Page 49 of Not My Finest Hour

“Thanks, Mom,” I say, then turn toward Dad. “Daddy? Do I have your support too?” Tears well up in my eyes.

He gets up from the table and motions for me to stand. He wraps me in the biggest hug I think I’ve ever had from him, and rubs his hand up and down my back. “Of course you do. You’ll always have my support.” He kisses the top of my head, then releases me.

As I look around, there’s not a dry eye around. Mom stands up next and engulfs me in a hug.

“I’m going to be a grandma,” she says, so much joy in her tone. “I can’t believe it. Will you keep us updated as your pregnancy progresses?”

“Yes, I sure will,” I say, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

“Are we going to be able to meet the father? You said his name is Justin?” Dad asks.

“You can meet him as soon as you’d like. I didn’t want to have him over this weekend because he’s on call, and I wanted to tell you about the pregnancy when it was just our family here,” I say.

Mom takes a sip of her water. “But he’s also going to be family, and we’d like to meet him as soon as possible. You said he’s on call this weekend. What does he do?”

“He’s in his last year of residency.” I wait for one of them to ask the question I know is coming.

It’s Dad who asks first. “A resident, huh? What’s his specialty?”

“He’s going to be an ob-gyn,” I say, not a shred of embarrassment in my tone.

“Huh… Well, I’m curious why he would choose that,” Dad says.

“He has his reasons, which I’ll let him explain to you when you meet him. And may I remind all of you that the best ob-gyn I’ve ever had is a man, so I think Justin will make a fine doctor,” I say.

Mom nods along. “I’m sure his expertise will come in handy during your pregnancy. And I can’t wait to meet him so I can congratulate him. Do you have any concerns about being pregnant and raising children? I’m very qualified to answer, having raised two beautiful children of my own.”

“Of course, I have concerns,” I say. “I’m only twenty-six and I feel like I haven’t really done anything with my life. And I feel like having a baby is going to put that off even longer.”

Mom takes my hand again and meets my gaze. “But now you have the most important job of all—being a mother.”

ChapterEighteen

Over the next few weeks, Justin and I work to cross things off my list of things to do before the baby arrives. Since he doesn’t have a lot of time, we started with things around the city. I just have this overwhelming sense of urgency, even though I know it’s still very early in the pregnancy, to doallthe things I’ve talked about doing at some point in my life. Yes, it’s still possible to do some of these things after the baby is born, but I don’t know what my life with a child is going to look like.

We walked across the 520 Bridge, which is something I’ve always thought about doing, but never wanted to do it by myself. I’m glad I did it, but I wouldn’t want to do it again. We also got a cup of coffee (decaf for me) at the very first Starbucks location at Pike Place. It’s one of those things that tourists do, but as a local, I’ve always avoided Pike Place Market because it’s always crowded and finding parking is a chore. And guess what? It was crowded, finding parking was a chore, and it was the same cup of coffee I could’ve gotten at the Starbucks around the corner from my house.

On the bright side, I finally went up in the Space Needle, which was really cool. I don’t know why I hadn’t done it before, but probably the expense is what kept me away all this time. My parents never wanted to spend the money to send all of us there, and the way my dad always put it, “You can get views that are just as good for free if you know where to look.” And I went to my first Kraken game. I wouldn’t consider myself a hockey fan, but ever since Seattle got its own hockey team, I felt like I had to. Now if we could just get the SuperSonics to come back, I’d be set.

Today, Justin and I agreed to do something a little farther out. We’re headed to Snoqualmie Falls and then we’ll find someplace to eat either in Snoqualmie or North Bend. I think I’ve been to Snoqualmie Falls once as a child, but it was so long ago, I don’t remember what it was like. And now is a great time to see the Falls, or so I hear, because we’ve had a lot of rain over the past few days, so hopefully that’ll lead to a more stunning waterfall.

“What time is Justin supposed to pick you up?” Fern asks from the kitchen.

I’m sitting on the couch in a comfy sweatshirt and jeans watching a British baking competition on one of the many streaming services we subscribe to. This show is one of my favorites because everyone is so nice to one another. And the best part about it is there’s no cash prize or anything like that. All the winner gets is a trophy and bragging rights. I look down at my phone because any minute now, Justin is supposed to be here. “Soon,” I say. But the reality is, he should’ve been here fifteen minutes ago.

Right at that moment, there’s a knock on the door, and I get up from the couch to answer it. Justin is on the other side, and in his hand, he has a box of chocolates and there’s a sad look on his face.

“What are those for?” I ask.

“They’re for you,” he says, handing them over.

He’s wearing some dress slacks and a button-down shirt, not the casual clothes you’d expect from someone going to see a waterfall. “You’re not dressed for Snoqualmie Falls,” I say, stating the obvious.

His head droops. “No, I’m not. I’m so sorry, but I’m not able to go. One of my friends from school had a family emergency, and they asked if I could cover their shift at the hospital. I couldn’t say no, but saying yes meant missing out on time with you. I feel terrible about it.”

I try to cover up my disappointment. This makes the second time this week he’s had to cancel on me. I was supposed to go over to his house after work on Wednesday to have dinner and maybe spend the night, but he got called in to the hospital. I guess Dr. Tarlton wanted him to assist with a delivery, and he can’t really say no to him. “It’s okay. You do what you have to do. I’ll be fine here.”

“This isn’t how I wanted this day to go,” Justin says, holding my gaze. “But this will free me up for next weekend so we can go out with your friends like we’d talked about.”

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