“Sounds good, what about you, John?” she asks her brother.
“I’m good for now, thanks.”
I follow Cindi into the kitchen, waiting as she hands me a glass filled with ice cold lemonade.
“How was your morning?” Cindi asks as she puts the pitcher back into the fridge.
“Good, kinda lazy, and then we’ve just been at your mom’s for the last few hours.”
“Did she pull out the photo albums?” Cindi asks, taking a seat on one of the stools tucked under the counter.
“She did, I think it drove your brother nuts, but he also took it like a good sport.”
“She told me she was going to do that, and I’d told her that you would probably love it.”
“I did. It was fun to see him as he grew up.”
“How did it go with him meeting your parents last weekend?” she asks.
“Perfectly fine. John had offered to take everyone out for a nice meal, but my mom insisted on cooking for us, so we went over to their house. My dad and John went out onto the deck to chat for a little bit, man to man. He still hasn’t told me everything they discussed during that time, but he said that it was a good talk and that I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
“I’m sure he held his own if your dad was giving the standard fatherly talk to the boy his daughter brought home to meet the parents.”
“I can only hope, but it couldn’t have been too bad since they exchanged numbers and planned to have lunch together sometime soon. Enough about me, how are you feeling this week?”
“Good, had an appointment this week and the babies are right on target.”
“That’s great! Have you started to feel them move yet?”
“Nothing strong, but I think I’ve felt a flutter or two just this week.”
“That’s so awesome. Are you going to find out their genders?”
“Absolutely. I need time to plan and shop for necessities. We kept a lot of Mason’s things, but with two, we’ll obviously need to buy some extra things.”
“Are you going to have a shower or register anywhere?” I ask.
“Probably not since this isn’t our first. We’ll just start picking things up as we go.”
“You should at least put together a small registry so people who want to buy you something can get what you actually need or want,” I suggest, knowing that I’d like to send a gift and I’m sure John would want to, as well.
“We’ll see. Sometimes the stores will give you a coupon you can use on anything you buy yourself off the registry, so it might be worth creating one just for that discount.”
“There you go,” I say, laughing at the idea.
“What has the two of you giggling in here?” John asks as he joins Cindi and I in the kitchen.
“Just about shopping for baby things.”
“Ah,” he says, like that’s all he needed to hear to know this isn’t a conversation for him. “On that note, I’ll let the two of you talk your little hearts out. I’ll be outside with Mason and Mom,” he tells us.
“Sounds good, have Mason show you how good he is on his bike. He’s pretty good with going around the block, just make sure he stays on the sidewalk.”
“Will do,” John agrees and then disappears out of the kitchen.
* * *
“Are you ready for this?” John asks, the excitement he’s feeling practically vibrating from his body.