Page 2 of Promise Yule Be Mine
“At least we have each other.”
“‘til we’re gray.”
“And old.”
“And childless.” She hugged herself and her lips turned down into a pout. “Childless,” she cried.
“Hey! You’re not going to be childless.”
“Pftt! I can’t even get a man to marry me. Who’s going to have kids with me? You?”
I shrugged. “Why not? We know we get along. We’d make kickass co-parents.”
She rolled her eyes again and her gaze drifted off to the electric fireplace that was turned to a low setting to keep the house warm. Winter was going to come early this year. Which would be good for business. Not so good for our mental health.
“We would,” she mumbled after what felt like an eternity. An eternity in which I’d somehow finished my glass of wine and discovered there was no more to be had.
Dang it. I knew I should have brought three bottles. This was a crisis. Two simply weren’t enough.
“What?” I asked.
Jenna took a deep breath and turned to me.
“We’d make great parents together, wouldn’t we?”
I narrowed my eyes and tried to turn the three Jennas appearing before me into one.
“Are you propositioning me?”
Her eyes bulged and she jumped in her seat. A few drops of wine flew to the couch cushions but she didn’t notice.
“Yes! I am. Let’s do this. Let’s get married, Kody. Who better to spend your life with than your best friend who’s always got your back?”
“Woah! Woah!” I put my hands up. “How did we get from asking me to be your children’s father to being your husband?”
She finally put her glass down on the table and reached for me, cupping my hands in hers.
“You know I don’t want to do this alone. You know how hard it was for my mom to raise me all on her own. And look at my job. I’m almost never here half the time. I can’t do this by myself.”
“But you wouldn’t. I’d be the co-parent.”
“Yeah, but that means carting a kid back and forth between two houses. We should live together and if we live together, we might as well get married. Hell, we can have an open marriage since there’s no chance in hell I’m reopening that can of worms with you.”
“You’re crazy.”
“That I am, but tell me I’m not right.”
I opened my mouth to do just that but closed it before a single word escaped.
It wouldn’t be the worst idea ever. It wasn’t like guys and girls were lining up outside my house anyway. And I really did want to be a father.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Yay!” She clapped and hugged me, squealing like a little girl who’d just convinced her parents to buy her ice cream. “I’m gonna be the best wife. You’ll see.”
“And I’ll be the best husband,” I told her and we stayed there, locked in each other’s arms for the rest of the night.
When I woke up with a blistering headache the next morning, she was passed out at the other end of the couch and I was curled up in a fetal position trying to steady the room around me.
