“Oh yeah?” Greg leaned forward. Dale’s gaze flickered toward him, but Greg didn’t dare look at his omega again. So he dragged his foot up Dale’s calf, then down. Dale relaxed slightly into his seat. “Found anything special when you visited?”
“Yes, actually. We found a rusted chunk of metal that looked like a spaceship.” Penny grinned. “It had a pointed nose and all! I wanted to bring samples back for Professor Kinney, but he said the lab doesn’t deal with metal identification.”
“We should expand into that, shouldn’t we?” Dale said, some of his false brightness seeping back into his voice. “A trip up north sounds great.”
“Really depends on the company,” Greg said. “You don’t want to be stuck in a car with someone you can’t stand.”
“Are there people you can’t stand, Greg?” Dale asked, glancing at him. He was still wary, his eyes drawn, but Greg knew Penny and his father couldn’t tell.
“It’s easier to count the people I like,” Greg said. And you’re at the top of that list. “I guess Penny and I could go on a trip.”
“It would be fun, wouldn’t it?” Penny said. “I could show you the mountains and the trails—but especially the junipers. Those are my favorite trees. What do you think, Professor? A field trip for the lab students would be great!”
Dale glanced at Bernard, then back at Penny, as though trying to gauge where he stood with his employer. “We really should! Especially if the whole lab does some prior research. I think we could all benefit from such a trip. Broaden our experiences, refresh our creativity. We’ve been having some really successful experiments in the lab recently. I’d like to see that continue.”
“How would you afford a trip like that?” Bernard asked, his eyebrows drawing down. “Surely not with your current lab funds?”
Dale quailed in his seat, his smile flattening. “I’m sure our students won’t mind paying for the trip themselves.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Penny said.
“I wouldn’t either,” Greg added. Penny smiled at him.
The waiter delivered Greg’s drink—a Sprite, and took Dale’s order. Raspberry iced tea, like before. And Greg realized they hadn’t eaten out since that very first week, back when they’d just found out Dale was pregnant. Dale’s leg twitched nervously against his. Greg eased his foot out of his shoe, then slipped his toes up Dale’s pants to try and calm him.
Dale jumped. “I—I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought. The field trip?”
Bernard frowned. Greg swore inwardly. He needed to stop focusing on Dale. Stop worrying about him. Except Dale still wasn’t okay with this dinner. He wasn’t himself at all, and every time Greg glanced at his omega, he wanted to comfort him, hold him. So Dale wouldn’t feel so alone.
“Now that I’m thinking about it, I realize that lab groups hardly go anywhere,” Penny said. “Mostly, there are conferences, but not everyone gets to go. A trip for all of us would be nice.”
“I’d go,” Greg said, swearing at himself. He needed to suck up to his dad. Take Bernard’s attention off Dale. “Probably a good chance to meet more people.”
Bernard smiled. Dale stiffened, his hand shaking a little when he picked up his water glass. He was nervous, and Greg hated seeing him uneasy. He needed to end this dinner, maybe convince his dad that this was the last time they all needed to meet.
Greg met Penny’s eyes, putting on a smile. It felt like a wince. “Do you have siblings?”
Penny hesitated, sighing. “The short answer is yes. I have two siblings.”
“So fertility runs in your family,” Bernard said, his eyes glinting.
“It’s a bit complex. My oldest brother, Wyatt—he’s an omega. But he’s actually my stepbrother. Raph and I have the same mom, but we’re unmarried. So since Wyatt’s already got a child, the pressure’s on me to get married and all that.”
“You do want children,” Bernard said.
Penny nodded. “I’d like to have a couple, maybe more. Maybe I’ll even have twins! Dad said my biological mom came from a large family.”
Dale gulped, his eyes locking on his empty plate. Greg’s heart ached. He shouldn’t have talked about siblings.
Bernard nodded. “So you are likely to be exceedingly fertile as well.”
Penny blushed, nodding.
Dale glanced at the door, his shoulders tense. Greg watched as he carefully set his glass down. “If you’ll excuse me—I’ll be in the washroom for a minute.”
Bernard frowned when Dale rose from his seat. Dale all but ran out of the room, and Greg resisted the urge to follow him. Not this soon.
“I’m vaguely concerned,” Bernard said, his eyes still on the doorway. “Kinney doesn’t seem to be feeling well.”
Penny opened her mouth, but Greg beat her to it. “I’ll go check on him.”
He slipped his shoe back on and left the room, his father’s eyes burning into his back. But Greg didn’t care about that. He cared about his omega, and maybe they shouldn’t have come to this dinner at all.
23
Dale
Dale sucked in a shaky breath, barreling past the black-and-white photos in the blue-lit hallway. The waiters of The Apex had been friendly, pointing him down the corridor to the washrooms. He pushed through the first door he saw, stepping into pine-scented air.
Before the dinner, he’d thought himself prepared for conversations about babies. It would have happened during the introductory dinner, and Dale would have smiled and ignored the things Bernard said about fertility and families. Dale would have said Greg was better suited to a younger omega, one who could easily bear children when both of them were ready.
He hadn’t expected to talk to Penny, who would face no problems with getting pregnant. He hadn’t expected Greg to look at her with interest, even when Greg had said this was all pretend.
In
