Page 162 of Run
“It’s time? What time? Time for what?” Lizzie and Dee gasp in front of me, Lizzie’s hand going to her heart. My eyes bulge.“What?” I ask the ladies in front of me, then into the phone. “What? What’s happening?”
“Idiot,” Monty mumbles as he turns and walks away.
“Ethan,” Ari says again. “It. Is. Time.”
I stand up slowly as I shake my head. Lizzie rolls her eyes and cups her arms in front of her and swings them, like she’s rocking a baby. Dee squats and acts like she’s catching a football.
“Oh!” I yell, realization hitting me. “It’s time?!”
“Yes!” Ari barks over the line, then laughs.
“It’s time! IT’S TIME!” I pump a fist in the air and turn to Lizzie and Dee. “I have to go!”
“Go.” Lizzie says, giving me a smile and stepping aside so I can squeeze through the door. “I’ll give Cherise the head’s up.”
“I’m coming, Red! I’m on my way!” I yell into the phone as I half-jog, half-fucking-skip past the cubicles.
“Good luck!” Monty yells from his corner. I give him the middle finger over my head as I push out the front door.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital,” Ari says through the phone.
“No. I’ll pick you up.” I jog up to the Ducati.
“No, Ethan, we need the car seat.”
“Oh, yeah. Shit.”
“Just meet me there. I’ll probably be there first. I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”
“OK, I’m hurrying, baby.”
Jogging up the sidewalk toward the hospital entrance, I find Ari waiting for me. She’s bouncing from foot to foot anxiously, and my pace slows but my strides lengthen as I approach her and take her face in my hands, kiss her hard, and rest my forehead against hers. “You ready for this?”
She shakes her head in my hands. “Honestly?”
“Honesty would be nice right about now.”
“I’m so ready.” She pulls back and I take her hand.
I drag her into the hospital, my Army boots feeling like they’re filled with lead as we quickly make our way across the foyer and toward the elevators. The ride up to maternity seems to take forever, and as soon as the doors slide open, I lead Ari to the reception desk where a young lady in scrubs and a high ponytail greets us. “Hello. What can I help you with?”
“We’re here to have a baby,” I rush out.
The woman looks between us, and then down at Ari’s flat stomach, and then back at me. “Uhhhh …”
Ari pulls her hand out of mine and smacks me on the stomach with it. “We’re not having a baby,” she waves a hand between the two of us. “Someone else is having a baby and we’re adopting him or her.”
“Oh!” Another woman pipes up from behind the desk. “Yes, we’ve been expecting you. Please, follow me.” She gestures for us to walk around the reception area and follow her down a busy hallway. “The mother came in a few hours ago. Her water broke at home, but she wasn’t in active labor, so she had to be induced. That means it could be a while.”
Nurses and doctors scurry past us as we pass many doors. I’m not sure if the woman we are following is a nurse or doctor or some sort of technician, but she’s wearing the same blue scrubs that most everyone else seems to be wearing. She has dark skin and corkscrew hair, and a genuine smile when she looks back at us and chuckles. “I always find it amazing how adoptive parents are just as nervous as birth parents.”
“You’re doing great, honey,” I hear some guy say through one doorway. Passing another, I hear groaning. And then when we pass yet another, I hear a woman curse like a sailor. We get to the end of the hallway and the lady we’ve been following gestures to some chairs. “Well, make yourself comfortable. Like I said, it may be a while.”
“Are they …” Ari points to a closed door in front of us.
The nurse nods. “Yes, they’re in there.” Ari wrings her hands nervously and the woman smiles. “Coffee is available by the registration desk, and the bathrooms are right over there.” She points down the hallway before she walks away.
And then Ari and I enter a stare-off. I scratch my hands over my scalp as Ari chews on a fingernail. “What do we do?” she asks.
