Page 36 of That Baby (That Boy 3)
"Here's the necklace I had custom made for you. I was going to surprise you with it tonight. I know pregnancy hasn't been easy on you or easy on us, but I wanted to get you something so spectacular that you would know how much I love you and appreciate what you've gone through. I made Jay try it on because I wanted to make sure it would lay properly and the lady at the store had a fat neck. So you enjoy. I'm out of here." He heads toward the door.
"Danny! Wait!"
"No, I'm sorry. You being pregnant and the hormones you're taking can excuse some things, but not this. You figure out what you want. You let me know. I'll be sleeping at the hotel tonight."
When the door shuts behind him, Lori drops to a dining room chair, studies the necklace, and starts crying.
"You should probably go now," Phillip tells her.
She leaves the necklace on the table and walks out the door.
Phillip locks the door behind her and then rushes to me. "Did you really feel the baby kick?"
April 21st
Made up.
"Let's take Angel for a walk," Phillip says, pulling me into his arms. "You've been moping around the house all morning."
"I just still can't believe Lori. Have you heard from Danny?"
"Yeah, he texted me early this morning. Apologized again for everything. Wanted to check on you."
"What about Lori?"
"She went to the hotel late last night. Sounds like they made up."
I sigh. "Well, that's good, I guess."
"Give her some time," Phillip says. "Come on, Angel. Wanna go for a walk?"
The puppy comes tearing around the corner with one of my shoes in her mouth. The corner of the heel is chewed to pieces.
"Are you kidding me? Angel, bad girl. Give me my shoe!"
The dog sprints down the hall, so I run after her.
"Princess, stop chasing her. She thinks you're playing with her."
I stop and sit down. Angel peeks at me from under the ugly kitchen table that is still (un)gracing my house. She prances over, drops the shoe in my lap, and licks me.
I inspect the damage to the shoe. "We're going to have to find her something to chew on besides toys. She's destroying them faster than I can buy them."
"Let's take her for a walk and wear her out," he offers.
Later in the day, I get a text from Lori.
Lori: I was being stupid. I'm just a stupid girl.
I can't disagree with that and, since she didn't apologize, I don't bother replying.
CHAPTER TWELVE
YOU KICKED!
YOU KICKED!
YOU KICKED!
(Thank you!)
I'm able to feel you kick now. Not all the time but once in a while. At least every day since the first one I felt. It's weird. But very, very cool.
You are now the size of my palm and you are practicing sucking and swallowing, which will be super important soon!
It's been a rough week, if I'm being honest. My best friend and I aren't talking.
And it hurts.
Last week was also the five year anniversary of my parents' death. I mentioned earlier that you have grandparents in heaven. They died in a car accident when I was a senior in high school.
It's weird how certain memories are engrained in your mind. To this day, I can close my eyes and smell the popcorn in the hospital waiting room.
I really don't love hospitals, to be honest.
But I went twice for Lori. Once when they thought she was having a miscarriage and, again, when she was in labor.
And I'm going for you.
I hope that my experience having you turns my view of hospitals around. That I'll start thinking of them as a place where miracles happen. Where babies are born. Where people get better.
You know, sometimes people you think were your friends turn out not to be as good of friends as you thought they were. But when you find ones who are true, cherish them.
And here's a life lesson for you. If you screw up--and you will--own up to it. Tell the people you care about that you made a mistake and apologize.
Because making excuses for your bad behavior is not okay. And it devalues your friendship.
So even though Danny has forgiven Lori, I just can't. I could if she would apologize. But she hasn't. Instead I just hear excuses. She was stupid. It was her hormones. She was dumb.
And even though I'm being nice and saying its okay.
It's not okay.
And neither am I.
April 26th
The little monkey.
Since Danny hired Joey to run his non-profit, he and Chelsea are in town looking for a place to live. Phillip and I worked until noon and then spent the rest of the day taking them on a tour of some of the neighborhoods they are going to look at tomorrow with a realtor.
"I'm starved!" Chelsea says, grabbing a menu as we all slide into a booth at our favorite sports bar.
"She's not kidding," Joey teases. "Stand back when the food comes or you might get your hand bit off."
"Not funny," she says, but she's laughing along with him.
"We need appetizers, stat," Phillip says to the waitress. "We have two hungry, pregnant women here."
The waitress chuckles and takes our order.
"So did you have any favorite areas?" I ask.
"We really like this area," Joey says. "Lots of restaurants. Close to everything. Good schools. Which even though that may not matter to us now, my dad says it's important for your resale value to buy in a good school district."
"The one I like best online is near the park too. I hope we like it as much in person."
A text flashes on my phone.
Danny: Lori is in labor. We're at the hospital. This is it! It's time!
Me: Are you sure?
Danny: Yep. Her water broke, so we'll be meeting the little monkey within the next twenty-four hours.
Me: That's amazing, Danny! Are you nervous?
Danny: The weird thing is that Lori was on medicine to stop her labor and now that her water broke and she should be in labor, she's not. They have her walking the halls, trying to get it started. If it doesn't progress on its own then they will give her something to start the contractions. But I have a problem.
Me: What's that?
Danny: We don't have the bag we packed for the hospital. When her water broke, we were out. We called the doctor and he told us to go straight to the hospital. Lori is sorta freaking out about not being able to follow her birth plan. Is there any way you could bring it here?
Me: Of course, we can.
Danny: Thank you. It's by the front door. We're in room 320.
Me: Good luck, Danny.
I announce to the table, "Danny and Lori are at the hospital. Her water broke."
"That's awesome!" Chelsea says but then she looks at the table and does a little frown. I told her most of what happened with Lori in confidence because I truly needed a girlfriend to talk to about it. She feels the same way I do. Lori owes me an apology not excuses.
"He needs me to pick up their hospital bag and take it to them."
"You guys stay here and eat," Phillip says. "I'll run home, grab the bag, let Angel pee, drop the bag off, and meet you back here. Sound good?"
I let out a sigh. I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath. "I am hungry."
He leans over, gives me a kiss, and heads out.
Actually, I'm really not that hungry, I just sorta didn't want to take Lori anything.
But then I internally chastise myself for being a shitty friend.
When Phillip gets back, Joey's had enough beers for all of us, and Chelsea and I are stuffed.
"Their kitchen is never going to be done before they get home. It's too bad," Phillip says. "I wouldn't want to have to take a baby home to that mess."
"I wonder if we can make it happen?" I say, a plan slowly forming in my head.
"Make what happen?" Chelsea asks as she's perusing the dessert menu.
"I'm going to step outside
for a minute. Make a couple phone calls."
The first person I call is the contractor who's working on our building.
"Hey, Mike, it's Jadyn. Big favor. Do you think you could get a crew together to finish a kitchen remodel?"
"Maybe, how soon are we talking?"
"It needs to be done in the next thirty-six hours."
"Wow, that's fast! What is there to do?"
