Page 36 of Own the Eights Maybe Baby
“Every phase of your relationship has had one. What’s one more?” Bobby answered with a teasing twist to his lips.
He wasn’t wrong, but this wasn’t just about them anymore. They had a baby to consider.
Lenny shifted the guitar to his back. “Maybe this will help. Both Stu and I have degrees in child development, and over the years, we’ve helped many couples prepare to become parents.”
“Do you always dress like cheerful vagrants?” she asked warily.
“No, we’re in costume to film a few promo spots for CityBeat Rattle with a few parent-training items that just arrived.”
Hector pressed his hands together meditatively. “See, my psychic intuition brought you all here today. It’s meant to be!”
Georgie chewed her lip. “I’m not sure about this.”
They had a lot on their plate—with their blog and businesses—and God only knows what they’d have to take on for her mother’s charity activities.
“Can we have a minute?” Jordan asked.
“Of course! Lenny and Stu’s packages arrived. We’ll be over on the far side of the room checking out the delivery,” Hector answered.
The men migrated toward a stack of boxes, and the room started to spin.
She sank into the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “I’ve lost count of all the people without ovaries who know more about this baby business than I do,” she said, waiting for Jordan to laugh, but he remained quiet. She sat up and found him sitting beside her, staring at one of the ultrasound pictures.
She leaned into him and traced the outline of their peanut baby. “It’s pretty wild, isn’t it?”
“I think we do it, Georgie,” he said, gaze trained on the black and gray image.
“You do?”
He nodded. “Hector and Bobby wouldn’t allow a bunch of quacks to spearhead a site for expectant parents and childhood development blogs. And I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know the answer to any of the questions Lenny and Stu asked. Sure, we could google it, but what if we kept getting conflicting opinions? And they did say they had degrees in child development.”
All that was true, but was it smart to pile on another task and be roped into another CityBeat contest?
Then again, would it be smart to accept? This Battle of the Births could provide them with the information and training they needed.
And how competitive could it be?
She gazed down at her wrist and stared at the charm bracelet Jordan had given her. She ran her finger over the delicate silver eight and ten, then gazed at the tiny computer mouse and trowel charms tucked between a silver sandal, a book, a barbell, and a miniature cookie. These were the reminders of their love and their past challenges. But something was off with the cookie! Just the sight of it made her belly go sour.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she said, looking away from the cookie charm.
“Yeah?” he asked.
She gave him the hint of a grin. “You’re right. It sounds like these guys could get us on track.”
Jordan slid the ultrasound photo back into his pocket. “We’re in,” he called across the room.
“That’s excellent news! This is going to be such an adventure!” Hector crooned as she and Jordan made their way toward the group.
“And you can take this with you today,” Stu said, holding out a lumpy sack a little larger than a shoebox.
Presents already? Maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“What is it?” she asked, accepting the gift.
“A baby,” Lenny said with a jovial expression.
“What!” she exclaimed, panic flooding her system.
