Page 132 of Own the Eights Maybe Baby
The guy grinned through the bite. “Yeah, that’s your name.”
“I’m amazed you remembered. You’ve called me Virginia and Georgia for so long, it almost sounds odd to hear you get it right.”
“You can thank Becca for that. She said that if I got your name right at the baby shower, she’d get down on her knees and—”
Becca’s cheeks bloomed scarlet as she clapped her hand over Brice’s mouth. “This is not an appropriate place to discuss our Georgie arrangement.”
“You called it the Georgie arrangement?” Georgie balked.
Yeah, he had to side with his wife. Having your name equal a BJ was pretty gross.
Becca threw up her hands. “What did you want me to call it? The Virginia arrangement? That would have only confused him more!”
“Did you say the baby has a vagina?” another blue-haired brigade lady called.
Sweet Jesus! The nice knitting ladies hadn’t moved on from the dual sex fiasco—and it would all be captured on film.
“Not vagina! He said, Virginia, like the state,” Becca answered, raising her voice and speaking slowly.
“Can I explain my thoughts about change?” Brice asked, his voice muffled by Becca’s hand.
“Do your thoughts involve whipped cream or handcuffs?” Becca queried as everyone’s eyebrows shot to their foreheads.
“Becca!” he and Georgie cried in unison—with a searing parental bend to the word.
Becca was like a little sister to him and to Georgie! Sure, she was a grown woman—but still!
“What do you do with the whipped cream?” a blue-haired briagader asked.
At least they’d moved on from vaginas.
“Ask the phone?” another offered.
Becca shook her head and removed her hand from Brice’s mouth.
“Keep it clean,” she warned.
“Got it. Now, Georgie,” Brice said, then glanced at Becca as if to make sure she was keeping track of all the correct uses ofGeorgie. “Control is an illusion. Like I was telling Becca the other day when I was here for a pest inspection. I can’t get all the spiders out of the bookshop. There will always be some I miss. All I can do is try my best, and the rest you’ve got to leave to the universe.”
“Are there spiders in my shop?” Georgie asked, her gaze rocketing to the ceiling where, thankfully, there wasn’t a spider about to pull a Little Miss Muffet caper.
“No,” Becca replied as Brice nodded yes.
“You see, Virginia,” the man continued, two for three on the Georgie front. “All you can do is sit back and love the people around you. Also…”
“Yes, Brice?”
“Good hair never hurts,” the man added, running his hand through his exceptionally good hair.
Becca shrugged, then grinned at her boyfriend. “He’s not totally wrong.”
Georgie stood up. “No, he’s not wrong at all. We’re not in control. Not one little bit. I’ve lost my father. Jordan, you’ve lost your mother.” She gazed around the room. “All we can do is love the people we have in our lives.”
“Are you all right?” he asked his wife as she nestled Faby into the crux of her arm, looking decidedly like a woman with a mission.
She nodded. “Yes, I’m good. I know what I need to do before this baby is born.”
“And what’s that?” he asked as a determined spark gleamed in her eyes.
