Page 31 of When the Time Is Right
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “August twelfth. My little Petunia is going to be a Leo.”
Okay, so she was pregnant with a sperm donor. So what? Honestly, that was a brave choice and I respected the shit out of her for making it. But I drew a hard line at dating a woman who would name her daughter Petunia.
The waitress set my drink in front of me, and I decided right then and there that I’d be calling one of the guys to pick up my work truck because I’d be catching an Uber home. Whiskey was meant to be sipped. And I sipped this one all in one swallow, motioning for the waitress to bring me another.
My phone vibrated again, and knowing it was sure to be Lex, I excused myself from the table before reading it.Lex: Shit. I’m sorry. I haven’t seen Sandra in a while. I had no idea.I stood in the hallway outside the men’s restroom as I typed out my reply.Me: Well, apparently, all her friends call her Sandy. So I’m not sure you really know Sandra at all.Lex: We’ve met! Like…twice. Let’s be real here. You’ve always wanted more kids, right?Me: Yes. But preferably with a woman my cock has met at least once.Lex: Minor formality. The meeting part, I mean. We’ve already covered that there is nothing minor about your cock.I glared at my screen, and like most of our interactions, I ended up shaking my head.Me: Right. Anyway. Has Hank touched you again?Lex: No. Though I’m fairly sure he’s given up on me. He’s flirting with the waitress now. I’m not particularly devastated about it.Me: Good. That changes though and I expect a call.Lex: 10-4, good buddy. Since tonight seems to be a bust for both of us, you want to meet at Huey’s for a drink later?Me: Yeah. I’m going to be a few drinks ahead of you though. Text me when you leave.Lex: OK. Be sure to find out where “Sandy” is registered for me. I should at least send the baby a gift.Me: Ass.After several seconds with no reply, I headed back to the table. Sandy was still sitting there, perusing the menu, and she shot me a smile when I sat down.
“Sorry about that. Alexis is on a date too, and apparently, it’s not going so well.”
“So, pretty much just like this one?”
I sighed. “Shit. I’m sorry. I…didn’t know you were pregnant. I’ll be honest here. I haven’t been in a relationship in years. I’m really going to need someone who can take it slow with me, and…well, August isn’t that far away.”
She grinned and removed the napkin from her lap, tossing it onto the table. “It’s okay. I know this is kind of strange. It’s been a while for me too. Hence my torrid affair with donor three-oh-five.”
I chuckled, and she slowly stood up, her belly bumping the table.
“It was nice to meet you, Hudson.”
Truthfully, I felt guilty, but I was starving, and I had at least an hour and a half before Lex would be at Huey’s. It was Friday night, she was pregnant and alone, and despite how it looked, I wasn’t a total prick.
“Sandy, wait. Don’t go. Just because this isn’t going to work out doesn’t mean we can’t share a meal. Let me buy you and Petunia dinner. Fair warning, I’m missing my son something crazy like, so I’ll probably ramble your ear off with stories from when he was a baby. But I hear the food here is amazing, so it shouldn’t be too torturous.”
She twisted her lips. “Really?”
“Really.”
Turned out, Sandy wasn’t the worst dinner company I’d ever had. Baby aside, we never would have worked out though. She spent over an hour telling me all about her homemade herbal tinctures she’d been preparing for little Petunia’s arrival. She didn’t believe in TV. Electronics. Or really anything that required a power cord. She frowned a lot when I told her I was in construction, but to her credit, she only made one snide comment about trees and the environment.
We said goodbye with a handshake and then she and Petunia were on their way in her smart car which was the size of a shoebox.
Donor 305 had lucked out though. She’d be a good mom to his offspring.
Three doubles later, I was already tipsy when I arrived at Huey’s, but without dick all to do the next day except sit in the office, I figured a few more couldn’t hurt. Above and beyond a few beers, I wasn’t much of a drinker. So by the time Lex got there about twenty minutes later, I was straddling the line of too much and oh-holy-shit too much.
“What’s that?” I asked as she plopped down a plastic bag on the table. I reached for it and my hand hit my empty glass, nearly knocking it off the tabletop.
