Yeah. Those two are still going strong. Crazy shit, seeing my boy all domesticated, with a picnic basket hanging on his arm.
“Hey y’all. The girls are over there skating.” I point them out. “Nya’s finishing up at the Houseman’s.”
“Oh, boo.” Hannah pouts. “I was hoping she was around somewhere.”
“Sorry, just me.” Girls crack me up. You could swear the two of them didn’t just have lunch together yesterday. They never seem to tire of one another.
“S’up, man?” Chance nods his head my way while spreading a blanket across the grass. “Looks like we’re joining ya.”
“You talk to Ramey yet?” Probably not the topic he planned to discuss on his date with his girl. But I’ve been meaning to call and ask him. With Nya always around, I just never found the right time.
My buddy’s hand scrubs over his face, his eyes communicating something with Hannah I can’t quite decipher.
“I’ll give you two a few minutes to catch up. Gonna go say hey to the girls.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“Whoa.” My head jerks back.
Chance curls his lip. “What?”
“Babe? You two are getting pretty serious.”
“Don’t be that guy.”
I laugh. “What guy? The one you’ve been to me for the past…ever?”
He nods. “Yeah. No one likes him.”
“Fact.”
He opens the basket, retrieving a bag of beef jerky, and tosses a piece to the dog before gnawing on a chunk himself. “So, yeah… about Ramey…”
“I’m listening.”
He sighs. “I had him come in early the other day and straight-up asked him if he was in any kind of trouble, and he said he was fine. Seemed sort of insulted that I’d even asked.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“Right. Well, I have noticed a few cops hanging out in front of the club recently. It could just be coincidence, but I don’t know…it has me on edge.”
“I’m sure you’re just paranoid after what that chick told you.” I’m trying to make him feel at ease, all the while my own stomach is falling out. This whole situation reeks of shit.
He nods.
“Just make sure everything with the club is on the up and up. If we end up having to let him go, we shouldn’t have any issue replacing him.”
The conversation drops when Hannah returns with the girls, clomping through the grass in their heavy skates with strawberry ice cream cones dripping in their hands.
I shake my head. “Way to spoil their lunch.”
Hannah lifts a shoulder. “That’s what aunties are for.”
We’re eating lunch, the girls filling us in on the latest fifth grade gossip, when I feel a pair of cold hands cover my eyes. “Guess who?”
“Done already?” There’s no mistaking my wife’s voice, even when she tries to mask it.
Nya curls up beside me on the grass. “Yep. The girls loved their new room. It came out better than I even envisioned.”
“Awesome. So proud of you.” I kiss the top of her head then start plucking dried paint from her hair. “How’d you know where to find us?”
Hannah purses her lips and raises her cell into the air, waving it side to side. “I might’ve had a little something to do with that.”
We sit around shooting the shit and end up starting a list of baby names, each adding one name to the girls’ side and one to the boys’.
“If it’s a girl, I want to name her Roxanna, and if it’s a boy Xavier,” Ellie beams.
“Oh, those are good.” The little redhead beside her is the only one who seems to think so. “I want Apple for a girl and Pilot for a boy.”
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse.
“Did you research the strangest celebrity baby names to find those, Ken?” Nya can’t even keep a straight face as she adds them to the list.
“There’s nothing wrong with being different.”
“Can I just put two on the boy’s list?” I ask, earning myself a glare. “Fine, I want Lyla Rose for a girl and Elliot Jude for a boy.”
“I’ll go with Harry and Meghan.” Of course, she went there. Hannah is obsessed with the royal family, especially those two.
Nya’s eyes roll as she scrawls the names on the list. “What about you, Chance?”
“Well, shit. I’ve never given much thought to naming a baby.” He’s thinking so hard it looks like his head will explode.
“Come back to him at the end,” I insist, curious to see where my wife’s head is. “What are your names?”
“Well, if it’s a girl, I like the name Lily, and for a boy I like Channing.”
“Channing? Are you fucking serious?” I can’t stop myself from laughing. “After the actor guy?”
She shrugs. “Not after him… I just really like the name.”
“Chance…bro. You better add some good names to this list or we’re doomed.”
“I gotchu.” He nods sending the girls a wink. “For a girl we’re going with Gertrude—Gertie for short—and for a boy we’re gonna take Richard and nickname him Dick. Final answer.”
Nya
Stood up
I woke up this morning floating on a cloud. Even though I’m lugging around an extra ten pounds, I feel light as air. Today is the day we learn the gender of our baby. I know Liam is really hoping for a boy, but I just have this gut feeling it’s going to be a girl. Call it mother’s intuition. Or it’s possible my defiant ass just wants to be right and for Liam to be wrong. Because I don’t win often, and dammit… it feels good when I do. Whatever the reason, I’m team pink all the way.
With a groan I wrestle into my favorite pair of dark gray skinny jeans that I can no longer fasten. I take a hair tie and pass it around the button and loop it through the hole to secure them. I’m still putting off shopping for maternity clothes, although I don’t know how much longer I can make my wardrobe work. I’ll be walking around in Liam’s slut pants and white tees before long.
I glide a hand over the shirts hanging in my closet, stopping when I reach the pink section. This’ll do just fine. I yank a rose-colored cashmere sweater off the hanger. It’s giving me all the baby girl vibes.
After applying a light layer of makeup, I braid my long locks to the side, draping it to the front of my shoulder the way Liam likes. Then I glance down at my phone and check the time, 1:30 p.m.
He should be home from his errand by now. My appointment is in an hour. I hate to be a nagging wife, but I despise being late even more, so I pluck my cell off the counter and shoot him a quick message.
Nya: Are you almost home?
Ten minutes pass and he doesn’t answer. I try to busy myself reorganizing my bathroom cabinet. Then, I head downstairs and put a load of laundry in the washer and sweep the kitchen floor. Another fifteen minutes zoom by without a response, and my pulse soars.
Nya: Earth to Liam? Where are you? If you’re not home in ten minutes just meet me there. I don’t want to be late.