Page 40 of Bar Down Baby!
“Finally!” Mom fluttered in from the kitchen in her “Some People Drink, I Bead” apron—though, to be clear, she did drink, too. “Hannah, I need your help with the potatoes.”
Mom did a double take upon seeing Barry standing beside me.
“You are very tall,” she said.
“Yes,” I said. “Barry, this is my mom, and my brother Jeremy.” Barry smiled without teeth, but even without the teeth his smiles were warm and lovely, spread out over his cheeks and wrinkling the lines by his eyes. Mom melted for it immediately and swept him in for a hug before either of her daughters.
“Call me Shirl,” Mom said, and the back door slapped shut behind Dad and Ron as they made their appearance. More hugging ensued—Jeremy and I hugged each other with one arm as I still held the cranberry sauce container, then Dad who gave me a loud kiss on my head, Ron who gave a “hi, sweetie,” then finally Mom, who whispered about how handsome Barry was in my ear.
All the embraces finished, we made our way to the kitchen where we deposited our offerings on the counter. The kitchen was hardly big enough for three people, more of a hallway than an open space—no island—but all seven of us were squished in there while Mom took our coats, each held over her arm with Barry’s black scarf on top, and Dad asked Barry about how he’s liking the new team, if he thought they were making it to the playoffs, if he liked meat, if he knew anything about smokers.
“Let him breathe,” I said. Dad wore a Harvey Janitorial polo, but not one of the old gray ones. He’d gone for cobalt, practically dressing up for the occasion.
“Fine, fine.” Dad held up his hands but winked at me still. He brought me in for another hug because he couldn’t help it and patted my stomach.
“Any news about the baby?” Dad asked. “When will we know the gender? They should have told you by now.”
“They did tell me,” I grumbled. “I want to keep it a surprise.”
“Ooh, we can have a reveal party,” Mom said as she reentered the kitchen.
“It’s the sex, Dad,” Jeremy corrected from the kitchen table. “Sex is science, gender is a society thing.”
“Well, ‘sex reveal party’ doesn’t sound very good, now does it?” Dad asked.
“A pregnancy is sex reveal enough,” Ron said, and Mom swatted his arm with the pink dishtowel over her shoulder, though she laughed, too.
“We’re not having a gender reveal party.” I made eye contact with Barry, and he nodded like my decision seemed reasonable. He stood next to the fridge, squished between Ron and my dad, a head taller than both.
“Sex reveal,” Jeremy reminded, amid my parent’s complaints at the news.
“Sex, whatever. We will not be revealing the sex of the baby with colored cake, or fireworks, or?—”
“I was thinking a confetti balloon,” Mom said.
“Great idea, Shirl,” Dad said, and Ron agreed.
“Kate can do it, she’s so good at stuff like that,” Mom said.
“I am,” Kate said. She was already using the small slice of counter she could access to cut up limes for her margaritas.
“No party,” I said, louder than expressly needed. “Keep this up and I won’t tell you the gender?—”
“Sex.”
“—the sex until I have her.”
For a moment, the only sound in the kitchen was the slow rolling of the potatoes boiling on the stove. Both Kate and Barry looked wide-eyed at me as I thought about what I’d just said—what I’d just announced to the whole family.
Before I could backpedal, the kitchen was filled with the eruption of everyone all at once.
“A girl?” Mom’s voice was already wobbling.
“You mean it?” Dad said.
Jeremy was laughing, thrilled he didn’t have to keep the secret anymore and jumping around us saying he called it, he’d so called it, right away he had called it, he knew all along, baby girl, baby girl, baby girl. Ron held Mom around her shoulders, which were shaking with her little happy crying. Dad brought Barry in for another hug, full-frontal, lifting Barry’s feet off theground for a moment before turning to me and giving the same treatment.
“Be careful with her, Stephen,” Mom called to Dad, who put me down immediately and smoothed my hair before planting three more kisses there. I wiped the spittle off my forehead as Kate leaned toward me.
