Page 181 of Always Us

“Yeah. Aren’t they cute?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if we want to sell clothing for infants. We should probably start with stuff for older kids first. See how it sells.”

She takes the board shorts and t-shirt from me and holds them up. “If I was a surfer and saw these in the store, I’d totally buy them. Parents like to dress their kids the same way they dress. So surfers would definitely buy this stuff for their baby. I know they would.”

I lean over and kiss her. “Well, you seem to know this stuff so I trust you. If you want to try this in the stores, we’ll try it. But we’ll need to test it at a few locations first to see how it sells before rolling it out to all the other stores.”

“Then I’ll start looking for suppliers.”

“Talk to Christine. She already knows all the suppliers. It’ll save you a lot of time.”

“Okay.” Jade hands me the clothes again. “Here.”

I laugh. “What am I supposed to do with these?” I hold up the tiny shirt that’s about the size of my hand. “It’s a little small for me, Jade.”

She nods, nervously. “Yeah. I know.”

I put my hand on her arm. “Jade, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just—” She takes a breath. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?” I set the clothes down and hold her hand.

“Because I—” She takes another breath.

“Jade. Just tell me.”

“Um, I had something else to show you.” She reaches behind her back again and hands me another tiny shirt. Just a plain white t-shirt with some words on it.

I hold it up. It says ‘Daddy’s Little Surfer’ and has a surfboard on it. “Yeah, it’s a cute. I’m sure the customers will love it.”

Jade’s giving me this look and I don’t know what it means. I set the shirt down but she gives it right back to me.

“It’s not for the customers. It’s for you.” She pauses. “I mean, not for you specifically, but for—” She stops.

I still don’t know what she’s trying to tell me or why she’s so nervous about it. She’s looking down at my hands, which are still holding the tiny ‘Daddy’s Little Surfer’ shirt.

Wait. Is she telling me what I think she’s telling me? That can’t be right. She’s on the pill. We had planned on starting a family this year, but we haven’t talked about it for a while. I was thinking Jade wanted to wait a little longer. Maybe she missed her period and just thinks she’s pregnant, like she did right after we got married. But if that were the case, she would’ve taken a pregnancy test. Maybe she did.

“Jade, are you telling me you’re—”

“Pregnant.” Her eyes move up to mine. “For real this time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I went to the doctor this morning.”

I cautiously smile, not sure I believe this. “You’re not joking here, right? You’re really serious?”

She shakes her head. “I’m not joking.”

“We’re having a baby?” I grab her and pull her into a hug. “We’re really having a baby?”

“Yeah,” she says softly. “Are you mad at me?”

I let her go just enough to look at her. She looks worried.

“God, no. Why would I be mad at you?”

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