Page 69 of A Moment for Us
Two.
Dos niños.
Doubly screwed.
“I didn’t think I would have them.”
“I wasn’t exactly anticipating this either, but here we are,” Delia says, pulling the blanket around her.
I am being an asshole. I make my way to the couch and sit next to her. “You’re right. I am just stunned.”
“Same here.”
“We’re going to have twins, and we’ll be fine.”
She laughs once. “You’re insane! We won’t be fine! We aren’t equipped to have one kid, let alonetwoof them! This is like some cosmic joke, Josh. Twins. Nothing is okay. I’m not okay. Are you okay? Because you don’t seem so okay. You keep sayingtwo,twins, and I don’t know if you’re aware that you’re speaking. I’m freaking the fuck out. You don’t love me, and now I have to have two of your babies? Do you keep one and I get the other?” Delia gets to her feet, starting to ramble and walk the same path I was pacing two minutes ago. “That seems insane, right? We don’t split them, but then do you get one on one weekend, and I get the other? Again, that makes no sense. Now I have to wonder how to feed two babies, change two babies, clothe two babies. Not to mention, I am in myprime, Josh! My fucking prime, and now I’m going to have two kids. What man is going to want to date me? I’m going to be alone and fat and have saggy tits because two babies mean double everything. No one will want me!” Tears are streaming down her face, and she’s throwing her hands up and down. “I am never going to find someone to love me.” She turns, now shifting to anger. “And it’s all your stupid fault!”
“My fault?” I ask, and I realize immediately that was a mistake.
She stalks toward me. “Yes. You had the condom that broke. You had to be nice to me that night and make me want to have hot, sweaty sex with you. It’s. All. Your. Fault! Why do you have to be so damn irresistible?”
“I’m . . . sorry?” I say as more of a question, absolutely smart enough not to point out that she was who demanded I stay that night.
She groans and takes the blanket off the couch before tossing it in my face and then flopping down beside me.
I set the blanket aside and take her hands in mine. “No matter what you think, you are not going to be alone or fat.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, but I know that you could never be anything other than gorgeous.” She shakes her head, but I continue, “I mean it. Any man who says otherwise is stupid and doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”
“That’s sweet.”
The saddest part is that I’m the stupid one. I know she’s beautiful, funny, sweet, and everything a man should want. I also know that she loves me. So, here I am, letting this amazing woman walk around, believing I don’t spend every hour of the day thinking about her, wishing I were a better man.
Delia sighs. The sound of defeat nearly breaks me. “What do we do now?”
I haven’t a fucking clue. I will say that I’m smart enough not to say that to Delia. “We take a little time and figure it out.”
“You know, we said we’d figure it out a few weeks ago, and you moved into my house.”
“See how efficient I am? Now you don’t have to worry about having to take care of two babies alone because I’m here.”
“Yeah. You are.”
* * *
“Delia!” I call for the tenth time because she’s still in her room getting ready. “We’re going to be late.”
“We’re fine!” she yells back.
I look at my watch, the seconds hand taunting me with each tick. Stella will kill me if I’m not there on time. Four days ago, she called me, asking if I’d be the brother to walk her down the aisle because she decided not to invite our father to her wedding.
I can’t imagine it was easy for her. As a kid, she spent way too many hours playing dress up for her imagined wedding. I can remember the one time in particular when she burst into our father’s office with her white dress and requested their first dance.
It was one of the few times I saw him actually be a good father and oblige her.
That won’t be the memory she makes today.
