Page 100 of Tap Left
“What’s that?”
“A baby in your belly.”
Epilogue
Lola
“This is impossible,” Daire whines.
“It’s not impossible,” I tell him. “Just remember this is what you wanted.”
“All they do is eat and shit.”
“Welcome to fatherhood.”
“But why are there three of them?” he protests. “I only asked for one.”
“You get what you get,” I say. “Consider it good practice. You’ll be triple qualified.”
He grunts in response, and I kiss him on the forehead. “Kay, well I’m off to meet up with Mellie.”
“Yep,” he grumbles. “Have fun.”
I muss up his hair and then lean down to kiss all three puppies that are currently clambering over him. They are only foster babies, so we can’t get attached, but damn they are cute.
Daire turns on the television and settles into the sofa. “How long will you be gone?”
There’s an undercurrent of panic in his voice, but something about it feels a little contrived. I’ve suspected for a while that he’s not quite as frazzled as he’s pretending to be, and today I intend on finding out why.
“Don’t know.” I shrug. “At least a few hours. Could turn into an all-day event.”
He nods. “Yeah, alright. Well, have fun.”
“Love you!” I sing as I make a beeline for the elevator. “Don’t forget to let them out every two hours.”
“Love you too,” he says.
It still gives me goosebumps whenever Daire makes any kind of emotional declaration towards me. Six months of marriage and it feels like the first time every time.
I ride the elevator down to the lobby and head for the crosswalk. There’s a coffee shop across the street, and it’s the perfect place to conduct my impromptu stakeout. Mellie is already waiting for me there as agreed upon, and she’s ordered for both of us. We grab a couple seats by the window with a direct view of the building.
“This is fun.” She dumps a couple Splendas into her cold brew. I follow suit. She’s officially converted me to iced coffee.
“I don’t know if fun is the word I would choose,” I answer. “I’m dead tired. Puppies are hard work.”
“So is Daire,” Mellie snorts.
“Tell me about it,” I laugh.
“You really think he’s up to something?”
“Something’s fishy. He isn’t nearly as tired as he should be when it’s his turn for puppy duty. I don’t know.”
“Maybe he’s just handling it exceptionally well,” Mellie muses. “He could be really excited about fatherhood.”
We both maintain our composure for all of two seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter. But something outside the window captures my attention, and Mellie perks up too.
“Who is that?” she asks.
