Page 99 of Own the Eights Maybe Baby
Georgie tried not to cringe.
No, no, no, no!
He was not about to go all asshat competitive—not when this challenge was about being chill. She dug her elbow into his belly, but he didn’t flinch. The man had rock-hard abs. Something she usually reveled in, but not today.
“All you have to do is get through the meditation, and everyone wins,” Stu answered.
Jordan raised his hand again.
“Yes, Jordan,” Lenny replied.
“That’s great about everyone winning, but what if one wanted to earn some extra points? Would there be an opportunity for some extra credit? Like if Georgie went all Zen-master meditator, could that help our rank?”
And hello, Emperor of Asshattery! So nice of you to show up—not!
“There’s no extra credit, but there is one more challenge—a secret challenge we’re keeping close to the vest,” Stu added.
She sighed with relief when her husband’s hand didn’t rocket back up for another question.
“Without further ado, we’ll let Dawn start the meditation practice,” Lenny said with another strum as the cameramen continued rolling.
Miss Yoga USA pressed her hands into a prayer position. “We usually like to do our meditations outdoors with our animal friends. But we’re double-booked today, so we’re bringing a few of our goats in here to join us in the barn,” she said as a farmhand opened one of the stall doors and a troop of baby goats bleated and pranced toward the group.
“It’s baby goat meditation, Jordan,” she whispered.
“We’ve totally got this, babe,” he replied as Stu handed her the envelope with their baby’s gender.
She pressed the paper to her heart. “This is it. We’ll know if we’ve got a Georgie junior or a Jordan junior on the way,” she said as a curious baby goat sniffed her shoes.
“Babe, take a breath. Your heart rate jumped into the nineties,” he replied, gaze on the phone.
“Aren’t you excited?” she pressed.
He kissed the crown of her head. “Let’s just say that if I were holding Faby’s heart rate monitor arm, it would be off the charts. And not because I’m scared of the goats, but because I can’t wait to be a father. Boy or girl, this is going to be one special kid.”
This man! One minute, he’s a competitive douche canoe, the next, he’s melting her heart.
“Couples, I have a few announcements before we begin. As you can see, we’re in a barn, and barns have their share of creepy-crawly friends,” the woman said, causing the breath to catch in Georgie’s throat.
Creepy-crawly things were definitely not anyone’s friend.
“If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you,” the meditation guru added.
“Georgie, take a breath,” Jordan coaxed as Lenny and Stu glanced over their iPad at her.
Let’s get real. Spiders weren’t just creepy and crawly—which was bad enough. No, they were eight-legged harbingers of hell.
She shifted her body, scanning the hay for the little buggers as the yogi instructed the group to close their eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Jordan whispered.
She swallowed hard. “I’m not a fan of spiders.”
“I can tell. Your heart rate shot up.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I checked the hay. I didn’t see any. I should be okay.”
Should be—but she couldn’t make any promises.
