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RACHEL
I wasn't sure I would rebuild after the fire caused by the old wiring. Despite the insurance money that would have covered it, I wondered if it was worth it in the end. People mostly bought books online now, and I thought I’d be crazy to think I could compete. But Tanner was amazingly supportive either way. His only condition was that I moved in with him. He didn't want me staying in the apartment over the shop anymore, despite the wiring be redone entirely.
But the decision to go ahead and give the book store another shop was made when Ember Mitchell, the owner of theSparks and Sprinklesbakery next door, presented the idea that I changed my mind.
She was looking to expand her growing business, and while I was looking to downsize. The plan she presented to me was to knock out the wall between our two stores. I could still have my book store and serve coffee. And she’d now have the ability to have seating for people to stick around and relax with their sweet treats. We would still look like two stores from the outside, but inside we'd be one, with the shared space in the middle for tables.
“You nervous about tomorrow?” Tanner asks me as we lay in bed.
I shake my head. “I think it’s going to be great. Colt has everything set.”
Tanner glances over at me in confusion. “I meant the doctor’s appointment.”
"Oh right," I laugh and run my hand down my expanding belly. "I've been so caught up with the reopening. I forgot that it was tomorrow."
Tanner turns to his side and leans on his elbow. He rests his hand on my belly.
"Don't worry, little one," he says to the bump. "Your mother's forgetfulness has nothing to do with not caring, but what some professionals call 'pregnancy brain.'"
I chuckle. “Thanks so much.”
“We don’t know if he can hear us.”
“He?”
“Or she,” he adds.
“Are you sure you want to find out the sex of the baby tomorrow?”
“Don’t you?”
"It could be fun not to know."
"Well, they could tell you tomorrow, and you likely wouldn't remember it anyway." He chuckles. “Besides, Tegan asks me every time I talk to her. She's ready to start spoiling our baby, and we run the risk of getting two of everything if we don't find out if it's a boy or a girl."
“Or both,” I joke, but Tanner.
“I told you my mom was a twin.”
Tanner’s smile falters. “So was my dad.”
The realization that the likely hood of more than one baby hits us like a cold bucket of water. We both look at the bump with a questioning eye.
“You don’t think—” I start to ask, but Tanner cuts me off.
“No, we would know.”
“Would we?”
"I don't know," Tanner says and lays back down.
We both stare up at the ceiling quietly. I reach out for his hand, our fingers linking together.
“We can do this,” I tell him with a note of confidence in my voice that I’m not at all feeling.
He squeezes my hand in his before raising it and kissing the back of my hand. "We can do anything when we have each other."
* * *
