Page 72 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“Thank you.” For a moment, he rested his head on my shoulder, the tension slowly draining from him.
“Wanna have a lazy day?” I suggested. “Watch a movie or something. If you let Mary pick, we’ll end up watching Dory, though.”
He chuckled and I loved feeling the vibration go through his body. “I don’t mind. I haven’t watched that one.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Trust me, you’ll have seen it a million times by the end of the week.”
He smiled and I tried to respond in kind, though it was hard. I didn’t really want to think of the end of the week when I had to let him go.
27
Kade
Inever thoughtI’d be reluctant to leave a small town, but I had to admit when the time came that I had to catch my flight out of Maine, I didn’t want to go. Over the past few days, I’d spent a lot of time wandering the town with Shane and the dog and sometimes one or both of the kids. I was starting to like the small town’s quiet roads and the lack of the hustle and bustle I was used to from LA. In the heart of the city, everyone always seemed in some sort of rush, to the point you felt bad if you weren’t in any kind of rush yourself. In Oceanport, you could take your time. It was kind of nice, to be honest.
And that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want to leave.
My last day here had been so nice.
Shane and I had gone to the doctor’s together. I’d sort of known what to expect, but also sort of not. Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer amount of pride that hit me when I first heard my baby’s heartbeat. It was so strong already!
And the look on Shane’s face only made the whole experience that much better. If I was feeling proud, he was feeling like the king of the world. It was good to see him that way, radiating so much joy I thought I could feel it pouring off him. All because of my baby. Our baby. It was fantastic.
And then we went home and cuddled on the couch and talked while watching the kids play in the yard from the living room window. It was nice to be able to unwind like that. I’d never been able to do that without my guitar before.
“When are you coming back?” Shane asked, running a finger through the hair behind my ear.
When indeed? I had a few things to take care of in LA. Songs to record, an overexcited agent to talk to, videos to upload… “As soon as I can,” I said.
“Mhm… I don’t think that’s soon enough.”
I chuckled and brushed our lips together. “Give me a few weeks and then I can make my next stay a bit longer.”
“How much longer?”
“Does it matter what I say? It’s not going to be long enough for you anyway.”
“You got that right.” He sighed, suddenly seeming weary. “Whatarewe going to do about this?”
“About what?”
“Our living arrangements. If we want to raise this child together, that’s something we need to think about.” He rested a hand on my belly. “Also, I gotta admit, I’m kind of over the long-distance relationship thing already. I don’t know how people do it. Every instinct I have wants me to stop you from leaving tomorrow.”
Now it was on me to sigh. “I get that. I don’t really want to be apart from you either.” But I didn’t have a solution yet. “No way I can get you to come to LA with me?”
He gave a dry laugh. “Try running that idea by Conner.”
I grimaced. He was right. The boy was only just getting used to the idea of his dad and me being together. We had yet to tell him there was a new sibling on the way and there was only so much change I could expect him to accept gracefully. And honestly, I didn’t want to be responsible for ripping him out of his familiar environment at this point. I knew he visited the cemetery with some regularity and I wasn’t going to be the one to move him out of reach of whatever solace he found there.
While I was thinking, the cat entered the living room and climbed into my lap. “Hey there.” I scritched him behind the ears. He gravely accepted my offering of affection. “Will you miss me too?”
He said nothing. Fine then.
“The dog will,” Shane said. “I will.”
“I guess that’s gotta be enough.” I took a deep breath and exhaled theatrically. “I’ll think about this.”
It was all I could promise at the time.
