Page 96 of Slap Shot Surprise
“Let me know what you hear.”
“I’m looking forward to a few days off for the holiday. Are you still planning to come down on Christmas Day?”
“Yes!” I placed a hand on my stomach. “You’ll hardly recognize me. I’m much bigger than I was at Thanksgiving.”
He laughed. “It’s only been a couple weeks.”
“I know, but I feel like I really ballooned since then.”
“I can’t wait to see you.”
My entire body tingled, right down to my toes. “I’m excited to see you too.”
In the silence that followed, I wanted to tell him I missed him, but couldn’t bring myself to say the words.
Instead I said, “Well, I should probably go to bed. It was a long day.”
“Get some rest,” he told me. “Good night.”
“Night.”
We hung up, and I went into my bedroom, sat at the foot of my bed, and flopped onto my back.
Love, Joe.
I sighed heavily. Dreamily.
Cleo, who’d followed me, hopped up onto the mattress and meowed.
“What?” I asked, as if she’d accused me of something.
Meow.
“I’m just emotional.”
Meow.
“I don’t really love him. Not like that.”
Meow.
“I’m not allowed to love him like that, Cleo.” I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. “Don’t let me.”
NINETEEN
joe
I flew outof Chicago early on December twenty-fourth.
After takeoff, there was some turbulence due to a cold front, and I thought of Mabel and the day we met. The things she’d confessed as the plane shuddered and rolled. The look on her face when she realized she wasn’t going to die. The surprise of seeing her again the following night. The fun we’d had in my hotel room.
The insane turn my life had taken because of it.
Reaching into my bag beneath the seat in front of me, I took out the book she’d left for me. It was calledFrom Dude to Dad: A Pregnancy Survival Guide, and it was aimed at guys like me who were generally clueless but wanted to be good partners and fathers. Each week of pregnancy had its own chapter. I couldn’t say I’d read every page, but I’d skimmed the beginning and I’d read the last three chapters word for word. It was insane, the things happening inside her.
How the hell did she even sleep with all the kicking and jabbing going on in her uterus?
One time I’d skipped ahead to the birth stuff, just out ofcuriosity, but I felt a panic attack coming on while I read, so I’d closed the book and didn’t pick it up for a few days. It was probably better to work up to that day gradually.
