Page 196 of Redeeming 6

“I’m not due until September,” she hurried to add. “We can both finish school before we even have to think about anything else. We only have two months left, Joe. Two months and we’re finished with BCS.”

“September?” Jesus Christ. “You’re due in September.”

She nodded. “The twentieth.”

“Right after your birthday?”

She nodded.

I blew out a breath. “How many weeks does that make you now?”

“Um, fourteen weeks and two days, I think?”

“Jesus, you’re already in the second trimester, Aoife.”

“I know,” she squeezed out. “I’m terrified.”

“Don’t be,” I tried to soothe, while I mentally went into panic mode as I struggled to wrap my brain around the constant stream of life-changing information that just seemed to keep coming at me.

“If you’re due late September, and it’s April next week, then we have five and a half months to get a handle on this.”

“A handle?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Save up some cash, Molloy.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not quitting school.”

“Listen, there’s no point in wasting two months in a classroom, working for something both of us know I will never need. Not when I could be actually working for the money that we are definitely going to need,” I tried to reason. “Come on, Molloy, think about this. You know I’m right.”

“I have thought about it,” she argued back. “I’ve done little else these past few weeks, and it’s not happening, Joe. We started BCS together and we’re going to see it out together.”

“You still can,” I shot back. “I want that for you. All I’m trying to do is get a head start on this, Molloy. We’re going to need a lot of stuff, and it all costs money. Money neither of us has. The baby’s going to need a cot, and clothes, and nappies, and formula. There’s a long list of shit we’re going to need, and I can’t provide that on a part-time wage from the garage.”

“You already work yourself to the bone.”

“It’s not enough.”

“Mam said I can stay at home,” she offered, like it was something I wanted to hear. “We don’t have to worry about where to go when the baby’s born.”

I balked. “I’m not living apart from you and my baby.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re not?”

“Fuck no.” I shook my head. “I’ll get us a flat, Aoife.”

“Joe, if it’s at the expense of your education, then I don’t want it.”

“You just need to let me worry about the money side of things,” I argued. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“Are we together, Joe?”

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously.”

“Are we going to do this together?”

I gave her a hard look. “Where are you going with this?”

“Are we a team or not?” she demanded.

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