Everything Unexpected (24 page)

“It shouldn’t be. I told you I was coming into the city today to make arrangements for Leah’s baby shower. I thought we could go over some of the details.”

I hear Bryan cough, trying to cover up his laugh. “I think that’s a great idea,” he says, smiling at me. “Why don’t I leave and let you two discuss it. I’d hate to be in the way.”

I watch Bryan kiss my mother on the cheek before heading to the door, but not before turning back around. “Shane, if you need me, I’ll be at the bar watching the game.” He winks.

I flip him the finger when my mother isn’t watching.

Once he leaves, my mother walks around the living room, scanning the area slowly.

“As much as I appreciate what you’re doing for Leah, I’m not sure how I can help,” I say, taking a seat at the kitchen counter. I continue to watch as she peeks down the hall, past mine and Bryan’s rooms then back to the living room, her eyes now thin slits. “Okay, Mom. What’s going on?”

She turns in her spot, her eyes locking on mine. “I’m just a little surprised to still see all of Bryan’s belongings here,” she says.

I furrow my brows, confused. “Why? He lives here.”

“Yes, I see that. I thought he’d be moved out by now.”

“Moved out?” I ask, confused.

She looks at me dumbfounded. “Yes, Shane, moved out. You’re about to be a father. Where do you plan to have my grandbaby sleep?”

I open my mouth, ready to put her at ease, only to realize I have no clue. This isn’t something Leah and I have discussed quite yet, which now, seems crazy to me. How could we not have talked about this yet? Where
is
the baby going to sleep? Where is
Leah
going to sleep? Is the plan to go back and forth between our two places? That seems like a lot of work.

“Shane, what on earth have you and Leah been doing all this time?”

Flashes of us having sex on the couch, watching movies bundled under covers in bed, ordering takeout cross my mind. Other than Leah and me spending time living in our new relationship, we haven’t really done much of anything else.

“I have a crib being delivered here in a few weeks because I assumed you and Leah had made a plan. Quite obviously, I was mistaken. Do you have any idea how much stuff a baby needs? It’s not just diapers and bottles,” she presses on. “Honey, your whole life is about to change, and you aren’t doing anything to prepare for it.”

The concern in her voice builds panic in mine.

“I—” I look around the loft at all the basics two adult males need to live comfortably. One couch, one chair, one large flat screen TV. The fridge that currently only has left over Chinese food and beer in it. Nothing about this place says,
Welcome Home, Baby
. I wonder if Leah has thought about any of this. Does she have a plan I’m unaware of? How ready and prepared is
she
for this baby’s arrival? My mother witnesses all these questions running through my mind and she shakes her head in pity.

“You’re right,” I say, nodding. “She and I need to start figuring this stuff out.”

My mother walks over to me and rests one hand over my cheek. It’s such a gentle, reassuring gesture. One only a mother can give. “Yes, you do.”

She removes her hand and sits on one of the bar stools next to me. “Have you given any thought about what your father said? About going to work for him?”

I drop my head, shaking it. “I thought you were on my side,” I say, hearing accusation in my voice.

She tilts her head to the side, letting me know she doesn’t appreciate my tone. “Shane, I have been and always will be on your side. So is your father, whether you believe it or not. He told me what he offered you and how you…reacted.”

“And I still stand firm,” I tell her.

She moves on without stopping. “He also mentioned how he warned you that you wouldn’t want to be away as much as you already are. As much as your job requires. How once that baby comes, nothing will matter to you more than being by his or her side.” She takes a moment and lets her eyes graze over me. “You and your father are so much alike.”

I snort.

“It’s true, Shane. And you’ll see it too after this baby comes. I remember the first few weeks after having you. Before that, I didn’t think anything could keep him away from the office but I almost had to push him out the door to get him to go. He didn’t want to leave your side. He was certain he would miss some of your firsts. You could barely do anything but cry and sleep and he was already worried about missing first steps. I told him over and over the only thing he’d be missing was nap time and changing diapers.” A small smile tugs at her lips. “Even then I still had to push him out the door.”

A longing to see my father creeps up on me. I haven’t felt that way since I was a child.

“You just wait, Shane,” she says, promising. “One day you’ll understand where your father is coming from.”

I say nothing, my mother giving me too much to process and think about. She stands and grabs her purse, handing me one of the invitations she had made for Leah’s shower. Neutral colors with a short cute poem about our baby’s arrival neatly embossed on thick card stock.

“Now, I expect you to show up at the end of the shower. You’ll need to say hello and thank everyone for coming,” she says as she walks to the door. “And don’t forget to bring Leah a bouquet of flowers,” she adds.

“I need to bring flowers too?” I ask, standing.

My mother turns, her hand holding the door open. “Darling, she’s having your baby. Of course you need to bring flowers.” She looks around the loft once more before pointing a finger at me and my apartment. “Figure this out, Shane,” she says before blowing me a kiss and leaving.

Once alone, I sit back on the stool and take another look around. One thing that’s obvious is Leah and I need to come up with a plan. An idea of what we want our future to look like—outside the bedroom.

I spend the rest of the evening making a list of topics we need to discuss. Where is the baby going to sleep? Should we move in together? What kind of a maternity leave is she planning on taking? What does she think of the name Maximus, named after Gladiator? I write all these down so I don’t forget any of them. I feel better having something prepared, something tangible in my hands.

Later that night, when Leah rushes through the front door, I’m ready to start discussing some of the questions from my list. But she ignores the piece of paper, taking it from my hands and tossing it on the counter.

“Whatever that is, it can wait,” she says.

“But—” I start, knowing what we have to discuss is important.

“Shhh!” she quips, standing right in front of me. She takes my hand and presses it to the side of her stomach and holds it there for a few seconds.

“What are you—” I start, but she shushes me again.

“Just wait,” she answers, quietly.

Then after a few seconds, I feel it. The reason she came barreling in here, the reason why she threw my list to the side. It’s light, like a flick of a finger under a protective layer. It’s almost nonexistent, but so very real. A kick. A soft kick followed by another, then another.

“Whoa,” I say awestruck. “Did you feel that?”

She laughs at my obviously stupid question. “Yeah, I feel them all.”

“You’ve felt them before?” I ask, placing my other hand on her stomach, covering half of it.

“I felt something before, but I just thought it was indigestion.” She laughs. “But these…these are strong. These are definite.”

“He
is
strong,” I say, still in awe.

“He?”

I nod. “I’ve got a feeling. It’s a boy.”

She shakes her head and laughs. “I think you’re wrong.”

A girl? She thinks it’s a girl?

No, it’s not. It’s a boy. I know it.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be a boy’s club around here,” I say, feeling another kick. “See, he agrees.”

“Or
she’s
letting you know you’re in for a surprise.”

“We’ll see,” I say, grinning.

The rest of the night centers on these little taps, waiting for the next to come. Nothing else matters. Especially not some list I made hours ago.

I OPEN THE car door, offering my hand to help Leah climb up into the Jeep. She ignores it, too angry and disappointed to accept my help. I close the door behind her and take a deep breath before walking around the car over to my side. I give her another glance but am still greeted with silence. She hasn’t uttered a word to me since leaving the doctor’s office.

The day didn’t start this way. The morning was full of excitement and her smiling face. We were about to go to another prenatal check-up—one I could attend this time. One where we planned to find out the sex…together. Leah was so excited she didn’t complain once about her full bladder, nor did she mumble a negative word when the doctor was more than a half hour late. She didn’t even flinch when the nurse told her current weight. Everything was going just as planned. In the examination room, the doctor measured her stomach, measured some other stuff while I looked away and took her blood pressure. Then she told us we could be on our way.

“Wait,” Leah said, sitting up from the examination table. “My ultrasound.”

“There’s no cause for concern so there’s no need,” Dr. Sigh answered, not looking up from her chart.

“But,” Leah began again, staring at the blank screen of the ultrasound machine. “I drank a liter of water.” The irritation was clear in her tone. “I’ve had to pee for over an hour!”

She looked to me for help, her eyes begging me to do something.

“Leah and I were hoping to find out the sex today,” I explained.

The doctor gave Leah a confused smile and flipped through Leah’s file.

“It says here you wished for the gender not to be known.” Her eyes darting from Leah then back to me.

“That was before,” Leah stated harshly. “We’d like to know now.”

Leah was not asking. She was telling the doctor that we came here fully intending on finding out if baby was a boy or girl.

“I’m sorry, Leah,” the doctor said. “But unless we see a medical need for an ultrasound, we don’t like to administer them more than we need to.”

Leah face fell quickly, disappointment overtaking any other feature. I never thought someone’s disappointment could hit me so hard.

“Is it written in the file somewhere? From the last ultrasound?” I tried asking, Leah’s expression turning hopeful.

I wanted so badly to be her hero right then and there
.

But my hopes were squashed when the doctor shook her head. “I’m sorry. But when Leah asked not to be told, it wasn’t written down.”

Leah’s eyes bore into the side of my face. I could almost hear the thoughts going through her pretty little angry head.

This is your fault. Why weren’t you here the last time?

Accusations flew my way even though she never said a word.

“Please,” I tried once more. “I’ll pay out of pocket right now. She—we just really would like to know.”

Dr. Sigh looked over at Leah once before finally agreeing. She turned off the lights, instructed Leah to get undressed and we were underway. A head, two arms, two legs all clearly visible this time.

“Looks like he’s got all his limbs. That’s good.” I smiled down at Leah.

She laughed. “Inform him it’s a girl.”

Dr. Sigh moved the cursor around a little bit more, clearly trying to find the answer. And then we got it. Only it wasn’t what we were expecting.

“Baby’s hiding,” she said, sadly.

Those two words are what brought me to the situation I’m in now. Leah upset and angry at me once more.

I start the engine and pull out of the parking lot. This was supposed to be a day of celebration. The reveal followed by Eddy and Holly’s bachelor/bachelorette parties. Only now, we have no reveal and I, apparently, am to blame for it. I went from looking forward to tonight, to it being the last thing I want to do. Leah isn’t much in the party mood either.

“Look at it this way,” I start, “we don’t get many big surprises in life. Maybe this is a good thing,” I argue. When she doesn’t answer, I continue on, trying to shed some positivity. “I’m actually glad this happened. Now there’s extra incentive for us to push!”