Page 80 of Falling in Love with Two

“Really?”

She rolls her eyes. “Duh, you giant boob. You’re my best friend in the entire world—as sad as that sounds. I’m going to love the shit out of your baby.”

Okay, I feel like an idiot.

“Shit, Ronnie. I’m sorry.”

“You should be!” She walks into the kitchen to raid the fridge for something to drink. She settles on a bottle of tea. “It bums me out that you didn’t tell me. I should have been your first fucking phone call.”

“I guess I just thought you wouldn’t care, or you’d call me an idiot for getting someone pregnant.”

“Well, you are an idiot. But I could think of a thousand other reasons why other than you just not wrapping your willy.” She hops up to take a seat on the counter.

“Funny story,” I say, joining her in the kitchen. “I did wrap it. And she had protection too. Didn’t matter. Leah still got pregnant.”

“Oh, lord. Now, you’ve got me scared.”

“Don’t worry, Ronnie. I’m sure all the alcohol in your system would kill the sperm on contact.”

“Oh, shut up,” she spits while grabbing an apple and chucking it at my head.

I manage to avoid it and say, “So, Ronnie, I hate to ask. Are you okay? You don’t look like yourself.”

She smiles and throws her hand over her heart. “Oh, my gosh! Thank you so much for noticing how great I look!” After a quick hair flip, she adds, “Since someone wouldn’t return my phone calls, I knew I had to come home. So, after I got done with my photo shoot, I took a fourteen hour flight from New Zealand to California and had a six hour layover before I could get back to Oregon. In other words, I’ve been traveling an entire day to come here and talk to you…even though you’ve been an ass.”

“Wow, I guess I should be flattered.”

“Yeah, yeah. I really just wanted to kick your ass.” She jumps down off the counter and walks into the living room. “So, how does it feel being an expectant father?”

“Awesome. Exciting. And terrifying all at the same time.”

“Understandable. How are you and the mom doing? Having lots of unprotected sex since the damage has already been done?”

“Uh, no, actually. We haven’t done anything like that since she moved in.”

She looks confused as hell. “Why not? Isn’t that the number one reason why people move in together? To have someone always around if you want to play a little slap and tickle?”

I decide to completely avoid the fact that she called it slap and tickle.

Instead, I give her a quick low down on how Leah and I came to be where we are now.

When I’m finished, she says, “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re a good man. Although I’m glad I’m not in your shoes, you’re going to make one hell of a dad.”

“You think so?”

She nods. “Definitely. We had our dad growing up, and he’s a hell of a role model.”

“You got that right,” I agree.

“What did Dad have to say about all this?” She asks.

“He’s been out of town helping Grandma and Grandpa with some stuff in Portland, so I haven’t seen him, but he did text me to say Congratulations and he’s proud of me.”

She smiles. “Of course, he did.”

Hearing what Leah went through with her parents makes me even more grateful for mine.

Veronica asks, “And Mom? What did she have to say?”

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