Page 14 of Calling from the Heart
He had a little boy and girl, and the rumor was that his omega, Andrew, was pregnant again with their third. Andrew had two babies less than a year apart it seemed like, and so they’d waited a good few years before they tried for the third.
Jeb grinned at him, nodding toward Kynan. “I’ll tell you what, there’s not a happier alpha that I’ve ever met than Kynan in there.”
“Yeah?” They loaded up in Jeb’s truck, and he snuggled into the seats as Jeb started the engine and the seat warmers.
“Yeah, I mean it. He loves it. He loves being at home with the kids. And he works, you know, obviously he’s a contractor. But he’s just having a ball.” Jeb chuckled and headed for the truck stop. “When they got close to having Troy start kindergarten, they decided they were going to try for one more baby, giveKynan another little one to raise. Tell you what, that is some passion there.”
“What about you?” This was a question Owen was desperate to know the answer to, because Jeb worked from home. He was a software designer, and he did very well, but Owen loved his job. He loved the kids, and he intended to go back to work.
He was obviously going to have to take pregnancy leave when the baby was born in March, so he’d miss two months of school and then start back again in September. But he was going back.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean. Let’s say that--I don’t know, let’s say we share custody or we are living together or we have some arrangement. When the baby’s bigger, and I go back to work, are we going to want to put the baby in daycare with Saul? Or are you going stay home with her?” He held his breath, waiting for the answer.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I work from home, right? It makes sense that I would stay home with the kids.” Jeb chuckled. “I’m not even a Zoom guy, so I don’t have to worry about someone listening to babies cry or crazy things crashing when they start being mobile.”
They. Jeb was saying they for kids. Plural.
“Oh. I think…I think that Saul is amazing, but I think parents are the best for little ones.”
“Yeah. I mean, Saul is so cool, but I would just want to use him if we had to.” Jeb beamed. “Look at us, agreeing on the first major thing.”
“Right?” Okay. Okay, that was comforting. The first thing. That meant there would be more things to agree on.
They talked about everything and nothing on the way to the truck stop, Jeb driving carefully on the icy roads. It was sweet, because really Jeb usually kind of tore around.
The restaurant was packed — filled with families and couples — and he bumped shoulders with Jeb. “Everyone’s tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, huh?”
“I bet. I mean, that’s a lot of remains.” Jeb winked at him, teasing hard. “Not that we didn’t have tons of options this year, and it was great, but I’m so ready for something not turkey involved.”
“Oh, I get that.” Owen greeted people as they waited. It was hard not to know everyone. Being one the town’s two kindergarten teachers made it inevitable.
He met all the kiddos as they funneled through.
They got seated relatively quickly, and he had to chuckle because they ended up sitting next to the owner of the town’s hotel, his family, and the town’s librarian and his family.
Who were all, obviously, having some sort of an outing.
Jeb winked at him. “That is a lot of babies, man.”
Owen nodded. It was, and he’d had Gwennie, Gawain, and Elizabeth Ann already in his class. Elizabeth Ann was his student now.
Gwennie was the spitting image of her tattoo artist father, and she was the possibly the smartest little girl he’d ever met. While her brother Gawain was this easy going, silly boy to the core kind of child.
Elizabeth Ann, on the other hand. Elizabeth Ann might just -- well, she was either going to become president or a serial killer. There was no real way to tell at this point, although he was going to warn her first-grade teacher about her, because damn.
“Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers.” Gwennie waved at him from her side of the booth and smiled, book in her hand. “How are you?”
Owen found a smile for them because to be honest, they were all great kids, and he remembered how exciting it had been to meet a teacher outside of school. “Hi, guys, how are you? How school going?”
Elizabeth Ann blinked at him. “Mr. Rogers. We’re on Thanksgiving break. We go back to school tomorrow.”
Her father Jack chuckled softly, while her other father simply rolled his eyes.
“Sorry man. Kids, you have to leave Mr. Rogers alone. He’s not teaching today. He’s just having breakfast like the rest of us.”
Gawain nodded. “We’re having pancakes, and then we are going to go to see reindeers.”
