Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“When you put it that way,” Cole said, “it’s tough to argue with you.” He paused. “But what if it went the other way?”
“You mean, what if she gets pregnant?”
“Sure, let’s say she does. You’d still let her leave?”
Suddenly an anvil was on my chest. “I’d have to, if she wanted to go. It’s what I agreed to. And why would I want to be with someone who didn’t want to be with me?”
“But what if—”
“Okay, stop.” I picked up my beer and held up the other hand, palm toward him. “You’re making this complicated when it isn’t. There’s no sense in asking what if questions. If she doesn’t get pregnant, we shake hands and get a divorce in two months. If she does, we shake hands and get a divorce in a year. That was the deal. It’s the only way we don’t end up hating each other.”
The back door to their kitchen opened, and Mariah came in, Cheyenne right behind her, carrying a couple grocery bags.
“Hi, Daddy,” Mariah said, taking off her shoes before rushing over to give him a hug. “Guess what? We’re making pancakes for dinner!”
Cole laughed and hugged her back. “My favorite.”
“Hi, Uncle Enzo.” Mariah smiled at me.
“Hey, squirt.” I returned the smile, noting that she looked even more grown up than she had the last time I’d seen her. Kids changed so fast. “You’re getting so tall. Pretty soon I won’t even be able to call you squirt.”
She grinned even wider. “Good!”
“Hey, Enzo,” Cheyenne said, setting the grocery bags on the counter before giving Cole a quick kiss. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Much as I love pancakes, I can’t, but thanks for asking. I’m bringing home dinner tonight.”
“Such a good husband,” she said, winking at me. “Who’d have guessed?”
I finished off my beer. “Alright, I’m out of here, before the abuse gets any worse. Bye, guys.”
On the drive home, I thought again about how quickly Mariah was growing up—it seemed like only yesterday I’d gone over to the hospital to see her for the first time, and to both console and congratulate Cole, who’d lost his wife but welcomed a child in the span of only twenty-four hours.
He’d raised Mariah as a single dad for nine years, and he’d done such a good job. She was healthy and happy, outgoing and talkative, smart as a whip and sweet as cotton candy. Would I be as good a dad as Cole was? What would it be like to watch a child grow up right in front of me? Listen to him laugh for the first time, watch her take her first steps, feel a tiny hand in mine, hear a little voice calling me Daddy?
Suddenly I was choked up.
I’d always imagined doing rough-and-tumble things with my kids, but now I was picturing softer, sweeter things too—feeding a baby a bottle, putting a Band-Aid on a cut, reading a bedtime story.
And I realized how badly I wanted it all.
That night, I broke down and pestered Bianca again, kneading her hip with my hand. “Come on, it’s so close. Can’t we try?”
“No,” she insisted. “It’s not time. One more night.”
“Is it me,” I asked irritably, “or are these last couple days somehow way longer than twenty-four hours apiece?”
“They’re not.”
“Maybe we should at least rehearse tonight.” I rolled up close to her. Kissed her shoulder. “You know, make sure we remember how to do it.”
She shook her head. “Nope. We have to time this perfectly. According to my predictor kit and the doctor’s instructions, tomorrow is best, so we’re waiting until tomorrow.”
“But we can do it tomorrow too.” I slipped my hand beneath her pajama top.
“No way.” She removed my hand. “We can only do it every other day. Too much sex can decrease the number of gold medal swimmers.”
I gave her a dirty look, and she gave it right back, her eyes steely behind her glasses. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll wait.”
“Thank you.”
“But it won’t be easy. You’ve got this very angry librarian thing happening right now. It’s turning me on.”
That made her laugh. She pushed her glasses up her nose and nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”
My secret seduction plans for Wednesday night nearly got derailed when my father fell off a ladder on a job site that afternoon and had to be rushed to the emergency room. As soon as I got the call, I raced over to the hospital, dialing Bianca on the way.
“I’ll be right there,” she said.
“You don’t have to come,” I told her. “They said he only lost consciousness briefly and just needs an X-ray. I’m sure he’s fine, and it’s in the middle of your workday. Don’t you have meetings this afternoon?”
“I’m canceling,” she said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She hung up on me before I could argue further.