Page 34 of Unexpecting

″David who?” Brit asked, waving the waiter to get the bill.

″David David?” Morgan shrieked, a little too loudly for my liking. I nodded. ”Ohmygod! Where? When? How? Details, all of them, now!”

″David Mason?” Brit asked, with more restraint than Morgan. “Where did you see him?”

″He just walked into the store on Thursday,” I told them. “It was really weird, but it was him and—”

″Did you have sex with him?″ Morgan screeched.

“I don’t think the waiter in the back corner heard you,” Brit pointed out, and Morgan lowered her voice—thankfully. Morgan gets a little over-exuberant when she’s drinking.

″Did you?” she asked again, in a normal voice.

″No,” I said ruefully. “But I spent the day with him and dinner on Saturday and a movie last night,” I told them smugly. “He kissed me good-night.” Okay, I initiated it, but a kiss is still a kiss. Even though David never really kissed me back, but I didn’t think that was worth mentioning.

″Kiss, or kisskiss?” Morgan waggled her tongue at me.

″Just kiss. He’s taking me to dinner tomorrow night.”

″Does this mean you’re off the baby kick?” Brit asked rudely.

″No. I still—I don’t know,” I told her truthfully. “Maybe I want to have a baby with David?”

″Oh, come on, Casey! It’s been twelve years! People change. You haven’t seen David in how long, then all of sudden you want him to be a daddy? I think you need to give this baby crap some more thought.” Brit rolled her perfectly shadowed eyes at me. “I was hoping you’d forget about it.”

″How can I forget I want to have a baby? It’s something I’ve always wanted. It’s like me telling you not to get married.”

″Like that could happen,” she snorted.

″And why shouldn’t I consider David as a potential father? I know his history, his family background—I know him.”

″I hate to remind you—you knew him,” Brit said dryly.

″I don’t understand,” Morgan said with a look of confusion. “Do you just want him to father a child, or do you want him back in your life? Like, for good.”

″Why would you want to?” Brit asked. “Once you break up with someone, it never works out when you get back together. You’re better off finding someone else. Which I’ve told you to do for years.”

″You think Anil and I are finished forever?” Morgan’s chin was back in wobble mode. And that was the end of any discussion of David and me, or me and baby, which was fine for me because I needed to give a little more thought as to just what I wanted. Or what I expected from David. Well, not from David, but what I expected from myself regarding David.

It’s difficult when you look at it. I want a baby. I really think David—true, I’m basing this on the David I used to know and not the abridged, new version I still need to get to know—would be the perfect man to father my baby. What should I do—enjoy spending a little time with him before blowing him out of the water with my “Can I have your baby?” question? Or do I try for the whole shebang—hope that the feelings we once had for each other will quickly flare back up into a raging inferno, propelling us into bed at the perfect moment of ovulation, giving me both the baby and the man in one fell swoop? Is that too much of a long shot? According to Brit, it is, but that’s Brit. She’s just bitter I haven’t jumped on the whole who-wants-to-get-married bandwagon.

Why do things have to be so complicated?

Chapter Fifteen

“The father’s role in the child’s life is primarily as a protector and a disciplinarian. The new mother should not expect the father to employ a hands-on approach, only ensure there is a supportive environment and provide for the financial needs of mother and child.”

A Young Woman’s Guide to the Joy of Impending Motherhood

Dr. Francine Pascal Reid (1941)

When I finally gothome, many hours later, I found J.B. in the living room watching television. Early bedtimes aren’t his thing, even when he has the night off. I was not surprised to see my cat in his customary place lying on a magazine on the coffee table, surveying me with half-closed eyes. He—the cat—also didn’t seem surprised to see me. I flopped onto the couch beside J.B., holding my head.

″Well, hello there,” J.B. said, looking amused. “Doesn’t look like you’ve had a good night.”

″Not really. I had to listen to Morgan complain all night about what an utter bastard Anil is for breaking up with her.”

″Pretty pissed, eh?”

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