Page 2 of His Curvy Obsession

“Dude, seriously?” Emmett looks at me. “You’re almost forty. You don’t date -”

“Dating isn’t necessary for procreation,” I interject.

“Right,” Emmett rolls his eyes. “But dating is required for getting married -”

“Marriage isn’t required for procreation either.”

“Oh knock it off,” Elijah groans. “Eric, don’t take this as some kind of competitive challenge. We’re just saying: You’re a perpetual bachelor. And you don’t seem to have family very high on your list of priorities.Family.Not just ‘procreation’ but settling down with a wife and having kids. It just…doesn’t seem in the cards for you.”

I lean back in my seat, observing my two older brothers from across the conference room table.

He’s right; I turn forty next week.

“I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t crossed my mind once or twice that I might want to think about securing a wife,” I reply. “You two are married and settled down. One of you has a kid, theother has one on the way…if the two of you can handle it, I’m sure I can pull it off with equal or greater success.”

Emmett laughs and groans at the same time, looking at me in disbelief.

“This isn’t some kind of science experiment,” Elijah says sternly. “It’s not a competition, either.”

“It’s not,” I agree. “It’s about legacy.”

“Legacy?”

“You have a daughter,” I say to Elijah. Then I turn to Emmett. “And you have a son on the way. Which means that when you both get old and die -”

“Love the cheerful mood this conversation is putting me in,” Emmett mutters.

“- When you both get old and die,” I continue. “You’ll still have a piece of yourself living on through your children.Legacy.”

“Sure, man,” Emmett shrugs. “But that’s not what it’s about. That’s not why people have children.”

“Then why do people have children?” I ask.

“Because!” Emmett begins. “Because…”

He trails off, frowning to himself, not quite sure how to end the sentence.

“People reproduce so that they leave their mark on the world,” I continue. “A lasting mark. Elijah’s DNA will outlive him through his daughter, and through his daughter’s children too. Your son will carry your DNA.Thisis the reason people have children. To ensure the continuation of their genes. Legacy.”

“You sound like a fucking psycho,” Emmett shakes his head. “That’s not why people have kids. That’s a stupid, selfish reason to have a kid.”

“Maybe it is selfish,” I shrug. “But at the end of the day, it’s the reason. The real reason. Deep down, we all have primalurges. Things that we do without entirely understanding our motivations.”

“Enough about your primal urges,” he groans. “Fuck. Why the hell are we talking about this again?”

“You brought it up,” I say with a shrug.

“Enough,” Elijah says. “Let’s move on. Please.”

He opens his laptop and Emmett settles into his seat. They move on quickly, leaving the topic of fatherhood behind.

But for the rest of the day, it’s all that I can think about.

2

Rebecca

“Can you believe it?Thirty years old and still unmarried. I never imagined that I'd be attending your younger sister’s wedding before yours.”

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