Free Perfect Contradiction by Peggy Martinez

made everything else seem absolutely insignificant in comparison to what I was feeling for him in that moment. I swallowed and pulled my gaze away from his.
    “Jen… you know I’m here for you, right?” he said after a moment. “I mean, if you ever need someone to talk to.” I turned away from him to spear a poor, helpless cherry tomato with my fork. “Or if you need someone to come around and left that heavy ass sofa of yours,” he added with a shrug and a chuckle. I smiled. He had helped take that sofa up to my bedroom once they had finished knocking down the wall and expanding it.
    “Hey, I like that couch,” I said, chagrined. He smiled a small, crooked smile. One of those panty-melting smiles he was so very good at.
    “Oh, I like it too,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “We made some good memories on that couch,” he murmured huskily near my ear.
    I swallowed and turned away from his lips. They were very enticing lips. We made a lot more than memories on that sofa , I thought with a small snort. I was saved from having to explain myself when the waiter began bringing out the food and serving the wine. I pushed my wineglass out of reach and asked for a refill on my ice water.
    “Don’t like the wine?” Hunter asked several minutes later.
    I took a sip of my water and shrugged. “I have a slight headache and wine tends to just make them worse,” I said, not really lying. I did have the beginning of a headache, but it was more from the strain of having to hold myself so rigid and watch everything I said and did next to Hunter, rather than anything else. Hunter was staring at me. I could feel it. I just didn’t understand why I was under his scrutiny. I mean, he had a girlfriend, I wasn’t showing enough for anyone to be suspicious, and I’d been nothing but polite to him all night. Oy vey, I did have a headache after all.
    “Huh. Beth has a migraine too. I wonder if it’s from how late you guys stayed up working last night for the grand opening,” he said.
    I glanced over at Beth, who was looking a little pale and in pain. I scrunched up my brow in concern.
    “She’s fine. Matt gave her something when you guys got here,” he said, reading my mind in the annoying way he did sometimes.
    “She didn’t tell me,” I said.
    Hunter snorted. “She’s kind of stubborn.”
    I smiled at him. Indeed she was. “Still, I hope she’s okay. Do you think she needs to go home? I don’t want her to stay just because she wants to be here for me,” I said.
    “I can tell her you’re worried about her and you command her to go home if she’s hurting,” Hunter offered. His eyes were searching mine, ripping away the barriers I’d placed there one by one.
    I cleared my throat. “If you don’t mind….” I said. My voice was husky. Damn these pregnancy hormones! Hunter’s grin should’ve been illegal.
    “Not at all, sweetheart,” he said.
    He was across the room and whispering into Beth’s ear before I could even remember that he shouldn’t be calling me sweetheart anymore. From where I sat, I saw Beth argue, then nod, then argue, then shoot daggers in my direction as I did a little finger wave back to her, and then nod in obvious defeat before Hunter came back to sit next to me once again.
    “She loves you,” he said seriously.
    I snorted. I very seriously doubted the earful he’d just gotten had anything about love included, but I appreciated the little white lie. A few minutes later, Beth and Matt excused themselves from the group and said they were headed home early because Beth needed to lie down. I hugged them both and told Beth to take it easy. She scowled, but she hugged me anyway. Since she didn’t even argue, I knew she must have really been hurting. It wasn’t until dessert was over that I realized I didn’t have a ride home.
    “Oh, Jen, I forgot you rode here with Beth,” Mrs. Wright said as we left the restaurant.
    “I’m sure we…” Pastor Wright began.
    “I’ll make sure