Page 10 of A Baby for Christmas
"He’s fine." We hadn’t been able to locate his owner after all, so I was going to keephim.
"Have you come up with a nameyet?"
"No, not really. I can't think of anything aside from ankle biter. You love to bite my ankle, don't you?" I addressed the puppy who came racing into the living room now to see what the commotion was about. As soon as his eyes fell on Robin, he started barking and wagging his tail. Yeah, pretty much the same inner reaction I had when I saw Robin. Especially now that the memory of having him in my bed was so fresh on mymind.
Robin picked the little fur bundle up and smooched him against his chest. "How about calling him Fluffy? He's kind of fluffy." The dog yipped in response, but I wasn't sure what exactly he wanted tosay.
"I don't want ten dogs to turn around when I call his name in thepark."
"Oh, you want something unusual, huh?" Robin's forehead creased as he pretended to think very hard about this difficult problem. "How about Darth Puppy, Lord of Destruction? Puppy Lord forshort."
"He's not going to be a puppy forever," I argued, but Robin's silly suggestion still made me laugh—which I guessed was exactly what heintended.
"Aw, he'll always be a puppy to me. And you have to admit, he does like to destroythings."
"True." The puppy chewed on everything he could get his mouth on. "He ate my shoes yesterday. Like, literally ate them. They're in pieces. I have to lock everything awaynow."
Robin grinned at me. "That's just how it is with babies in thehouse."
"He's not a baby, he's a puppy." And thank God forthat.
"Same thing,really."
"No, no diaper changes. When he has an accident, it goes straight on my floor or furniture. Speaking of, I was just about to walk him. Would you like to comealong?"
"Yeah, sure." Robin set the dog down again. "We should go to the park." A soft smile found its way onto his face. "Remember how we used to hang outthere?"
How could I not? We'd been to the park alot.Where else could we have gone when we wanted to escape our families? "Good times," I said. At least some parts had been good. Like hanging out with Robin all the time. Being adults meant we had fewer hours in the day to see each other now, especially when Robin was dating and I had to keep myself busy with work to stop thinking about that fact. "Let's take my car," I said, pulling myself back into the present. "The park's too far away to walk there with thepuppy."
"We really can't just keep calling him 'the puppy', you know?" Robin said while I grabbed the leash and the car keys. Then his face lit up. "I know aname!"
"You do?" I raised an eyebrow at him while the puppy ran circles around my legs, excited now that he'd seen the leash. He was a quick learner—at least when it came to the meaning of the leash and the opening of the fridgedoor.
"Cooper," he said. "You know, after that dog in the movie we used to watch. The Fox and theHound?"
"Oh. That." I scratched the back of my neck. I'd made him watch that movie with me once because it was my favorite. I'd had no idea that he still remembered. "It's a goodname."
"Yeah, it is." For a second or two, his face took on that faraway look it got when he was thinking. I couldn't tell where his mind drifted off to, though. Hadn't he come here to tell me something? At least, that was the feeling I'd gotteninitially.
Whatever it was, he didn't come out with it until we were a good way into the park and the dog was stomping happily through thesnow.
Robin wrapped his scarf more tightly around himself, both our breaths coming out in puffs. Part of me wanted to grab his hand like I used to when we were kids. But that wouldn't have been appropriate now, would it? I was still thinking about it when Robin finally told me hisnews.
"I took the test today," hesaid.
What test? My brain needed a moment to compute that statement. Robin spoke on when I gave him a puzzledlook.
"The pregnancy test," he said, stressing the word pregnancy like he couldn't believe my mind hadn't immediately jumped to that subject. To be honest, I'd done my bestnotto think about the possibility that he might be pregnant over these past twoweeks.
"Oh." It was all I could think to say. My stomach clenched. Washe...?
He smiled at me. "It waspositive."
"Oh." My stomach clenched harder and my brain was still not coming up with anything interesting to say. Robin was pregnant.Pregnant.By me. I kind of wished I was home so I could run into my bedroom and scream into a pillow the way I'd done as a frustrated eight-year-old.
But no, we were at the park, and if I screamed now, everyone would hear. Robin would hear. He had enough on his plate without me losing my shit. So I keptquiet.
"You're not gonna sayanything?"
