Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 91065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Oh no. No you don’t.” Harlow laughs. Picks up her glass of wine but then immediately sets it back on the table without taking a drink. Hmm. “Forget it, buddy. The last time we played this game, you caused such a stink they kicked us out of the sports bar we were hanging out at for getting rowdy.” She and I share a look. “Landon has zero chill.”
“I can relate to not having any chill,” I say, sipping from my glass, doing my best not to chug it. “My daughter tells me to chill nonstop.”
We’re all seated around the couches, Andy and Harlow on one sofa, Dex and I on the other, facing each other.
“That’s right, Dex keeps mentioning your daughter. He said she’s hysterical. I wish I would have been able to meet her tonight, but maybe next time?” Harlow beams at me. So friendly. “I love kids.”
Is it my imagination, or did Andy nudge her with his knee when she made that proclamation?
Huh.
I peel my eyes away and force them back onto the table, where the boxes sit, waiting for us to decide which one we’re going to open.
“Can we please, please play Cards Against Humanity? Dude, I’m begging,” Andy quite literally begs. “Please, dude? It’s so fun, and I’m so good at it.”
In the end, he wins—probably because of his extensive use of the word dude—and we commence the word game, my face getting redder and hotter with every turn. With every card that gets placed. With every politically incorrect or pervy phrase.
Then.
Andy lays a black card in the center of the table that says: It’s here. It’s finally happening, I’m finally doing it. It’s time for _________.
“Harlow—your turn,” he tells his girlfriend.
She seems to stew over her options, nibbling on her bottom lip, holding the ten cards in her hands close.
“Hmm.” She hems and haws. Removes one card from her hand and goes to place it on the table. Hesitates. Adds it back to her collection and hems and haws again. “Ah.”
“I’m finally doing it. It’s time for—” Harlow reads Andy’s card out loud at the same time she lays down a white response card.
Making Babies.
For a split second, Dex goes about the game on autopilot, flipping through his cards to choose his next move, eyes roaming from Andy’s card to his own. The humming sound emanating from his chest tells me one thing: he isn’t getting the hint.
“Making babies,” I repeat quietly.
I don’t know Andy or Harlow all that well, but now they’re holding hands, and all I can do is give Dex a tap, hoping he’ll notice so I don’t have to spell it out for him.
“Wait,” my boyfriend finally says. “They have a card that says making babies? Since when?”
Honestly, I’m trying not to roll my eyes. I love him dearly, but occasionally he is too clueless, even for me.
“Since you can order custom cards.”
“You can?” Dex scratches his head. Pauses.
Stares down at the table, the meaning of those two cards clicking into place at long last.
“Wait,” he says again, gaze jerking to Andy’s. “Are you guys pregnant?”
Harlow and Andy both nod.
“Holy shit! No way!” He stands, grabbing his friend and enveloping him in a hug at the same time I stand so I can hug them too. “This is fucking amazing. Holy shit, I’m going to be a funcle.” They clap each other on the back, doing that bro thing. “A fun fucking uncle, get it?”
“Yeah, I get it.” His best friend laughs.
“We should seriously celebrate, not sit home playing board games,” Dex goes on, practically vibrating with excitement.
“No, man, this is exactly how we wanted to celebrate. It doesn’t need to be a spectacle. We’re trying to keep it as private as we can for as long as we can,” Andy explains, his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. “Especially since we’re not engaged or anything.”
She has her hand on her stomach now. “The only people who know are my dad and his parents. We’re just now starting to tell our close friends.”
“How far along are you?” I ask, over the moon for this couple that’s going to be part of my life, honored to be counted as among their close friends.
“Four months—sixteen or so weeks. I feel like we found out yesterday, but it’s actually been a bit.”
“Is this the real reason you came into town?” Dex wants to know, a big goofy grin on his face.
It’s contagious—we’re all grinning from ear to ear—and I swear, my insides are melting, all my nerves completely gone as we get swept up in Harlow and Landon’s joy.
A baby.
Could there be anything more exciting?
As Dex slides his arm around my waist, I feel him squeezing it, his body leaning into me. “You know what I think?”
“No, what do you think?”
“I think it would be sexy as hell to have a baby with you.”