Page 111 of The Grump I Loathe
34
CONNOR
“We’re on the official countdown!” I called, watching the clock run down. It was six fifty-five.
Alterbotwas officially going live with the distributor at seven tonight, which meant it would be available on all major retail sites. Tomorrow morning, the game would be on store shelves just in time to entice the post-Christmas crowd. “Eddie?”
“Just a second!” she called.
“Haven’t fallen in, have you?”
“No,no…I’m good.”
We were binging the latest season of Liam’s hit show,End in Fire,and Eddie had zoomed off to the bathroom as soon as an episode ended. Grace was off doing winter break activities with Ali, and Alannah was with Valentina, so I’d offered to take her to a fancy restaurant tonight to celebrate the launch. But Eddie had insisted on being home, just the two of us. We’d squirreled ourselves away, and I’d ordered fancy Thai food and had a bottle of champagne on ice.
A regular night.That’s what she’d requested. My heart still lurched at how amazing that sounded. A regular night now consisted of us tucked up on the couch together after the dinner dishes were done and Grace was in bed.
It was Eddie in the crook of my arm, her head on my chest, her arm thrown over me, and my lips pressed to the crown of her head. It was feeling her giggle or gasp at something on the TV. It was spit balling ideas for aShadowsequel. It was talking about whatever the latest fourth-grade drama was.
And it was perfect.
“Seriously, I need to know what happens to Cade!” I called. “If Liam kills him off, I’m going to be pissed.”
“Ha!” Eddie called. “You and half the women in America.”
“I’m starting the next episode!”
“Wait!” Eddie cried, rushing down the hall and into my arms.
“Guess that’s officiallyAlterbotgone live,” I said, kissing the top of her head. “Let me get the champagne, and we’ll really celebrate.”
“Umm…” When she pulled away, she wasn’t beaming the way I’d expected. Instead, she had an nervous look on her face, her lip caught between her teeth.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Maybe you should sit down.”
My smile fell away. “Eddie? What are you…” She winced. My pulse skipped. “You’re worrying me.”
She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a thin white test, and my heart jumped into my throat as I flashed back almost ten years.
“I realized I was late,” Eddie said, breathless as she stared down at the test. “So I bought…” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t actually think it would be…” Her eyebrows knitted together tightly. “But I’ve done two tests now. I know they say the third time’s the charm, but it feels pretty…well, certain.” She looked up at me, confusion and uncertainty and maybe even a little bit of hope written into her features. “What are we going to do?”
I rushed forward, catching her shoulders, staring down at those two pink lines. “Are you saying that we’re?—”
“Looks that way.” She lifted the test, giving it a little shake. “Whoo-hoo, right?” She blinked at me. “Right?”
“We’re pregnant?” I murmured.
“We’re pregnant,” she confirmed.
I gave a sharp laugh of disbelief. A giddy laugh. My heartbeat raced. “We’re having a baby!” I swept her up, twisting her around until she giggled into my ear.
Memories flooded me as we spun. I remembered this moment with Ali. The moment all that weight of responsibility crashed down on my shoulders. I remembered the panic that flooded my veins. I’d loved Grace from the very second I knew she existed, but I’d worried, even then, about whether Ali and I could pull off being good parents.
I waited for a similar panic to set in, but it never came.
I want this, I realized with a quiet desperation. I wanted to be a parent again, and I wanted to do that with Eddie.
