Page 25 of Play the Game
It suddenly occurs to me that I need to decide whether to tell my family. Maybe I should have asked Evan if that was okay. Are you supposed to tell people when your sort of enemy is pregnant and it’s yours? I vaguely recall something about keeping pregnancy a secret for a certain amount of time. But Wyles aren’t exactly secret keepers, and I think if I don’t say something, I might explode.
I take a deep breath, shoving both of my hands through my hair and tugging on it, looking for something, anything, to ground myself to this moment. “I think…” I pause and take another deep breath, trying to slow my heartbeat, clenching my fists to stop my hands from shaking. I look at my family, knowing that this is going to change their lives too. “I think I’m going to be a dad.”
Silence.
Absolute utter silence falls over the roof as eleven people who are not known for their ability to be quiet stare at me with expressions ranging from confusion to incredulity.
“Well now, isn’t this a surprise!” It’s my grandma, Cece, who breaks the silence, and she doesn’t sound surprised at all. She sweeps forward, bright orange caftan flowing behind her, eyes gleaming and shrewd behind her purple glasses. Approaching me, she stands on her tiptoes and takes my face in her hands, leaning up to kiss both of my cheeks. “How do you feel my baby?”
I huff out a laugh. “IsI have no fucking cluean acceptable answer?”
She smiles softly at me and takes both of my hands in hers. “Any answer is an acceptable answer. Your life changed today.”
I drop my head back, staring up at the sky. “I’ll say,” I mutter. “You don’t seem surprised.”
Cece chuckles. “Oh honey, I saw this coming from a mile away. I’m?—”
“A little bit psychic…we know.” My mom comes sailing forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Cece. “Mom, I’m sure you knew this was going to happen and whatever, but I didn’t, and when my youngest son tells us he’s going to be a dad, I need details and I need them yesterday. How did this happen? Who is the mom? Do I get another daughter-in law?” She peers around me, like I might he hiding a woman behind my back or something and scowls when she realizes I am, in fact, alone.
“Maybe we should sit down,” my dad suggests, coming over and putting an arm around my shoulders, squeezing gently.
“Good thing I bought all this furniture,” Noah says, waving a hand around at the patio that I suddenly realize is no longer empty the way it’s been for all the years we’ve lived here, but is now entirely furnished with a wide array of comfortable looking outdoor furniture and twinkle lights strung up overhead. “Come sit, Coop. It sounds like you need some family, so you’re forgiven for interrupting what is supposed to be a celebration of how awesome my wife is.”
Shit.
I glance at Hannah, giving her an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry, Hans. I know this is supposed to be your book party. I didn’t think. We can talk about my thing later. This is your moment.”
“No way,” she says, laying a hand on my arm. “What I needed tonight was a distraction. It sounds like you’re about to give me a big one.”
“You have no idea,” I mutter.
“Sit, Cooper. My gossip meter is pinging out of control,” Jordan says. “I need every single detail.”
Elliot backhands him across the chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you? He’s clearly having a crisis, and Cooper never has a crisis. Those are usually reserved for you assholes.” He smirks at Noah and Jordan.
“Are you?” Jo asks, studying me from her spot tucked under Jordan’s arm.
I take another deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling calmed by the habitual banter of all my favorite people. It’s all so normal, and nothing about my life feels normal right now. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything right now.”
“Come on, Coop,” Amelia says, linking an arm through mine. “Tell us everything.”
I lean over and kiss her cheek, feeling grateful once again that my brothers brought these women into all our lives. Without warning, Evan’s face floods my mind, and I find myself wondering how she would fit into this group. Do I want her to? How does co-parenting work? Does the baby live with me? With her? Does it trade off? That seems logistically complicated. What does my relationship with Evan look like now that we’re sharing a kid? Do we suddenly start liking each other? Have I maybe kind of always liked her but never noticed? I sure can’t stop thinking about her, and that started before she told me she was pregnant. How does pregnancy work? Are there books? Some kind of instruction manual?
“It’s going to be okay,” my mom murmurs from my other side, wrapping an arm around my waist and guiding me to a circle of furniture around a fire pit. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it together. You don’t have to do anything alone.”
The soft mom words help shove back the questions pinging around my brain, and when she pushes me gently down onto a two-seater couch, taking the spot next to me, and my family fills the rest of the space, I feel steadier, if not all the way settled.
“Where are Hallie and Ben?” I ask, turning to Jo and Hannah when I realize their sister and brother-in-law are missing. “They didn’t have to leave.”
Jo shakes her head, smiling back at Jordan when he tugs her into his lap and circles an arm around her waist. “They didn’t. They wanted to call Ben’s mom and check in on their kids anyway, so they just went downstairs for a few minutes.”
“They’ll be back,” Hannah says, leaning into Noah when he wraps an arm around her. “And hey, if you have any questions about babies, they’ve managed to keep two of them alive for more than a year now.”
“Oh my god,” I mumble, raking a hand through my hair. “I’m going to have to keep a baby alive.”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning,” Cece says, smiling at me from the other side of the fire pit. “Tell us the whole story. If I’m not mistaken, I’d say you’ve had a very interesting last few weeks.”
“Are you ever mistaken?” Jordan asks, smirking at Cece.
