Page 92 of Unexpecting

″Well, that will make things more difficult,” I teased. “If we can’t name them after someone you dated.”

″I think that can go both ways,” he pointed out. “Your list is fairly long as well.”

″I think we can agree on no significant others? For me, someone I dated for longer than three months; for you, if you knew her last name.”

″Hey!” J.B. looked offended, but I was laughing too much to care. He gave my shoulder a shove, which made me laugh even louder. “I’ll have you know I know lots of last names.”

″What’s mine?” He looked like he was about to growl at me, but I kept laughing. “Please tell me you don’t keep a list of all these last names.”

″Do you mean my little black book, volumes one to ten?” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have a black book,” he added patiently.

″Anymore,” I said darkly.

″I never did,” he said quietly. I met his eyes and something wiggled in my stomach. I didn’t think it was the babies yet.

″Speaking of which, I haven’t seen any long, tall, blonde things popping up over breakfast in a while.” I had to congratulate myself on being able to say this so casually, especially with the way he was looking at me.

″Nope,” J.B. was just as casual.

″No? Hitting streak over then?”

″I thought I’d just take a little time out on the bench, that’s all.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Thought it was a good time to do that.”

I gave a careful nod. “Oh. Maybe.”

″Maybe what?”

″Maybe it’s a good time to do that.”

″I thought so. What about you?”

″Oh, I started my bench warming the night this happened,” I told him, with my hand on my belly. “Remember?”

″Except for David,” J.B. said with a tiny note of scorn in his voice. If I hadn’t been listening to it, I might have missed it.

″Yes, but that didn’t last too long.” When he grimaced, I tried to hide my smile. “Are you still mad at me about that?”

″Why should I be mad?” he bluffed.

″No reason. In case you were curious, David is in Rome with Marco. I got an e-mail from him—he’s not sure where things are going, but they’re taking it slow. I guess Marco’s family is an issue.”

″The whole being Canadian thing?”

″No, more likely the whole being gay thing.”

″Parents should accept who their children are and be happy for them,” J.B. pronounced darkly. This, of course, surprised me more than a little.

″It’s nice you have such a tolerant approach when you’re on the cusp of being a parent yourself. I guess things change when you face life-altering events.”

″I’ve always been tolerant. My best friend growing up was gay. I was the first person he told.”

″I—I didn’t know that. Why didn’t I know that?”

″It’s not something I felt the need to bring up in everyday conversation. There are things you don’t know about me, Case.”

″I think there’s a lot I don’t know about you. And I think I might be looking forward to finding out more,” I told him shyly.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, but it was a good, comfortable silence. The lab was packed, so our wait was longer than before, but today I didn’t seem to mind.

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