Page 134 of Good as Gold
My life is bound to get busier in the future, but I’ll never regret spending this time cocooned with my new family.
When the butcher is finally done with my order, I put the packages into the cart, spin around and… nearly run into Rory.
Oh shit.
He looks from me to the baby and back to me. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I say stupidly. “How’ve you been?”
The corners of his mouth twitch. “All right. You? Keeping busy?”
“Uh, yeah.”
A smirk. “I hear congratulations are in order. I got a teddy bear all wrapped up at home, but I haven’t found the balls to bring it over.”
“Thank you,” I manage. I’m so uncomfortable right now, even though I’ve done nothing wrong.
He rubs the back of his neck. “You musta loved that voicemail I left you.”
The truth is that I’d forgotten all about it. “I’ve heard worse.”
He actually laughs. “It was a bad night. But I don’t have as many of those as I used to.”
“That’s good to hear.”
His eyes drop to the baby again. “Can I, um, see her?” He steps closer, so he can see past the padded, protective shell of the baby carrier. He clears his throat. “Hey there, princess.”
Reina regards him with wide eyes.
“She doesn’t say much, unless she’s really pissed off.”
Rory laughs. “Man, I don’t know a thing about babies.”
“Join the club.” Although that’s not really true of me anymore. I’ve discovered that learning about babies isn’t so hard—when you spend enough time with them, they’re easier to understand.
“She’s cute,” he says, tilting his head for a better look. “She wears her hair shorter than yours.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He grins and steps back. “Don’t fuck this up, okay? Don’t be like me.”
“I’ll do my best,” I say quietly.
“Hey!” A woman with shiny brown hair cascading down her tan shoulders arrives next to Rory. “Did you get the meat?”
“Working on it.” Rory clears his throat. “This is my friend Matteo. And his baby daughter. Matteo, this is Jess.”
As I watch, she tries to bury her surprise. “Nice to meet you, Matteo.”
“Likewise,” I say. “You two have a nice weekend.”
Rory takes her hand, and then the two of them step toward the meat counter. Rory must sense that I’m still watching them, because he looks over his shoulder.
I mouth,Don’t fuck this up.
He smiles.
And then I pay for all my groceries before Reina gets sick and tired of watching the grownups make awkward conversation.
