Page 57 of Crazy Imperfect Hearts

“Joey.”

“Like from the Pussycats?”

She laughs. “That was Josie. He’s Joey, as in Tribbiani.”

“You gave your cat a last name? That’s weird.”

The light flicks on and Regan stares at me. I don’t like this look.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s something else we didn’t have Candace put in the contract.” She sits on the bed, not looking interested in the least in the very thing we came in here for. “The baby’s last name.”

“Oh, right.” I sit down next to her. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“You just assumed he or she would have yours.”

“I didn’t say that. I said I didn’t think of it. But if you’re asking, yeah, I’d like our kid to have my last name.”

“Of course you would. But I started this thing. Don’t you think it’s only fair it’smyname?”

“Kids traditionally have their father’s last name, even when the parents aren’t married.”

“Traditionally?” Her eyes blaze into me, and not in a good way. “If I did everything traditionally, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

I turn, hitch a leg up on the bed, and face her. “Is this one of those things we’re going to have to get an uninterested third party to decide?”

“Why is it so important to you?”

“For one, I have a family business that bears my name. What if he or she wants to be a part of it one day? It would just make sense.”

“If it’s a girl, though, she’ll most likely change her name when she marries, so what does it matter?”

I stare at the abstract painting on her wall. “What if we compromise and say if it’s a girl, she gets your name and if it’s a boy, he gets mine?”

“That’s not a terrible idea,” she says, relaxing her tense shoulders.

“See?” I crack my knuckles. “I knew we’d be able to do this. Our first conflict, and already resolved. We won’t have a problem as long as you don’t decide to call her Rainbow or him Zephyr or some other hippie name.”

“Rainbow Lucas,” she says, nodding with a funny grin that means she’s clearly joking. “I kind of like it.”

I stiffen. “Wait. I’m changing my mind.”

“I’m not going to name her Rainbow. I think we should each have a little veto power when it comes to the name, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, sure, but, Regan”—I get on the floor on my knees, put a hand on her leg, and look her straight in the eye—“I changed my mind about the last name. I want it to be Montana regardless of gender. When you just said it out loud, it dawned on me that my daughter’s last name would be my first. Can you imagine me introducing us? ‘I’m Lucas Montana and this is my daughter, Sarah Lucas.’ It’s weird.”

She brushes my hand off her leg. “One, we’re not naming her after your mother. In fact we’re not naming him or her after anyone. I hate that. And, two, you’re demanding she have your last name because it’sweird?”

“Think about it. What if my last name was Regan and we had a boy and called him, for argument sake, Mitch. He’d be Mitch Regan. And when you’d enroll him in school, people would think it’s strange that you’d have a kid whose last name is your first. Admit it… it’s weird.”

She blows out a breath. “I guess it would be.” She picks a piece of lint off her comforter. “Fine.”

“Seriously?”

She nods.

I was ready to put up a fight to the death on this issue. Yeah, it was her idea. And yeah, she’s the one carrying the baby. But having a kid who doesn’t have my last name? Call me old fashioned, but I’d have a really hard time with it.

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