Page 53 of Jake and Conner
"It's an important demo," I reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But we could have gone out for drinks. I've tried to ask Laurence out too, God knows he needs to get out more, but he's too busy with the little one. Turns out baby Juliana is not a fan of sleeping through the night."
"Few babies are."
"Jonny was pretty good about it," Raph said. "At least the early months." He gave a little sigh. "I miss the early days sometimes."
"Really?" I gave my friend a sideways glance as we moved up in line. It was nearly our turn now and the smell of hotdogs was thick in the air. Usually that would have had me salivating, but that day, it made my nose crinkle.
"Yeah, I don't know. It feels like the days all pass in a blur. He's growing up super-fast. He's running now and it's hard to keep up. And he loves to sayno!to everything. I swear it's his favorite word. It sounds silly, but I almost envy Laurence a little."
"You want another one?" I asked.
"Nah. At least not right away. We have our hands full with John. It's like I said, I'm being silly, that's all." As he spoke, the customers in front of us finished, and finally, we were at the head of the line. Raph purchased two hot dogs for us and we walked away with them. "What about you?" he asked as he handed me my food.
"What about me?" I asked as if I didn't know what he was getting at.
My friend wasn't deterred by that. "Any babies in your future? Now that you're back with Jake and all. Maybe if he had a kid to worry about he wouldn't focus all his worry on you."
I shook my head. "The way I know Jake, he'd just become twice as bad. Can you even imagine if he had a baby to fuss over? That kid would have to live his life in bubble-wrap." But even as I said that as dismissively as I could, an image was starting to take form in my mind, of Jake with a tiny newborn who had his eyes, maybe his nose.
I wasn't going to mention it to Raph, not just then anyway, but the image warmed my heart. It was no secret that Jake wanted kids one day. I wasn't sure how I felt about the idea myself, but I wasn't actively opposed to it.
Holding Laurence's baby had felt good too.
And Jakehadgrown.
Next to me, Raph bit into his hotdog and a little bit of mustard squirted out of the bun. "Oops," he said, wiping his chin. Then, "Damn, these are good. Try yours."
I looked at my hotdog without finding it the least bit appetizing, which was weird. I loved hotdogs. This one, though... I couldn't say what it was, maybe the smell, but the thought of putting it in my mouth disgusted me. "Doesn't it smell off to you?"
"Nah. Smells just like a hotdog should." Raph eyed me curiously for a second, then he continued eating. "If you don't want it, I'll have it."
I gave it to him. "I'll find something else."
"Before the demo starts?"
"I can wait a little."
"If you're sure about that."
I nodded and then I was distracted by another call from Jake. This time, I picked up the phone. "Still alive," I said. "We're just about to eat."
"Yeah? Good. I'm about to head over to my parents' house so I'll stop hounding you."
"Your parents' house?" I asked, trying not to let my relief shine through in my voice.
"Yeah, I haven't been to see them in a while so I figured I might as well join them for lunch or something."
"That's good. I'll call you when we're done here." As I spoke, I passed my hotdog to Raph. For a second, I considered telling Jake about my weird new food aversion, but then decided not to. He'd probably read too much into it, and I didn't want to give him anymorereason to worry. I was just not feeling hotdogs today, that was all.
When I ended the call, Raph and I picked up our signs and headed over to the town's square, where a couple of protestors had already gathered, ready for the demo to start. There was no time for me to get food, but I didn't worry about that.
At least not until I started feeling a bit light-headed about an hour after we'd started marching.
"Everything okay?" Raph asked, by my side. "You look a little pale."
"I'm always pale," I gave back.
