Page 29 of Together

Ashley:Weird like getting pregnant by someone I barely know?

Me:Exactly like that.

Me:My sister’s excited. She wants to meet you. She’ll be a little crazy and I apologize in advance for that. She’s protective and pregnant so she’s also hormonal.

Ashley:Are you saying I’ll be hormonal?

Me:It’s a guarantee.

Ashley:Not gonna even try using the kid gloves on me, huh? Just telling me like it is straight from the start.

Me:You’ll learn I’m not a liar, Ashley. Even if it’s over something to make you feel better.

Ashley:That’s a concept I’m not used to from the male species. Might be kind of fun to learn what that’s like.

Me:Ashley?

Ashley:Yes?

Me:It’s going to be okay. And that’s not a lie. It will be hard and difficult at times and probably scary, too. But it will all work out in the end and be okay. And I’m here for you. Always.

Ashley:Even if you hadn’t just told me you weren’t a liar, I would still believe that.

Me:Good. Now, get some sleep.

Ashley:It’s 8 p.m.

Holy shit. It is. My gosh it feels like the last few hours have lasted ten.

Me:Gotta get used to those early bedtimes. LOL

Me:Actually I didn’t realize it was so early.

Ashley:It does feel like it’s been a long evening, right?

Me:For sure.

Ashley:I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Nik. Thank you for being so great about this. I don’t know what I would have done if you had… well, acted like I was lying. That was my biggest fear.

Me:We might not know each other all that well but I do know that like me, you’re not a liar. We’ll learn the rest as we go.

Ashley:Yeah. We will. Night.

Me:Night.

Chapter Seven

Ashley

I placemy cell on the end table in my living room and lie back on the couch, one leg bent, one stretched out, and my hand on my still-flat (well, mostly) stomach.

And proceed to break down in tears.

There’s no way I should be given this kind of responsibility. A baby? How am I supposed to care for a baby when I can’t even be smart enough not to get pregnant by a complete stranger? And how in the heck is Niko so calm about the entire thing? Why isn’t he freaking out along with me? Maybe he waited until he got off the phone with me to have his panic attack.

Part of me hopes that’s the case because I don’t know how I feel about him not being at least a little nervous about the fact that we’re going to have a baby together.

My cat, Frank, jumps up onto the couch and curls up on my chest, purring and nestling in. I feel like I’ve heard before that there’s something to do with cats and toxic poop that’s not good to have around babies. Does that mean I’m going to have to get rid of him? Surely not, right? There’s no way that every expecting parent abandons their cats. Maybe it’s because of the litter box? Or maybe I can’t get close to the litter?

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