

"On what basis?"

"They thought he looked a bit underdeveloped on the ultrasound based on week nineteen but normal for week seventeen. They asked me to confirm the date of the last day of my last period and I realized I had given them the date of the first day of my last one. I have long periods, Noah. Actually, pregnancy has given me a break from that routine."

"One advantage, I guess. January -- that would suck. If he's born in January, you're cheated out of a whole year of claiming him as a deduction."

"But, only if I kept him."

"Yeah -- only if we kept him. Did they confirm he's a he?"

"I told them I don't want to know. I told them I didn't want to see the images and asked them not to make hardcopies for me to bring home."

"You're still trying not to bond with him."

"I can't, Noah. It would make everything more difficult.

They approached the front door of Noah's unit. He unlocked it and they stepped inside. "I have some bills to pay," he said.

"Not a problem." She held up a paperback of a fantasy novel. "I found this at my old place. I haven't read it yet. Maybe I'll curl up with it. Have you written any more stories?"

"No, I haven't. I've been rather ... distracted."

"Blame it on me. Just like a man." She curled up on his sofa and opened the book.

"Do you want some music on?" he asked.

"Sure."

He picked a CD and put it in the player.

Noah sat at his desk in his den, crunched numbers and wrote checks. He leaned back in his chair and stretched.

Then he went into the kitchen and dumped some pita chips into a bowl. He grabbed a tub of cheese dip and carried them into his living room.

Rachel looked up. "How thoughtful," she said and scooped some dip with a chip.

"How's the book?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It's okay. Some of your writing is better."

"Oh, you just gave my ego a stroke. Are you about ready to go upstairs?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

Holding hands they ascended the stairs to the bedroom they now shared. Noah slipped from his clothes and folded them on a chair. Rachel stepped into the bathroom and emerged a short time later, nude and holding her shorts and tee. She placed them in a laundry hamper, removed her glasses and set them on the nightstand. The she turned sideways to him and ran her hand along her belly. "I'm getting bigger by the day."

He folded back the covers. Rachel slid between the sheets and Noah joined her. "Tell me," he asked, "when you were by yourself -- did you sleep in the nude?"